Materials And Construction Systems

ARCH-5300

This course will provide a basic understanding of the components, assemblies, and processes used in building construction, with an emphasis in structural typologies, materials, and enclosure systems, including frames, load-bearing walls, and structural forms. Typologies will be analyzed through their different materials component (wood, steel, concrete, timber) and construction methods (prefab, formwork, assembly, form-finding). From this fundamental point of departure, the course will examine the construction systems as a composition of building elements (walls, floors, columns, etc.) as well construction methods (casting, laminating, bending, stacking, connecting). Additional coursework will analyze enclosure systems and building envelopes that extend the structural system or attach to it, creating an interior to control and mediate between external environmental factors and internal programmatic requirements.

Past Term Data