On the artifact

Laura Miller

The ways in which we read and construe the value of artifacts within the material realm ultimately circumscribes what we are capable of conceptualizing and…

Scale and Modernity: City, Object, Subject

Eve Blau

Modernity, since the late 19th century, has been experienced, perceived, and imagined in terms of radical and transformative changes in the scale of the city,…

Buildings, Texts, and Contexts

Antoine Picon

This six-module sequence, offered over three semesters, presents an introduction to the complex, interwoven web of conceptual issues and historical narratives in western architecture from…

Buildings, Texts, and Contexts

Sarah Goldhagen

This six module sequence, offered over three semesters, presents an introduction to the complex, interwoven web of conceptual issues and historical narratives in western architecture…

Leon Batista Alberti and Italian Renaissance: Architecture, Painting, and Sculpture 1400-1520

Christine Smith

This course explores selected aspects of the writings and works of Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472), seeking to place these in their historical and cultural contexts.

Modernism After World War II

Sarah Goldhagen

Modernism After World War II, a lecture class, addresses the question of what happened to modernism after its initial synthesis and codification in the late…

Cities, Territories and Infrastructures

Antoine Picon

Contemporary urban and territorial space is largely produced by infrastructures. Some of them, like railways, freeways, giant bridges, or power plants, are overwhelmingly present in…

Proseminar in History and Theory

K. Michael Hays

This seminar is for students in the Ph.D. program. Participants will present work toward their dissertation or toward a major research paper, emphasizing issues of…

Independent Study by Candidates for PhD Degrees

Eve Blau

The student conducts a program of individual study under faculty guidance, including auditing of lectures, reading, and exercises as needed to develop skills in methods…

Analysis and Design of Building Structures II

Martin Bechthold

A continuation of GSD 6201, this course addresses the analysis and design of structural elements such as beams, columns, rigid and braced frames, shear walls,…

Building Construction

Kenneth Kao

Contemporary building materials and components are introduced through an investigation of construction assemblies and details. Design concepts and their translation into construction will be examined…

Environmental Technologies in Buildings

Michelle Addington

This course examines the fundamental scientific principles underlying the thermal, luminous, and acoustic behaviors in buildings, and introduces students to the existing technologies for creating…

New Materials and Technologies

Daniel Schodek, Michelle Addington

OVERVIEW…In normative design approaches, a single design state is usually created. The surface, the wall, and the envelope typically serve as the material bounds that…

Databases in Design

Ugo Gagliardi, Pau De Sola-Morales Serra

The growing embodiment of architectural design in digital media requires the proper choice of data structure, formats, and protocols (system architecture) to insure that the…

Computer Aided Design & Manufacturing II

Kimo Griggs, Daniel Schodek

This course is the second of a two-part series that addresses the use of computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) techniques in architecture. The course will…

surfaces. kinetics

Martin Bechthold

The seminar explores the use of surfaces and kinetic systems in architecture, with reference to furniture and product design. \’Surfaces\’ are explored first by an…

Concept to Construct: Building Components and Assemblies

Kenneth Kao

This research seminar will explore how various architects applied computer assisted tools and strategies in the development of design concept, building component fabrication and construction…

Sustainability

Matthias Schuler

Sustainability in building construction and use has to be a project issue from the beginning of the design and is a strong design advisor leading…

Legal Aspects of Design Practice

Carl Sapers

This course focuses on the special obligations and privileges of a design professional. We study governmental regulation, taxation, accounting, and legal organization for a design…

Introduction to the Practice of Architecture

Mack Scogin, Carl Sapers, Victoria Beach

This is a discussion developed by Scogin, Sapers, and Beach to introduce the student to basic issues in architectural practice, including: how an architect obtains…

The Bilbao Guggenhein Museum: Topics in Project Management

Spiro Pollalis, Luis Rodriguez

The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao has had an unprecedented impact not only on the city of Bilbao but also on the value of design and…

Internet and Architecture

Jeffrey Huang

The Internet is fundamentally changing how we practice some of our most basic everyday activities, and challenging how we perceive and use architectural space. Yet…

Technology in Design

Spiro Pollalis

This research seminar explores the use of information technology in the design process and in project delivery. The focus is on the designer and specifically…

3x3x3: THREE months, THREE projects, THREE-thousand clients

Victoria Beach

Good design starts way before architects start sketching. Top architects are often distinguished from the rest partly because they insist on direct contact and close…

Independent Study by Candidates for Master’s Degrees

A. Hashim Sarkis, Virginie Lefebvre, Richard Marshall, Jeffrey Huang, Robert France, Gary R. Hilderbrand, Leland Cott, Paul Cote, Anne McGhee, John R. Stilgoe, Niall Kirkwood, Carl Steinitz, Richard T.T. Forman

Preparation of Design Thesis Proposal for MArch

Toshiko Mori

This entails preparatory work for all students intending subsequently to enroll in GSD 9301. Students research thesis proposals for review and acceptance by faculty.Prerequisites: Graduate…

