Spring 2015 Elective Course Offerings

 

ARCH-712-001 Topics in ARCH Theory II: Philosophy of Materials and Structures

Manuel DeLanda

Thursday: 6:00pm-9:00pm

This lecture series introduces students to the basic philosophical concepts needed to understand contemporary science. Most of the examples and case studies discussed in class come from two fields that are intimately connected with architecture: structural engineering and materials science and engineering. But in addition, the class deals with the philosophical underpinnings of two other fields, one which has been the backbone of science since its inception, mathematics, and the other which has revolutionized mathematical models by setting them into motion: computer simulation.

 

 

ARCH-712-002 Topics in ARCH Theory II: New York as Incubator of Twentieth-Century Urbanism:

Four Urban Thinkers and the City They Envisioned

Joan Ockman

Thursday: 3:00pm-6:00pm

This seminar is constructed as an argument among four important urban thinkers whose visions of the twentieth-century city were shaped by their response to New York's modern urban and architectural development: Lewis Mumford (1895-1990), Robert Moses (1888-1981), Jane Jacobs (1916-2006), and Rem Koolhaas (1944-). We will explore the central issues that preoccupied each of them -- from ecological urbanism and civic representation to urban infrastructure and renewal, from community engagement and diversity to urban spectacle and event -- and highlight differences and similarities in their conception of the city. Emphasis will be on the role of "urban intellectual" in the production of architectural discourse as well as the specific historical context to which each was responding. In addition to reading key writings by each of the protagonists, we will consider a number of other relevant urban theories. New York has been called the capital of the twentieth century; part of our task will be to assess and debate the ongoing relevance of the thought of all four thinkers to the cities in the twenty-first century. 

 

 

ARCH-712-003 Topics in ARCH Theory II: Building Envelopes: A Short History of Their Performance

Ariel Genadt

Thursday 3:00pm-6:00pm

In the 20th century, building envelopes have become the prime architectural subject of experimentations and investments, as well as physical failures and theoretical conflicts.  This semester examines the meaning of performance of 20th-century envelopes by unfolding their functions and behaviors in salient case studies, in practice and in theory.  While the term performance is often used to denote quantifiable parameters, such as exchanges of energy, airs and waters, this seminar seeks to recouple these with other, simultaneous actions performed by the envelope and by the building it encloses.  Albeit numbers cannot describe those performances, their consideration is key to the interpretation of quantifiable ones.  Ultimately, the articulation of the polyvalence of envelopes becomes the measure of their architectural pertinence.  Each class meeting includes a lecture, students’ case studies presentations, and film screenings.  This seminar qualifies as an elective for the Ecological Architecture Certificate and the M.E.B.D. program.      

 

 

ARCH-712-005 Topics in ARCH Theory II: Urban Ideology: Ways of Being Innovative with Architecture vis-à-vis Activism 

Srdjan Jovanovic Weiss

Thursday: 9:00am-12noon

This seminar explores expanding roles of a designer engaged in urban activism, that engulf fields and knowledge of architecture, urbanism and art. The course provides tools for critical thinking to interpret urban tensions that are often self-organized, anonymous and spatial. At the same time we will look into tools to interpret recent shifts in the work of Peter Eisenman, Herzog & de Meuron and AMO/OMA as well as explore younger innovative and alternative practices. The course is given by Srdjan Jovanovic Weiss, PhD (Goldsmiths Centre for Research Architecture, London) and former architect and cultural researcher with Herzog & de Meuron Architects (Basel, Switzerland), founder of NAO (Normal Architecture Office) and co-founder or SMS (School of Missing Studies). The participants in the seminar will be involved in conceptualizing and creating the exhibit Romancing Power commissioned by the Anderson Gallery at The New School in New York to open February 2015. The exhibit will be produced in collaboration with Nina Krushcheva, grand-daughter of cold war president of Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev.

