Classes

Introduces fundamental design principles as a way to demystify design and provide a basic introduction to all aspects of the process. Stimulates creativity, abstract thinking, representation, iteration, and design development. Equips students with skills to have more effective communication with designers, and develops their ability to apply the foundations of design to any discipline.

Provides instruction in architectural design and project development within design constraints including architectural program and site. Students engage the design process through various 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional media. Working directly with representational and model making techniques, students gain experience in the conceptual, formal, spatial and material aspects of architecture. Instruction and practice in oral and written communication provided.

Overview of design as the giving of form, order, and interactivity to the objects that define our daily life. Follows the path from project to interactive product. Covers the overall design process, preparing students for work in a hands-on studio learning environment. Emphasizes design development and constraints. Topics include the analysis of objects; interaction design and user experience; design methodologies, current dialogues in design; economies of scale vs. means; and the role of technology in design. Provides a foundation in prototyping skills such as carpentry, casting, digital fabrication, electronics, and coding.

Provides an introduction to visual communication, emphasizing the development of a visual and verbal vocabulary. Presents the fundamentals of line, shape, color, composition, visual hierarchy, word/image relationships and typography as building blocks for communicating with clarity, emotion, and meaning. Students develop their ability to analyze, discuss and critique their work and the work of the designed world. 

Introduction to cultures of form in architectural design, representation, and production, including material cultures, geometric discourse and analysis, Western and non-Western modes of perception and representation. Taught through a series of acts of forming and making, this course provides a primer and venue to rehearse skills such as 3D modeling and the reciprocity between representation and  materialization. Exercises will be accompanied by a lecture series from practitioners who each represent a highly articulated relationship between form and material in a body of design research or built work.

Studies design as an interrogative technique to examine material sciences, media arts and technology, cultural studies, computation and emerging fabrication protocols. Provides in-depth, theoretical grounding to the notion of 'design' in architecture, and to the consideration of contemporary design methodologies, while encouraging speculation on emerging design thinking. Topical focus varies with instructor. May be repeated for credit with permission of department.

Provides a practical hands-on introduction to digital fabrication, including CAD/CAM/CAE, NC machining, 3-D printing and scanning, molding and casting, composites, laser and waterjet cutting, PCB design and fabrication; sensors and actuators; mixed-signal instrumentation, embedded processing, and wired and wireless communications. Develops an understanding of these capabilities through projects using them individually and jointly to create functional systems.

Explores the foundations of design through a series of bracketed methods of production. These methods exercise topics such as form, space, organization, structure, circulation, use, tectonics, temporality, and experience. Students develop methods of representation that span from manual to virtual and from canonical to experimental. Each method is evaluated for what it offers and privileges, supplying a survey of approaches for design exercises to follow. First in a sequence of design subjects, which must be taken in order.

Interdisciplinary approach to design through studio design problems that engage the domains of building technology, computation, and the cultural/historical geographies of energy. Uses different modalities of thought to examine architectural agendas for 'sustainability'; students position their work with respect to a broader understanding of the environment and its relationship to society and technology. Students develop a project with a comprehensive approach to programmatic organization, energy load considerations, building material assemblies, exterior envelope and structure systems.

Fencing is both the act of collective recognition and appropriation of a portion of land or physical space: it is the act of its delimitation and separation from the rest of the world-nature. It establishes the two topological, imaginary, geometric, technical regions of outside and inside. It formulates the problem of the mental or physical constitution of the limit, of the boundary and its violation. An act of architecture par excellence, the enclosure is what establishes a specific relationship with a specific place and at the same time the principle of settlement by which a human group proposes its relationship with nature-cosmos. But the enclosure is also the form of the thing, the way it presents itself to the outside world, through which it reveals itself.

