Materials and Design

ARCH-2510

Materials and Design introduces basic structural and material strategies and explores their creative and technical application to the architectural design process. The course establishes an understanding of the most common building materials including their physical properties, appropriate applications, and the implications of their uses in the larger context of embodied energy and material life cycles. Complementing performance characteristics, the phenomenology of materials is introduced as a key concept in architectural design. The performance of material assemblies, as synergy between form and material properties, is explored through analysis of architectural case studies. Design experiments are conducted that introduce such major concepts as structural loading, properties of sections, and resulting system performance. These experiments take the form of digital simulations and constructed scale models, with student documentation and reflection on their design processes. Students will study and analyze structural and material strategies in built works, communicating their findings through language, images, drawings, and diagrams.

Past Term Data