This class is about making maps across scales. To the cartographers, maps are never neutral. It gives rise to decision-making that are first and foremost political—to  include, to exclude, to highlight, to hide away—which speaks to  a desired audience that is specific, if not social and cultural. That is to say that making maps is also about mapping space and  time.

Every session, we will explore a specific way of representing maps—the map of bodies, communities, cities, systems, territories, wars, and invisible traces to the globe. Students will be able to learn modes of illustrating and plotting maps, basics of GIS (in this case QGIS, but we could also talk about ArcGIS if desired), workflows between 2D and 3D representation of terrains, urban fabrics, data visualizations through illustrator and rhino, that could later compile into an atlas of drawings.

The class will run 3 hours, with the first 1 to 1.5 hours dedicated to theories and case studies of mapping and the second 1 to 1.5 hours dedicated to specific technical workshops. The  format is also flexible depending on the class size and the  students' desires.

While there is no specific "final output" for this course, it  would be great if everyone know what kinds of atlas/maps/drawings or skills they would expect the course to teach them as  an initial survey.

The class syllabus will be uploaded here in mid-December.

Limited to 8 — sign up here

One week workshop aimed at working through the various methods to go from a two-dimensional drawing to a three-dimensional drawing, by hand. The workshop will specifically work through Axonometric and Isometric projections as well as 1, 2, and 3 point constructed linear perspectives. Supplies will be provided but feel free to bring your favorite pencil and/or ruling device!

Sign up by January 8, 2024.

The urgency of the climate crisis has motivated a growing interest in material reuse at scale in architecture to support an alternative, circular approach to building construction.  The Odds & Mods pedagogy platform will offer a multi-year curriculum focused on these topics from a variety of perspectives.  In this IAP workshop, students and instructors will focus on technologies and workflows for digital circularity, encompassing a range of methods to acquire, characterize, design with, engineer, fabricate, and assemble reused and undervalued materials.  Students will specifically develop skills to engage in existing and emerging frameworks for reuse of unconventional and undercharacterized materials in creative architectural contexts.  The workshop will involve both technology-augmented, hands-on making and the use of computational design tools.

Research and project activities, which cover the range represented by the various research interests and projects in the Department.

Research and project activities, which cover the range represented by the various research interests and projects in the department. Students who wish a letter grade option for their work must register for 4.URG.

Students select thesis topic, define method of approach, and prepare thesis proposal for SMArchS degree. Faculty supervision on an individual or group basis. Intended for SMArchS program students prior to registration for 4.THG.

This offering of 4.288 is for SMArchS Architecture Design program students.

Explores initial thesis ideas and bases for choosing among multiple interests. Assessment of design research strengths and weaknesses. Overview of conceptual frameworks and research methods. Preparation for summer field research and proposal development.

Introduces critical theories and contemporary practices in the field of urbanism that challenge its paradigms and advance its future. Includes theoretical linkages between ideas about the cultures of urbanization, social and political processes of development, environmental tradeoffs of city making, and the potential of design disciplines to intervene to change the future of built forms. Events and lecture series co-organized by faculty and doctoral students further engage and inform research.

Introduces a range of practical approaches involved in evaluating and planning sites within the context of natural and cultural systems. Develops the knowledge and skills to analyze and plan a site for development through exercises and an urban design project. Topics include land inventory, urban form, spatial organization of uses, parcelization, design of roadways, grading, utility systems, off-site impacts, and landscape strategies.