In the opening editorial of Rassegna, published in 1979, Vittorio Gregotti proposes a theme that can be considered the manifesto of both a way of understanding the discipline and of questioning its boundaries. Architecture is primarily understood as the effort of a multitude. While evoking a primordial act of territorial conquer, the emphasis is on the collective and ritual nature of the gesture. Both act and form, the enclosure doesn't produce a solitary figure nor an abstract, generic principle. Its presence is always in relation to a particular place. It establishes a new order and generates a new equilibrium within a given territory. Further on, the editorial argues for the need to redefine the notion of enclosure at the highest possible level of abstraction, recognizing how its definition in terms of pure function (that of preventing the crossing of a body, a gaze, a law...) is what allows apparently disparate objects to be brought together under a single notion. The catalogue of examples that follows is actually rather heterogeneous and incomplete. Its limitation is also its generosity: we feel entitled to expand it and pick up Gregotti's discourse where he left off.

Enclosures is a studio focused on the architecture of the perimeter. It intends to stimulate an in-depth research into the possibilities generated by the fundamental act of delimitation. The project will be explored as a selective device, producing certain conditions of inclusion and exclusion, creating and erasing connections, sustaining acts of separation and suspension, enabling detachment and otherness. Opposing the dominant conception of architecture as production of singular — self centered — objects, the studio will stress the dialectic nature of the enclosure in relation to an underlying notion of context. The activity of the studio — ideally conceived as an appendix to Rassegna 1 — will be organized around three main tasks: a collective work of iconographic collection, the construction and manipulation of an organized taxonomy of case studies, and the development of site-specific proposals. 

Mandatory lottery process.

KIT FOR A BIT: Architectural Assemblage and Leisure is part of a series of studios interested in flexible architectures that are adaptable to programmatic changes. The studio will ask students to design future-ready architectural kits that incorporate material temporalities in both ecologically responsible and culturally rich ways.

Materially, KIT FOR A BIT: Architectural Assemblage and Leisure will be looking at flexible architectures, paying particular attention to the assemblage techniques, the tectonic approaches and construction systems that make a built environment that is adaptable, reconfigurable, reprogrammable… our precedents will range from readymade building systems, to long span warehouses, to open plan buildings, to flat pack systems and other parts-thinking architectures.

Programmatically, KIT FOR A BIT: Architectural Assemblage and Leisure will focus on public recreation and exercise, looking into the relationship between our bodies and all scales of the material and digital environments in which we leisure. We will be designing spaces for physical enjoyment, whether indoor or outdoor, collectively or alone, spaces where the bodily and the architectural come together through materials, objects and social protocols.

To this end, we will be visiting gyms, sporting clubs, recreation centers, public parks, courts and fitness studios. Spaces that are designed to withstand wear and tear, sweat, friction, impact, heavy equipment or exposure to the elements, often requiring the use of durable and robust materials, making it all the more important to design them through flexible material and programmatic strategies that allow for their use and future reuse.

Architecturally then, this studio will look closely at the material intelligence and equipment required to create polyvalent spaces. In KIT FOR A BIT, we will favor assemblage, layering, modularization, long spans and open plans to design architectural kits with a disposition towards flexible programming and material reconfiguration. Given the program, a distinct design challenge will be to imbue these utilitarian kits with social appeal, body readiness and engagement.

In addition, leisure environments often combine the physical and the digital, with immersive sound systems, remote workouts, digital trainers, point-of-view track shots, obstacle course simulations or interactive technologies. The studio will dedicate a small but distinct portion of the semester to incorporating these mediums to the projects. Students enrolled in this studio will have access to the media production equipment, from greenscreen systems to XR gear, available through the faculty’s Lab.

The studio is not interested in team evangelism, in body exclusionary fitness paradigms, in gargantuan stadiums for global attraction, nor is it interested in elite performance oriented training but rather in the design of spaces and protocols for physical activity, public play, collective well-being, inclusive embodiment and just feeling good.

KIT FOR A BIT: Architectural Assemblage and Leisure will be traveling to Governors Island in New York City, per invitation from the Institute for Public Architecture (IPA) where we will be staying for 4 nights / 5 days. The IPAs Headquarters and residences are located on the Block House which is a historically landmarked building in the exceptional context of Governor’s Island. Also a historically landmarked island which is within 5 min. Ferry distance from NYC yet undeveloped. The island is a national park whose only tenants are a spa, a dance club and luxury camping ground and the only full time tenants are the guests and residents of IPA. Students will have the unique opportunity to be, in addition to the luxury campers, the only overnight residents of this protected island. Governor’s Island will also serve as the site for the studio projects this semester.

