Change/ No Change

CHANGEAcademia has grappled for some time with how to incorporate sustainabledesign as an integrated part of the foundation design curriculum. Oftenan approach that has tacked-on or arbitrary requirements for sustainabilityresults in, at best, a disjointed approach, and at worst an impoverishmentof design. This paper describes an experiment designed to address thesequestions in the foundation sequence in architecture at the Wentworth Instituteof Technology. The experiment was held during the second semestersophomore year when students are introduced to projects concerning buildingmassing and envelope, siting, orientation and daylight.Buildings materials and assemblies, high technology and the need for implementationof performative strategies in response to our changing climateand diminishing resources led us to consider contemporary buildings as theforefront of implementation of ‘change’.NO CHANGEBy relating ‘back’ to “timeless” or “unchanging” issues of orientation, sunpath and solar geometries, natural light, we were in fact tapping in to theconcept that change itself is a constant. In past years, we began EnvironmentalSystems with an applied take on climate and environmental forcesover time. “Weather Follies”, structures designed and observed by thestudents, were sculptural pieces set outside to record wind, sun angles,precipitation, humidity, surface and diurnal temperature differentials overthe course of one semester. Beginning in 2010, we applied the same logic:record change, understand it in the context of universal precepts regardingbuilding envelope – to a new kind of hands-on assignment.ASSIGNMENTThe assignment bridged two courses: Sophomore Studio and Materials andMethods II, a required lecture course focused on the building envelope.Working from a selection of well-known contemporary built works, studentsbroke into groups of three, first to analyze the envelope, then to build largescalefaçade models of their chosen building.By bridging the two courses, we were able to take advantage of the smallerstudio sections to provide the students with more individual attention, whileproviding the active learning that enriched and helped students comprehendmaterial from the lecture course.CONCLUSIONWorking with students who are beginning to grasp architecture and its attendanttectonics, we enriched digital exercises with a number of possible3-D modeling options such as bas-relief diagramming and physical modelbuilding.The built façade model was the capstone of this experiment. The act ofmaking allowed for a deeper examination of the transformation of an abstractidea to the construction of a surface: idea to form, form to material,material to structure. Specifically, model making acted as a powerfultool toward a deeper understanding of tectonic languages as they informdecision-making in design processes.The success of this project has been recognized throughout the programas a validation of built work and applied knowledge. The façade modelsrepresent the department’s commitment to the art of making.

Volume Editors
Martha Thorne & Xavier Costa

ISBN
978-0-935502-83-1