Working Drawings
ARCH 367/667 Course Schedule: Tuesdays, 12:20 pm - 2:15 pm
Location: 120 Rand Hall
Prerequisites: ARCH 262
Professor: Jonathan Ochshorn 
Course Overview: Architecture is represented schematically before it is built. Between this initial conceptualization and a building's construction is a process of design development culminating in a set of contractual documents which include drawings and specifications.
Through a series of exercises and a final project, this course will examine the process of design development and the logical structure of "working drawings." At the same time, the production of working drawings will be pursued as a creative design process -- one in which a kind of tension emerges between the various "fictions" of the design and the "reality" of the construction.
Final grades will be based on:
1. Several short exercises
2. Final "working drawings" project
3. Class participation
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Solar Decathlon: 2007 - 2009
ARCH 464.01 Course Schedule: Mondays, 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Location: 200 Rand Hall
Prerequisites: ARCH 361/362 or ARCH 661/662 or permission of instructor.
Professor: Martha Bohm 
Course Overview:
The course primarily addresses the sustainable design of dwelling places in the United States. This seminar will address issues of sustainable design of the built environment through the vehicle of the national Solar Decathlon competition, held in Washington, D.C. from October 13 to 20, 2007. The course is open to students in the Department of Architecture and others at the instructor’s discretion. Students in MAE 490 will participate in the lecture components of this course. The course is roughly organized into three sections:
Module 1: From the community to the house
This section of the course involves readings and guest lectures. Students are expected to be well prepared to discuss and defend ideas on the topics in question.
[Theories / approaches of sustainability | Development in the US; historical patterns | Urban sustainability Construction practices in the residential building | industry | Modular / manufactured housing | Building energy use |Theory / design of green technologies] Module 2: Competition + analysis
This section of the course involves the attending the competition and evaluating the field of participants against a set of self-determined parameters. In addition to the success of the various houses at the 10 events of the competition, students will critique and evaluate the houses in terms of other dimensions of sustainability.
[Team organizational structure | Area and scale of architectural innovation | Area and scale of engineering innovation | Competition strategy and tactics] Module 3: Project brief for a 2009 Solar Decathlon house
This section of the course will develop at statement of intent for the 2009 Solar Decathlon competition. Students will collaboratively develop a position on how to innovate in the design of the 2009 house. This will culminate in a clear statement of intent which will form the design brief for the Solar Decathlon Design Studio in Spring 2008.
[Precedent analysis | Applications of known technology |Value-based decision making]
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Finding Sustainable Form: Theory and Analysis in Sustainable Design
ARCH 464.02 Course Schedule: Tuesdays, 12:20 pm - 2:15 pm
Location: 142 East Sibley Hall
Prerequisites: ARCH 361/362 or ARCH 661/662 or permission of instructor.
Professor:
Kevin Pratt
Course Overview:
This course will explore both the thinking that underlies sustainable design and methods of analysis that are employed in the design of sustainable buildings. The class will be broken into three segments. The first focuses on ecology, theory, and a brief history of ecological architecture. The second segment focuses on the mechanics of sustainable design, and incorporates a series of workshops in the use of analytical software, including Ecotect (thermal & climatic analysis), Radiance (daylighting) and Envi-Met (microclimatic CFD). The final segment will focus on using knowledge and skills gained to develop a generative analysis that points the way towards the creation of sustainable architectural form.
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Design Informatics and Technology Transfer:
Theory, Research, and Practice
ARCH 465.01 Course Schedule: Mondays, 9:05 am - 11:00 am
Location: 200 Rand Hall
Prerequisites: ARCH 262/562 or permission of instructor.
Professor: Michael Silver Course Overview: Informatics is the science of “…storing, manipulating, and analyzing information using computer systems.” Its relevance to the design arts today is evident in the ubiquitous integration of new computational systems with a wide range of emerging technologies. The architects ability to asses, adapt and actualize various modes of representation and production is essential the practice of contemporary design. Technology transfer is at the heart of this activity and is increasingly dependent on the creation of meaningful relationships between new techniques and the discipline specific concerns of building design.
This seminar will therefore serve as a broad overview of developments in the history and theory of computation by considering advances in art, engineering, mathematics, computer programming and robotics. Examining figures as diverse as Alan Turing, and David Deutsch the course will explore how computers have opened up new ways of thinking about a variety of cultural practices and how these transformed practices feed back into the production of new forms. Advanced techniques of Digital Mapping, Automated Fiber Placement Technology, Supercomputing, Complexity Theory, Quantum Mechanics and the Posthuman body will serve as the underlying framework for a discussion of the morphological and technical future of design in a contemporary context.
(The seminar will conduct original investigations of new systems of production through student research, faculty lectures, weekly readings and a U.S. factory tour. A two paragraph summery of the readings is due each week.)
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