We will be meeting Tues + Thurs from 1-5pm and a few scheduled Fridays. The course welcomes SMarchs students.. Mandatory lottery process.

“Architecture is an art when one consciously or unconsciously creates aesthetic emotion in the atmosphere and when this environment produces well being.”

“I don’t divide architecture, landscape and gardening; to me they are one”

- Luis Barragan

Architecture of the Earth is a space where innovative thinking meets the environment, fostering a unique and harmonious design language. By immersing ourselves in this connection, we can learn, unlearn, and innovate, leading to a new understanding of the built environment. The studio explores the creative resources that are shaped by our surroundings, aiming to manipulate the existing ground with common forces and energies that generate spatial events. Through this approach, we can develop a new language of building that is adapted to the local context, taking into account the specific climate, culture, and geography. This will enable architects to design buildings that not only minimize environmental impact but also enhance the well-being of occupants. By developing observation and analytical skills, students can navigate the complexities of spatial design and create innovative solutions that transform the built environment.

Mandatory lottery process.

The term "megalith" simply refers to a 'big stone,' but behind this seemingly simple definition lies centuries of human ingenuity and cultural significance. In this course, we delve into the cultural act of bringing a stone to life, exploring the techniques and technologies used by ancient civilizations to transport and position these monumental structures.
Through a combination of theoretical learning and hands-on practical exercises, students will gain a comprehensive understanding of calculus-based curvature modeling and solver computation, necessary to drive the location of a megalith's center of mass. By mastering these concepts, participants will unlock the secrets of effortlessly moving massive objects and performing feats of spectacular prowess.
Students will embark on a journey of discovery, learning how to design, compute, and execute the precise movements required to transport megalithic stones. From principles of leverage and mechanical advantage to employing cutting-edge computational techniques, participants will explore a range of strategies for overcoming the logistical challenges inherent in moving objects of such monumental scale.

Moreover, this course goes beyond mere technical proficiency, encouraging students to consider the broader cultural and historical contexts surrounding megalithic engineering. Through engaging discussions and interactive activities, participants will explore the societal implications of megalithic construction, examining how these monumental structures have shaped human civilizations throughout history.

This workshop will offer a space for student-driven projects at the intersection of climate, community and careers as part of a series of courses that build on one another. Over the past year, students have been exploring the idea of a “climate corps” for MIT,  with partners of the MIT Civilian Climate Corps Initiative, on campus and in communities in Boston and Cambridge. We see an MIT climate corps as building student capacity to respond to needs identified by people and groups working on the front lines of addressing climate and equity issues, in the community and on campus, and to learn through collaborating on tangible projects. 

Students taking this workshop will advance and aim to complete a component of their climate corps projects while deepening their understanding of themes, their skills and practical experience. In order to hit the ground running, students should email the instructor with a description of what they would like to work on and why, what they would need to accomplish their goals (partner or mentor involvement, new partnership development, funding for materials, etc.) and whether they plan to work individually or as part of a team.  Students who have not been part of the previous courses or summer program, who wish to join a project led by another student who has, should write the instructor.

Undergraduates welcome.

Partners: Urban Risk Lab, SA+P, Eastie Farm Climate Corps, PowerCorpsBOS, the MIT Office of Sustainability, MIT Facilities, City of Cambridge.
 

Techniques of Resistance aims to create an archive of communal construction practices located across the heterogeneous territory of South America through the research and documentation of paradigmatic indigenous, vernacular, and popular buildings. This research will form the basis for the design proposal of a contemporary radical project that will emerge from these ancestral techniques and the cases studied in the course.

Architecture, when built, mobilizes a huge—and often invisible—network of resources, knowledge, beliefs, and people involved in the construction of a building. Techniques of Resistance will focus on the study of buildings that are strongly rooted in the environment and ecologies where they are located, with a sensitive understanding of communal cooperation and material cyclability. From the Uros Islands in Lake Titicaca and the Putucos in the Peruvian plateau, to the Shabonos and Churuatas' large structures in the Amazon, the buildings that we will study offer a collection of construction techniques that serve as a resistance to the homogenization of architecture and the destruction of collective forms of construction.