 

ARCH-712-006 Topics in ARCH Theory II: Baroque Parameters

Andrew Saunders

Monday 9:00am-12noon

In this course we will use computation as an instrument to reassess the geometric principles of Baroque architecture.  Deep plasticity and dynamism of form, space and light are explicit signatures of the work; less obvious are the disciplined mathematical principles that generate these effects.  Geometry and mathematics were integral to 17th-century science, philosophy, art, architecture and religion. They are what link Baroque architects Francesco Borromini and Guarino Guarini to other great thinkers of the period including Descartes, Galileo, Kepler, Desargues and Newton.  Through the exploitation of trigonometric parameters of the arc and the chord, Baroque architects produced astonishing effects, performance and continuity. Generative analysis by parametric reconstruction and new speculative modeling will reexamine the base principles behind 17th century topology and reveal renewed relevance of the Baroque to the contemporary paradigm.  

 

 

ARCH-714-401 Museum as Site: Critique, Intervention, and Production            

Andrea Hornick

Wednesday: 9:00am-12noon

In this course, we will take the museum as a site for critique, invention, and production. As architecture, cultural institution, and site of performance, the museum offers many relevant opportunities. Students will visit, analyze, and discuss a number of local exhibitions and produce their own intervention in individual or group projects. Exhibition design, design of museum, the process of curating, producing artworks ranging from paintings to installation and performance, as well as attention to conservation, installation, museum education, and the logistics and economics of exhibitions will be discussed on site and in seminar. These topics and others will be open for students to engage as part of their own creative work produced for the class and an online exhibition.

 

ARCH-724-002: Technology in Design: Non-Discrete Architectures Digital Prosthetics, Connectivity and Augmented Space

Shawn Rickenbacker

Wednesday 9:00am-12noon

This sponsored research course will examine advances in computing technology that are producing a new range of digitally enhanced environments, structures and spaces. Through Digital Prosthetics, Connectivity and Augmented Space designers are now operating equally with tangible form as well as with intangible attributes (the virtual). Referred to as the imminent convergence of digital and physical space, this is being accomplished through new digital interactive exchanges and engagements fostered by increased digital connectivity. Embedded computing, sensors and ever increasing ubiquitous technologies are the enablers, targeting objects, users and physical space. This directly challenges the former singular concept of space known predominantly as static, in favor of new concepts of space, such as: Networked, Interactive, Immersive, Dynamic, Augmented and Data controlled. These new concepts and the corresponding new digital technology medium are the principal subjects of this research seminar. As a laboratory we will investigate the expanding the role of the designer’s work, propose and prototype plausible design fictions and research how we as humans will interface with our new corresponding digital prosthetics, connectivity, dynamic spaces and augmented architectures? This course will run In conjunction with the Spring 15’ Symposium, Non Discrete Architectures: Digital Prosthetics, Connectivity and Augmented Spaces. The seminar/lab explores the design of our environment through emerging technologies in computing, interface and device culture. The lab is directed by Shawn Rickenbacker and resides at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Design. 

 

 

ARCH-724-003: Technology in Design: Aperiodic -The Mathematics of Tiling in Architectural Design

Joshua Freese

Tuesday 12noon-3:00

Repetition and difference in geometric tiling patterns produce visual complexity, intricacy, economy and articulation. From textiles and ceramics to architectural design, the tradition of tiling has culled from mathematical systems that inscribe two- and three-dimensional geometric conditions, ultimately yielding cultural effects that are unique to their time. By examining this tradition across time and disciplines, this course will explore a range of mathematical systems, tools and media as well as how they advance contemporary architectural topics such as parametrics, optimization, fabrication, and implementation.

Through lectures, readings and workshops, the course will lead students to develop contemporary and future-oriented methods that establish new parameters for tiling systems. Students will identify particular tiling families from guest lectures, historical precedents and readings, and will establish conditions for scripting new assemblies for generating three-dimensional patterns and assemblies.

Fabrication methods will consider an economy-of-means, using minimal variation in base models and molds to achieve maximum differentiation in the aggregation of tiles into 3-dimensional volumetric models. It is through this negotiation between fixed rules and variable freedoms that tiling systems have historically asserted their cultural value – and this will be the ultimate goal of the course.

