Introduction

Faculty and Students within the Department of Architecture at MIT have finished design of four small shelters for the H22 festival in Sweden, scheduled for summer 2022.  Shelter fabrication and hosting of students for the project will be sponsored by Ikea in Sweden with the expectation that students will assembly the structures they design. The four shelters will be set within the forest of Fredriksdalsskogen to explore new ways we can live together in face-to-face in community. Student designs below the address Ikea’s five democratic principles of design: Forms, functioning, sustainability, affordability and quality.

Expectations

Although the shelters will be constructed in a distant location using digital fabrication the project presents a great opportunity for the students to learn about ways to apply materials to a lightweight structure. Water is the greatest enemy of any wooden structure. It penetrates through layers of material, weakening the structure by trapping moisture. Research novelty in this project will come from the many ways we will use precision fabrication to align layers of plastic and wood for varying levels of performance and appearance. Our layering technique will allow water to drain from the structures and sustain is overall strength. Finally, we planning to exhibit the process, models and drawings as part of a gallery exhibition in 2023. We will devote the second half of the semester toward building museum quality materials for display.

Summary: This is a rapid-fire, high-level exploration of how to model socio-economic-environmental interventions that could enable low-carbon, entrepreneurial cities using the MIT-Kendall Square district as the case study.   We will focus on two questions:

• What would be required for MIT-Kendall Square to achieve zero-carbon in 20 years?
• Can social performance be simultaneously increased to create a model entrepreneurship community?

Motivation: With cities generating more than 70% of current global CO2 emissions, and with 90% of future population growth occurring in urban areas, it is a societal imperative that cities rapidly transition to a low-carbon future.  In addition, a rapid transition to a hybrid form of work that emphasizes entrepreneurship will impact how we conceive of central business districts, office buildings, housing, public spaces, and services.  

Urban Interventions: Student teams will select one of the following systems for mid-term and final projects:

• Live-work symmetry. Ideally, available jobs in a district would be matched to appropriate and affordable housing.  What are the optimal configuration and mix of places of living and work to create high-performance, livable, entrepreneurial urban communities and how can this be achieved?
• Local amenities access. Few U.S. communities provide the assets required for daily living in close proximity to where people live (shopping, schools, culture, healthcare, daycare, recreation, etc.).  How can amenity proximity be measured and how can local access be achieved by government policy and/or market forces?
• Local food production. Significant CO2 emissions are from food-related supply chains and meat-based diets.  What food products can be produced near the point of consumption and how might new developments in industrial-scale hydroponic/aeroponic food production, cultured meats, and other innovations dramatically lower CO2 emissions?
• Community mobility. A large percentage of urban CO2 emissions is from commuting.  Market forces and current approaches to public policy do not typically lead to diverse and affordable housing near places of employment.  If live-work symmetry and local amenity access are achieved for net-zero commuting, how can we re-imagine local mobility networks and vehicles?  
• Fusion-ready cities. Power to the grid in MA is almost 80% fossil fuel.  What innovations in distributed high-density power could result in zero-carbon power to the district (micro-nuclear, small nuclear reactors, fusion) - and how can this be achieved?
• Compact-high-performance-transformable housing. How high-performance buildings can reduce CO2 emissions with new models for housing?

Experience: Students will gain hands-on experience with the collection and analysis of data, basic python scripts, and simulation tools.  Students will have an opportunity to evaluate the potential of a range of current and emerging urban interventions.

Enrollment: This class seeks highly motivated students with a background in data analytics, engineering, architecture, urban planning, public policy, business, and entrepreneurship. Programming experience is useful but not required (small-team assignments may pair, for example, a designer with a programmer).
 
Final Project: Students will select a backend module to develop that could later be integrated into an urban simulation tool, and write a research paper for a conference. See references to CityScope:

• https://cityscope.media.mit.edu/
• https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/cityscope/overview/

Repeatable for credit with permission of instructor.

4.542:

An advanced examination of the shape grammar formalism and its relationship to some key issues in a variety of other fields, including art and design, philosophy, history and philosophy of science, linguistics and psychology, literature and literary studies, logic and mathematics, and artificial intelligence. Student presentations and discussion of selected readings are encouraged. Topics vary from year to year.

4.582:

In-depth presentations of current research in design and computation.

An in-depth introduction to shape grammars and their applications in architecture and related areas of design. Shapes in the algebras Ui j, in the algebras Vi j and Wi j incorporating labels and weights, and in algebras formed as composites of these. Rules and computations. Shape and structure. Designs.

Topics vary from year to year. Can be repeated with permission of instructor.

Introduces a visual-perceptual, rule-based approach to design using shape grammars. Covers grammar fundamentals through lectures and in-class exercises. Focuses on shape grammar applications, from stylistic analysis to creative design, through presentations of past applications and through short student exercises and projects. Presents computer programs for automating shape grammars.

Additional work required of students taking graduate version.

UG: 4.507 G: 4.567

Class website

Addresses fundamental methods, theories, and practices that engage contemporary modeling tools in the context of architectural design. Introduces selected academic and professional topics through lectures, demonstrations, and assignments. Topics include parametric modeling, component types and assembly, prototyping, scripting, and simulations. Initiates intellectual explorations in the use of building information modeling in research projects and design practices.

Additional work required of students taking graduate version.

Provides students with an opportunity to explore projects that engage real world problems concerning spatial design, technology, media, and society. In collaboration with industry partners and public institutions, students identify topical issues and problems, and also explore and propose solutions through the development of new ideas, theories, tools, and prototypes. Industry and academic collaborators act as a source of expertise, and as clients and critics of projects developed during the term. General theme of workshop varies by semester or year. Open to students from diverse backgrounds in architecture and other design-related areas.

Additional work required of graduate students

The need for affordable housing throughout North America is a never-ending problem. The need for affordable housing has been in crisis since the beginning of time. This is especially the case with the growing need for replacement, rescue and replenishment of housing is greater than it has ever been.  The greatest need at the moment, is in rural environments. Labor shortage and low interest in carpentry means that we need to discover new ways to deliver products.

What is new is that the computation, digital fabrication and robotics offers a new promise for design and delivery of affordable, permanent housing. We will explore the idea digital delivery through the production of Tiny Housing.

This course starts with five critical exercises for digital fabrication and design computing. We will explore varying areas of geometry as curved, folded and planar shapes. These exercises will provide points of entry towards a deeper understanding of surface, mesh & solid modeling and machine control. Simultaneously, traditional methods of construction will be presented as case studies with an in-depth overview of past and present industrial-based systems of home production.

The second half of the course will support student projects with weekly presentations and lab sessions focused on application of new digital techniques. Course deliverables will be four design exercises and a final research question and project.

Additional work required of graduate students.