The creation of an inventory of Techniques of Resistance presents the opportunity to broaden the definition of what a building could be in terms of its material technology and its role in a community, and will serve as the launching point for the development of a project that could redefine these techniques in a contemporary way through an understanding of material behavior, structural details, and geometry.

The course will consist of a combination of theoretical lectures, discussions, research, and design. During the first half of the semester, students will develop drawings and graphic essays as methods of research and documentation of the case studies. These deliverables will be compiled to create the archive of Techniques of Resistance, which will take the form of a publication.

In the second half of the semester, students will work on a conceptual design project for a communal building, structure, or infrastructure, proposing a critical revision of the cases and techniques previously documented. Considerable time will be given for the design process, working together to develop a conceptually and technologically strong project. Classes will take the form of workshop sessions, with design desk critiques and pin-ups. The projects will be communicated through large-scale, delicate, and well-developed drawings and, if possible, a small model.

The materials produced during the course—both the archive and the design projects—will be presented in an exhibition at the end of the fall semester. The course will value commitment, technical precision, detailed representation, and a radical and critical approach to design. Techniques of Resistance will also include contributions from guest speakers whose practices and built projects engage with the technologies and materials discussed during the semester.

Undergraduates welcome.

The Professor has been steering a start-up housing group (DECOi) looking at automated composites via robotics. As part of this, they have developed design>build software to be able to generate complex detail quickly enough to keep pace with automated production. This has involved a highly skilled team of programmers and digital architects, mostly from MIT: Marc Downie (Media Lab PhD), Jorge Duro-Royo (Media Lab PhD), Kii Kang (SMArchS Computation), with framing and oversight offered by Professor Mark Burry, who pioneered parametric modeling for the Sagrada Famila in Barcelona over 30 years ago. As yet, this has focused on accelerating design>build capability, but all of the team members have a keen interest in how computation alters design imagination, and all have flirted with rule-based generative processes in their architectural work. All are intrigued by AI as it applies to design, yet there are as many versions of what AI "is", or might be.

The workshop aims to probe these differences, with students selecting what they feel are salient opportunities to develop some aspect of generative spatial/material aptitude, in the hope that it starts to offer clarity by being worked through into actual designs. The general premise is that the rule-based generative processes that emerged late C19th and steadily developed through the C20th are already taking hold in mainstream practice, and are destined to become the dominant mode of architectural production C21.

Students will be asked to step into speculative design protocols to gain insight into some aspect of auto-generated objects or buildings. The DECOi team is friendly, daring, and very team-oriented. There is no real expectation of computation as it's more adopting a creative mindset; but there is certainly a rare team of computational expertise to draw upon.

What we are finding is that once there is a high-speed and exact generative capability, so things like energy analysis, life-cycle analysis, techno-economic analysis can also take place "in seconds", offering technical feedback during the design process, which seems to be a real breakthrough. We also see opportunity for real-time co-design with clients, or even self-design in deploying the parameters offered by a cloud-based generative system. This seems to then offer potential for a vast expansion of architectural expertise, which currently involves itself in just 2% of global buildings! The expansion of architectural expertise and the liberation of design practice is then also an area that will merit our collective discussion, perhaps couched in terms of environmental benefit.

The Castaways Brick Fogon Fabrication Workshop is a direct extension of the spring 2024 Spoon Climate Studio & Workshop exploring the material properties and circularity of ‘waste’ brick. The Fall 2024 Fogon Workshop will be specifically focused on a selected, single brick stove design from the studio that was developed over the summer, and how it is fabricated in San Gregorio, a traditional farming community of chinampera farmers in Mexico City. The Workshop will continue to work with Cocina Collaboratorio, a local non-profit and will hold online reviews and discussions with local members of the San Gregorio community who will use the fogon.