 

 

ARCH-724-004: Technology in Design: Data and Adaptation

Mark Nicol

Tuesday 9:00am-12noon

Data + Adaptation seeks to study emerging tools and workflows that allow designers to tap into abundant sources of data and leverage them towards crafting adaptable, dynamic constructions. Low cost sensors and simple scripting techniques will be used to collect and visualize complex data fields. Design tools within the Rhino/Grasshopper or Maya ecosystem with the capability of designing and simulating dynamic responses to shifting data fields will be explored. In the end, students will take a position with regards to how data might affect design and furthermore how architectural constructions might be designed with the capacity to dynamically adapt to those fluctuating data.

 

 

 

ARCH 726-401 Contemporary Furniture Design

Katrin Mueller-Russo

Tuesday 12noon-3:00pm

This course provides a platform, in the form of furniture, to execute and deploy architectural and engineering principles at full scale. It will be conducted as a seminar and workshop and will introduce students to a variety of design methodologies that are unique to product design. The course will engage in many of the considerations that are affiliated with mass production; quality control, efficient use of material, durability, and human factors. Students will conduct research into industrial design processes, both traditional and contemporary, and will adapt these processes into techniques to design a prototype for limited production. Instruction will include; model making, the full scale production of a prototype, its detailing; design for mass production and the possibility of mass customization; design for assembly, furniture case studies; design techniques, software integration, optimization studies; Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) and a site visit to a furniture manufacturer.

 

 

ARCH 727-401 Industrial Design I

Peter Bressler

Wednesday 9:00am-12noon

Industrial design (ID) is the professional service of creating and developing concepts and specifications that optimize the function, value and appearance of products and systems for the mutual benefit of both user and manufacturer. Industrial designers develop these concepts and specifications through collection, analysis and synthesis of user needs data guided by the special requirements of the client or manufacturer. They are trained to prepare clear and concise recommendations through drawings, models and verbal descriptions. The profession has evolved to take its appropriate place alongside Engineering and Marketing as one of the cornerstones of Integrated Product Design teams  The core of Industrial Design's knowledge base is a mixture of fine arts, commercial arts and applied sciences utilized with a set of priorities that are focused firstly on the needs of the end user and functionality, then the market and manufacturing criteria. This course will provide an overview and understanding of the theories, thought processes and methodologies employed in the daily practice of Industrial Design. This includes understanding of ethnographic research and methodologies, product problem solving, creative visual communication, human factors / ergonomics application and formal and surface development in product scale. This course will not enable one to become an industrial designer but will enable one to understand and appreciate what industrial design does, what it can contribute to society and why it is so much fun.

 

 

ARCH 728-401 Design of Contemporary Products: Smart Objects

Carla Diana

Tuesday 12noon-3:00

Smart objects are information-based products that are in ongoing dialogs with people, the cloud and each other. By crafting rich interactions, designers can create expressive behaviors for these objects based on sophisticated programmed responses. With an explosion of new possibilities for object interaction and human control, it is the designer’s role to envision new solutions that are both meaningful and responsible. 

This course will explore product design solutions through a combination of physical and digital design methods. Beginning with an examination of case studies, students will gain a sense of the breadth of product and interaction design practice as it applies to smart objects. Through a series of lectures and hands-on studio exercises, students will explore all aspects of smart object design including expressive behaviors (light, sound and movement), interaction systems, ergonomics, data networks and contexts of use. The course will culminate in a final project that considers all aspects of smart object design within the context of a larger theme.

 

ARCH 730-001 City Hall Pavilion Development and Construction 

Mohamad Al-Khayer

Wednesday 6:00pm-9:00pm

The course will focus on the design morphology, detailing, and the construction of “Moment Lab Pavilion” which is set to be constructed in Spring 2015 at the southeast corner of Philadelphia City Hall.  The course will develop through hands-on workshops and will focus on acquiring knowledge through making (Techne), understanding the morphological transformation of a given geometric packing, and building using readily available materials. The process consists of building and testing physical models that simulates the actual pavilion. In addition to digital simulation sessions to realize the desired design, which answers to the program developed by the Moment Lab curators*

The second half of the semester will focus on using lightweight materials to fabricate the pavilion’s actual components, including structural members, panels, and joints, which are required for pavilion’s superstructure and envelope.

