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.

Introduces the tools, techniques and technologies of design across a range of projects in a studio environment. Explores concepts related to form, function, materials, tools, and physical environments through project-based exercises. Develops familiarity with design process, critical observation, and the translation of design concepts into digital and physical reality. Utilizing traditional and contemporary techniques and tools, faculty across various design disciplines expose students to a unique cross-section of inquiry.

Provides instruction in architectural design and project development with an emphasis on social, cultural, or civic programs. Builds on foundational design skills with more complex constraints and contexts. Integrates aspects of architectural theory, building technology, and computation into the design process. 

UG: 4.032, G: 4.033

What are the political and economic patterns behind the history of skyscraper construction in New York City? What would it look like if women’s fencing stats received the same amount of attention as pro football? What can we learn from interviewing multicultural students about their experience at MIT? What stories can be told from two decades of a family’s Amazon purchase history?

But more important, in our increasingly messy information environment, how do we make data accessible, usable, and clear? How are the things we create deployed and used in the real world? And by whom?

This course is an introduction to working with and visualizing information in a hands-on studio environment. The course progresses though basic data analysis, visual design and presentation, and more sophisticated interaction techniques.

Information from past courses can be found at https://infodesign.mit.edu, or feel free to email with questions.

Graduate students are expected to complete additional assignments. 

Note for MArch students: 4.033 erves as a COMP Non-Restricted OR Restricted Elective

Focuses on producing a small series of manufactured products. Students develop products that address specific user needs, propose novel design concepts, iteratively prototype, test functionality, and ultimately exhibit their work in a retail context. Stemming from new research and technological developments around MIT, students try to imagine the future products that emerge from new materials and machine intelligence. Provides an in-depth exploration of the design and manufacturing of products, through narrative, form, function, fabrication, and their relationship to customers. 

UG: 4.043, G: 4.044

Overview of core principles and techniques for the design of interaction, behavior, and intelligence across objects and spaces. In a studio environment, students develop low and high-fidelity interactive prototypes that can be deployed and experienced by real users. Lectures cover the history and principles of human-computer interaction, behavior prototyping, physical and graphical user interfaces, machine intelligence, neural networks, and large language models. Provides a foundation in technical skills, such as physical prototyping, coding, and electronics, as well as how to collect data, train, and deploy their own neural network models. Students complete a series of small interaction exercises and a portfolio-level final project. 

Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments. 

Note for MArch students: 4.044 serves as a COMP Non-Restricted OR Restricted Elective

UG: 4.110 | G: 4.111

MAS.S60 is open to graduates and undergraduate students.

**TIME CHANGE: Lecture is now 3-5pm on Tuesdays**

Inspired by Charles and Ray Eames' canonical Powers of Ten, explores the relationship between science and engineering through the lens of design. Examines how transformations in science and technology have influenced design thinking and vice versa. Provides interdisciplinary skills and methods to represent, model, design and fabricate objects, machines, and systems using new computational and fabrication tools. Aims to develop methodologies for design research of interdisciplinary problems.

Additional work required of students taking the graduate version.

UG: 4.118, G: 4.117

Dedicated to bridging the gap between the virtual and physical world, the subject embraces modes of computation that hold resonance with materials and methods that beg to be computed. Students engage in bi-weekly exercises to solve complex design problems. Each exercise is dedicated to a different computation approach (recursion, parametric, genetic algorithms, particle-spring systems, etc.) that is married to a physical challenge, thereby learning the advantages and disadvantages to each approach while verifying the results in physical and digitally fabricated prototypes. Through the tools of computation and fabrication, it empowers students to design as architects, engineers and craftspeople. 

Additional work required of student taking for graduate credit. 

Provides instruction in designing and building a functional piece of furniture from an original design. Develops woodworking techniques from use of traditional hand tools to digital fabrication. Gives students the opportunity to practice design without using a building program or code. Surveys the history of furniture making. 

Fosters a holistic understanding of the architectural-building cycle, enabling students to build upon the history of design and construction to make informed decisions towards developing innovative building systems. Includes an overview of materials, processing methods, and their formation into building systems across cultures. Looks at developing innovative architectural systems focusing on the building envelope. Seeks to adapt processes from the aerospace and automotive industries to investigate buildings as prefabricated design and engineering assemblies. Synthesizes knowledge in building design and construction systems, environmental and structural design, and geometric and computational approaches.

Builds on Core I skills and expands the constraints of the architectural problem to include issues of urban site logistics, cultural and programmatic material (inhabitation and human factors), and long span structures. Two related projects introduce a range of disciplinary issues, such as working with precedents, site, sectional and spatial proposition of the building, and the performance of the outer envelope. Emphasizes the clarity of intentions and the development of appropriate architectural and representational solutions.

This interdisciplinary studio brings together students from MIT Architecture and Atelier LUMA to imagine, design, and realize new approaches to building in extreme environments on Earth, landscapes that are increasingly shaped by climate change. Building on the Space Architecture studios of the past two years, which focused on lunar and orbital habitats, this course shifts its lens to terrestrial extremes through three guiding principles: In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) adapted from space exploration, bioregional and natural material design rooted in Atelier LUMA’s practice, and the ethos of Building with Nature informed by the Self-Assembly Lab’s work in the Maldives and Iceland. In this studio, students will design, fabricate, test, and deploy high-performance, packable shelters, habitats, or field stations made exclusively from natural materials and tailored to conditions such as wind, rain, temperature, snow, and sun. Through a sequence of concept research, intensive prototyping and testing, and full-scale field deployment, both at Atelier LUMA and in New England ecosystems, the studio challenges students to harness local materials, environmental forces, and emerging fabrication techniques to create adaptive, resilient architectures for extreme conditions.