The fogon, a traditional open hearth and wood cooking stove has its origins in Mesoamerican Nahuatl culture and family life. The development of the selected fogon design and its fabrication raise intriguing challenges: the fogon must mediate heat for cooking, hold cooking utensils, safely channel smoke in a chimney, be structurally stable and be scaled in size to provide a public gathering place for inter-generational cooks to prepare and share traditional food for community events.

The Workshop offers a hands-on opportunity to learn how an unconventional material—broken and irregular waste brick—can have new life in a functional prototype that can be replicated and adjusted as needs be on additional sites in San Gregorio. Students will produce detailed fabrication documents, brick jigs and layout tools and innovative instructions for building the fogon. The Nahuatl language has no word for ‘waste,’ which inspires a larger scale circularity project that represents how this ‘waste’ brick fogon could include local brick makers, undervalued forms of wood for fuel, and excess food harvested from local restaurants and chinampas. The Workshop will travel to Mexico City during a portion of the IAP period in January 2025 to build the fogon.

Preparatory research development leading to a well-conceived proposition for the MArch design thesis. Students formulate a cohesive thesis argument and critical project using supportive research and case studies through a variety of representational media, critical traditions, and architectural/artistic conventions. Group study in seminar and studio format, with periodic reviews supplemented by conference with faculty and a designated committee member for each individual thesis.

8/30/24: Room change to 9-217

Through formal analysis and discussion of historical and theoretical texts, seminar produces a map of contemporary architectural practice. Examines six pairs of themes in terms of their recent history: city and global economy, urban plan and map of operations, program and performance, drawing and scripting, image and surface, and utopia and projection.

Aims to create a discourse across the various SMArchS discipline groups that reflects current Institute-wide initiatives; introduce SMarchS students to the distinct perspective of the different SMarchS discipline groups; and provide a forum for debate and discussion in which the SMarchS cohort can explore, develop and share ideas. Engages with interdisciplinary thinking, research, and innovation that is characteristic of MIT's culture and can form a basis for their future work. 

Gives a critical orientation towards a career in architectural practice. Uses historical and current examples to illustrate the legal, ethical and management concepts underlying the practice of architecture. Emphasis on facilitating design excellence and strengthening connections between the profession and academia. 

Critical introduction to key contemporary positions in urbanism to the ends of researching, representing, and designing territories that respond to the challenges of the 21st century. Provides an overview of contemporary urban issues, situates them in relation to a genealogy of urban precedents, and constructs a theoretical framework that engages the allied fields of architecture, landscape architecture, political ecology, geography, territorial planning, and environmental humanities. Comprised of three sections, first section articulates a framework on the urban as both process and form, shifting the emphasis from city to territory. Second section engages a series of related urban debates, such as density/sprawl, growth/shrinkage, and codes/exception. Third section calls upon urban agency in the age of environment through the object of infrastructures of trash, water, oil, and food.

Introduces methods for observing, interpreting, and representing the urban environment. Students draw on their senses and develop their ability to deduce, question, and test conclusions about how the built environment is designed, used, and valued. The interrelationship of built form, circulation networks, open space, and natural systems are a key focus. Supplements existing classes that cover theory and history of city design and urban planning and prepares students without design backgrounds with the fundamentals of physical planning. Intended as a foundation for 11.329.

“[I]t has seemed to me that two questions we should ask of any strong landscape are these: firstly, what do I know when I’m in this place that I can know nowhere else? And then, vainly, questions frame our exploration of the urban form. By walking the city, studying historical and contemporary approaches to life on the streets, and investigating our relationship to our environs through writing and other artistic responses, participants will explore how feet give form to the city.

To be considered for the class:

In no more than 350 words, and in a Microsoft Word document (Microsoft Word is available for free to all MIT and GSD students; absolutely no Google Docs), please submit the following application essay:

Introduce yourself to me by letting me know why you’re interested in this seminar and what you hope to gain from it, mentioning what cities you’ve lived in and how you hope to better understand cities and landscape through walking. If there is a particular walk you’ve taken that moved you, discuss it and tell me why you found it resonant.

Feel free to give your application essay a title, ensure that your surname is on the top right margin of the essay, and please email applications to Garnette Cadogan with the subject line “Application Essay, 4.242.”