 

 

ARCH 734-001 Architecture and Ecology

Todd Woodward

Tuesday 9:00-12noon

Architecture is an inherently exploitive act – we utilize resources from the earth and produce waste and pollution to create and occupy buildings. We have learned that buildings are responsible for 40% of greenhouse gas emissions, 15% of water use and 30% of landfill debris. This growing realization has led building designers to look for ways to minimize negative environmental impacts.  Green building design practices are seemingly becoming mainstream. Green building certification programs and building performance metrics are no longer considered fringe ideas. This course will investigate these trends and the underlying theory with a critical eye. Is "mainstream green" really delivering the earth-saving architecture it claims? As green building practices become more widespread, there remains something unsatisfying about a design approach that focuses on limits, checklists, negative impacts and being “less bad.” Can we aspire to something more? If so, what would that be?  How can or should the act of design change to accommodate an ecological approach?

 

 

 

ARCH 738-001 The Modern House: Technology Then and Now

Annette Fierro

Wednesday 9:00am-12noon

In the current age of new fabrication methodologies, methods are emerging for the conception and design of the contemporary house which have radical potential for enclosure, habitation and practices of daily life. This course begins by examining the canonical houses of the original avant-garde--Adolf Loos, Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Alvar Aalto—on the premise that their houses were working manifestos for rethinking space, form and indeed ideas of life itself—all of which were prompted by new concepts of construction. From this spectrum of issues, contemporary houses and contemporary methods and materials will be studied extensively to develop equally new ideas between matter and quotidian life. As the primary task of the course, students will work in teams to develop highly detailed constructional proposals for a facade of a speculative home.

 

 

ARCH 740-001 Formal Efficiencies

Eric Carcamo

Tuesday 9:00-12noon

The seminar is a discourse based in the use of multi-layered techniques and production processes that allow for control over intelligent geometries, calibration of parts, and behavioral taxonomies, normalizing an innovative field of predictability.  Our goal is to explore innovative, potential architectural expressions of the current discourse around form through technique elaboration, material intelligence, formal logic efficiencies and precision assemblies as an ultimate condition of design.

 

The seminar will develop and investigate the notion of proficient geometric variations at a level of complexity, so that questions towards geometrical effectiveness, accuracy and performance can begin to be understood in a contemporary setting.

 

 

ARCH 744-401 Digital Fabrication

Ferda Kolatan

Monday 6:00pm-9:00pm

This seminar course investigates the fabrication of digital structures through the use of rapid prototyping (RP) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) technologies, which offer the production of building components directly from 3D digital models.  In contrast to the industrial-age paradigms of prefabrication and mass production in architecture, this course focuses on the development of repetitive non-standardized building systems (mass-customization) through digitally controlled variation and serial differentiation.  Various RP and CAM technologies are introduced with examples of use in contemporary building design and construction.

 

 

ARCH 750-001 Parafictional Objects

Kutan Ayata

Friday 9:00-12noon

This Representation/Design Seminar will start with series of lectures examining the histories of Realism in Art spanning from French Realism of 19th Century through Hyperrealism into Parafictional Art of the recent past with their aesthetic provocations at the center of this inquiry. Weekly discussions of the reading material will be followed by student presentations on assigned topics.  The design portion of the seminar will commence with the regeneration and defamiliarization of objects extracted from Still Life Paintings. The process will carry through multiple mediums of image patterning, line drawing, 3D modeling and surface mapping, exploring the potentials of cross-medium translations to articulate surface characters. These objects will then be fabricated to gain physical presence in the world. The realism of these objects as things in the world will be further explored through a project in rendering and photocomposition as each object will be inserted back into the Still Life painting.