Advanced Independent Seminar/Workshop: Weaving, Materials and Habitation

Mark Mulligan, Toshiko Mori, Remment Koolhaas, Peter Rowe, Richard Marshall, Roberto Pasini, Jeffrey Inaba, Richard Sommer, Alex Krieger, Martin Zogran

The Workshop explores fabrication and material potential of weaving methods to consider possibilities for habitation structures. Weaving exists in every culture. It is one of…

Independent Thesis in Satisfaction of Degree MArch

Spiro Pollalis, Peter Rowe, Jonathan Levi, Jorge Silvetti, T. Kelly Wilson, Sarah M. Whiting, Ron Witte, Monica Ponce de Leon, Rodolfo Machado, George Baird, Darell Fields, A. Hashim Sarkis, Laura Miller, Nader Tehrani, Maryann Thompson, Joseph MacDonald, Jeffrey Huang, Preston Scott Cohen, Kenneth Kao, Toshiko Mori

Independent Thesis for the Degree Master in Design Studies

Preparation of Doctoral Thesis Proposal

Richard Peiser, Daniel Schodek, Carl Steinitz, Michelle Addington, Peter Rowe, Spiro Pollalis, Miroslava Benes, Jeffrey Huang

Thesis in Satisfaction of the Degree Doctor of Design

Daniel Schodek, Carl Steinitz, Michelle Addington, Alex Krieger, François Vigier, Peter Rowe, Spiro Pollalis

Thesis Extension in Satisfaction of the Degree Master in Architecture

First Semester Core: Introduction to Design and Visual Studies in Architecture

Preston Scott Cohen, Tim Love, Marco Steinberg, Ashley Schafer, Catherine Seavitt, Jonathan Marvel

The first of a four-semester sequence of design studios introduces students to the practice of architectural design, discussing the theoretical principles on which such practice…

Third Semester Core: Architectural Design

Toshiko Mori, Sandro Marpillero, Darell Fields, Ron Witte, Jonathan Levi, Joseph MacDonald

Tectonics, Urbanism and Civic PresenceDistrict Court House in AllstonThe Court House as a building type embodies one of the most powerful potentials for architecture to…

Sighting the Cirque du Soleil

Peter Rose

Founded by a small group of former street performers from rural Quebec, the Cirque du Soleil mounted its first show under an 800 seat tent…

Scarcity

Alejandro Aravena

This studio is about doing Social Housing in Chile. Why? Because the scarcity of time (urgency to solve the need for shelter) and money (lack…

Exhibition and Introspection: New Building Complex for the Art Institute of Boston

Maryann Thompson

site:The site is located between the busy chaos of Mass. Ave. and a quite residential neighborhood of Historic Avon Hill in Cambridge near the T-stop…

Beijing: Urbanism

Yung Ho Chang

After Marco Polo finishes his stories about Venice, Kublai Khan, in return, offers his version of invisible cities:City of Walls, Introverted City, City of Horizon,…

Weather Monitoring Station

Winka Dubbeldam

WEATHER MONITORING STATION IN ICELAND The studio will look at current and future digital technologies / soft wares, which are applied in the study for…

Architecture Museum

Manuel Mateus

Site: Azenhas do Mar – a topographically rich reality, full of sounds and odors. A place that reveals the physical and metaphysical presence of \”materials\”.

i+a

Jeffrey Huang

This studio will investigate the boundaries between physical architecture and information architecture. It will explore the possibilities designing physical and virtual spaces in conjunction with…

Disassembly Required: Constructing the Unwanted Building

Monica Ponce de Leon

Public buildings are rarely without controversy. Their physical presence is bound to raise questions about their very nature, be it by the community they serve…

Coffee, Cake, CAD/CAM: Re-inventing the Urban Diner

Kimo Griggs, Martin Bechthold

Diner:\”A small, usually inexpensive restaurant with a long counter and booths and housed in a building designed to resemble a dining car.\” The American Heritage.

Visual Studies

T. Kelly Wilson

This course will emphasize the construction of space on the two-dimensional surface by way of freehand drawing. In-class visual exercises will identify key concepts in…

Projective Representation in Architecture

Preston Scott Cohen

This course examines the history, theory and practice of parallel (orthographic) and central (perspective) projection. The objective is to provide the tools to imagine and…

Drawing in the City of Rome

T. Kelly Wilson

Advanced 3-D Modeling and Animation

Urs Hirschberg, Allen Sayegh

This course provides a theoretical foundation for advanced geometric modeling and focuses on the architecture of movement and the conception and creation of animated form.

Visualizing Information

Urs Hirschberg, Jeffrey Huang, David Rose

This seminar explores how information can be presented visually on the Internet and provides a broad understanding of the visualization of different types of information.

Product Design: Industrial Design

Marco Steinberg

Intended as an in-depth overview of the history and practice of product design, the seminar will investigate questions central to its discipline.The course will follow…

Topics in Architectural Theory

George Baird, Sarah M. Whiting, K. Michael Hays

This course is an advanced elective course for students who wish to pursue studies in the field of twentieth century architectural theory beyond the introduction…