Sustainable Design Certificate of Achievement

This course introduces students to the process of architectural design, exploring the built environment through different media and activities that address distinct design approaches. It includes studies of various representation techniques, media, and processes to express different design philosophies, and an introduction to the tools, techniques, and methods relevant to the design process. The course introduces students to the various scales of architectural intervention, from the dimensions of the human body all the way to the territory of the city.

This course provides an interdisciplinary overview of sustainability theory and practice, focusing on their expression in the built environment from a humanities perspective. Drawing from philosophy, history, literature, aesthetics, religion, and cultural studies, this course examines how sustainability principles have guided the built environment throughout history and how different cultures across eras, geographies, and climatic regions have interpreted and implemented these strategies. Students will explore how sustainability is measured, valued, and understood by both Western and non-Western societies, including Indigenous cultures, through philosophical, ethical, and cultural lenses. Key topics include energy, infrastructure, environmental economics and policy, ethics, and cultural history.

This introductory architecture design studio course focuses on design process, including the perceptual and physical study of space from conceptualization and form-making to visualization and presentation. Emphasis on design process includes site analysis of environmental, contextual, and cultural aspects of space, design, and the urban environment. Design investigations will focus on a small residential building for a single client that challenges students to consider the environmental and social impact of their design. 

Do you monitor the daily weather? Are you intrigued by severe weather events like tornadoes, tropical cyclones, blizzards, and flooding rain? This course covers Earth's atmospheric phenomena, with special reference to causes and regional distribution of weather and climate, both past and present.  Topics include atmospheric structure and composition, solar radiation and energy balances, temperature, seasonal changes, atmospheric moisture, clouds and fog, precipitation, air pressure, winds, air masses and fronts, cyclones, weather forecasting, climate, and climate change.  Emphasis will be given to current environmental topics, including natural and anthropogenic global climate change, air pollution, and environmental justice.

This is a second-level architectural design studio with a focus on site analysis, design conceptualization and form-making, program development, and deep considerations of environmental and cultural contexts. Emphasis is on critical thinking and problem-solving through design, integrating an understanding and articulation of the role of architecture in addressing environmental, social, and climatic inequalities. Design investigations will focus on a public/cultural institution and will utilize digital software to focus on overall design strategies, structural systems, materials, space, light, and a corresponding set of project representations and physical models.