Elective Course
Credits: 3-0-3 (3 semester hours)
Type of Course Seminar, Workshop
Instructors: Christopher Jarrett
Prerequisites: None
Course Overview: This course offers a general exposure to questions pertaining to the ecological production of building. It considers the meaning of reorienting the role of the architect from master designer to facilitator of ecological initiatives. Architectural projects will be studied in view of both environmental and intellectual propositions, as well as in view of technical requirements. The relation between theoretical and practical concerns is seen as central to an understanding of ecological technologies as an emerging field. The course consists of two parts: Seminar + Workshop
The role of the seminar is to review IDEAS and discuss projects which exhibit constructive partnerships between ecological thinking and building technology. Projects utilizing environmentally sensitive building products that reduce the use of petro-chemicals, off-gas volatile organic compounds and toxic substances will be studied. Contemporary projects employing the use of indigenous, renewable and recycled materials, solar instrumentation, smart technologies, and intelligent systems will be interrogated.
The role of the workshop is to CONSTRUCT specific design proposals by applying the knowledge and material covered in the seminar. The workshop will consist of a) four design problems in relation to the four elements and the four primary components of a building, and b) a final synthetic project that may be coordinated with your studio project.
Learning Objectives: (See above)
Course Requirements: While the seminar serves as a space to examine how contemporary architects are addressing questions of ecology in relation to building technology, the workshop allows one to speculate on new tectonic possibilities. Course requirements include class participation (20%) and workshop projects (80%).
Texts include K Daniels, The Technology of Ecological Building (Birkhauser, 2000), C Schittich [ed.], Building Skins (Birkhauser, 2001); A Cuito [ed], Ecological Architecture (Loft Press, 2000); C Kibert, J Sendzimir, G Guy [eds.], Construction Ecology (SPON, 2002). The seminar will examine projects embodying an interactive relationship with the environment by Renzo Piano, Toyo Ito, Ken Yeang, Lacatan and Vassal, Norman Foster, Peter Rice, Servo, Shigeru Ban, Glen Murcutt, Francois Roche, Herzog and deMeuron, Kengo Kuma, Martin Rauch, Francoise Jourda, Cloud 9, among others.