 

 

ARCH 754-001 Performance Design Workshop

Yun Yi

Friday 9:00am-12noon

The workshop applies simulation and diagramming techniques to a series of discrete design projects at different scales. The emphasis is on refinement and optimization of performance based building design. Performance analysis techniques can provide enormous amounts of information to support the design process, acting as feedback mechanisms for improved performance, but careful interpretation and implementation are required to achieve better buildings. 

Energy, lighting, and air flow are the three main domains covered in the workshop. Students will learn how to utilize domain tools at an advanced level, and utilize them as applications to examine the environmental performance of existing buildings. Using the results of analytical techniques, the students will develop high-performance design strategies in all three domains.

 

 

ARCH 764-001 Vertical Cities Asia

Chris Marcinkoski/Josh Freese

Monday 9:00-12noon

This seminar will develop entries to the Vertical Cities Asia International Design Competition: www.verticalcitiesasia.com/.  Organized by the National University of Singapore School of Design and Environment, and sponsored by the World Future Foundation, the competition is predicated on the belief that a new paradigm of high-density compact urban settlement is necessary for rapidly urbanizing Asian territories besieged by massive rural-urban migrations. Jettisoning the notion of recycling existing urban architectural models to accommodate increasing populations with devastating effects on land, infrastructure, and the environment, the competition endeavors to elaborate fundamentally new models of urbanization within a rapidly transforming 21st century Asian milieu. The first portion of the seminar will focus on developing a dossier of research related to the particular site and theme of this year's competition.  This work will be developed collectively within the seminar.  The second portion of the seminar will explore canonical 20th century proposals for new urban form and settlement.  This work will be developed individually with each student contributing a short chapter on their case study for the seminar dossier.  The remaining portion of the seminar will focus on the elaboration of individual strategies for a new 1 sq km urban district for 100,000 residents.  While this is not a studio, the expectation remains that students will develop their individual propositions using a range of visual means and modeling techniques.

 

 

ARCH-765-001: Project Management

Charles Capaldi

Friday 9:00am-12noon

This course is an introduction to techniques and tools of managing the design and construction of large, and small, construction projects.  Topics include project delivery systems, management tools, cost-control and budgeting

systems, professional roles.  Case studies serve to illustrate applications.  Cost and schedule control systems are described.  Case studies illustrate the application of techniques in the field.

 

ARCH 814-001: The Idea of an Avant-Garde in Architecture: Reading Manfredo Tafuri’s The Sphere and the Labyrinth

Joan Ockman

Thursdays 12noon-3:00pm

No historian of architecture has written as intensely about the contradictions of architecture in late-modern society or reflected as deeply on the resulting problems and tasks of architectural historiography as Manfredo Tafuri (1935–1994). For many architects, the Italian historian’s dismissal of “hopes in design” under conditions of advanced capitalism produced a disciplinary impasse. This in turn led to calls to oublier Tafuri—to move beyond his pessimistic, lacerating stance. The seminar will undertake a close reading of one of Tafuri’s most complexly conceived and richly elaborated books, The Sphere and the Labyrinth: Avant-Gardes and Architecture from Piranesi to the 1970s. Initially published in Italian in 1980 and translated into English in 1987, the book represents the first effort to define and historicize the idea of an avant-garde specifically within architecture. Its content centers on the architecture and urbanism of the first three decades of the twentieth century. Yet surprisingly Tafuri begins his account with the eighteenth-century inventions of Piranesi, and he concludes with a critique of the “neoavant-garde” of his own day. In addition to traversing The Sphere and the Labyrinth chapter by chapter—starting with its formidable methodological introduction, “The Historical ‘Project’”—the seminar will read a number of primary and secondary sources on the historical contexts under discussion and consider some important intertexts that shed light on Tafuri’s thinking. The course’s focus is at once historical and historiographic: we will be concerned not just with actual events but with how they have been written into architectural history. One of our aims will be to reassess the role of an avant-garde in architecture and compare Tafuri’s conception to that advanced in other disciplines. Is the idea of an avant-garde still viable today? Or should it be consigned to the dustbin of twentieth-century ideas?

Note: This course is intended for Ph.D. students. Others will be admitted by permission of

the instructor.