110th Annual Meeting

Commissioned as a pop-up museum for the university’s Museum of Natural History and Culture, “1-452: Embodied Sphere Project” activates a critical discourse about the role of the museum in contemporary culture. As the philosopher Baudrillard writes, “We live in a world with more and more information and less and less meaning.”1 If this is true, then what consequence might digital preservation evoke for the museum of the future? The curator, by nature of the available real estate housed in a physical structure, must rely heavily on the processes and acts of editing. As such, is it likely that any contemporary exhibit runs the risk of telling less stories and imposing a mere linear narrative upon a rich tapestry of cultural data points? The alternative digital gallery knows no bounds but often times falls short in that its curator has trouble letting go, allowing everything to be sacred to a certain point. Perhaps there is middle ground between these two contemporary models: one that presents a refined collection with physical constraints and one that adds a diverse cultural element to tell the stories often discarded in the design of exhibits and museum catalogues. Sites like Instagram provide an interesting precedent as they include “selfies” in front of historical works as the core of their curated collection, moments where the past becomes an active participant in the present. “1-452: ESP” privileges such moments, the human and seemingly random connection, as a next major step in the evolution of the museum. Polaroids of individuals that have played an active role in the museum are buried within a landscape of pink packing peanuts. Pseudo-archeologists slowly unearth the images, tag them, and then hang them around the circumference of the transparent sphere, thereby yielding a greater embodied space. The design was choreographed over eleven acts that included [01] Inflation, [02] Fastening, [03] Suiting Up, [04] Entry Sequence, [05] Surveying Site, [06] Identifying Dig Site, [07] Excavation, [08] Specimen Recovery, [09] Tagging and Bagging, [10] Landing Sequence, and [11] Acclimation. While highly visual, the installation responded to sound with the inclusion of a piece entitled “m64_Mroot_M64_M64;repeat” composed specifically for the “ESP” and created by a constant rhythmic striking of tuned wooden 2”x4”s. Sound, or a lack thereof, also played a significant role as the pseudo-archeologists that occupied the inflated sphere were trained to translate their various actions through sign-language, thereby yielding an even greater feeling of embodiment and a personal connection between the design and the several thousand visitors to the site.

Leonardo Da Vinci’s list of accomplishments put him among the world’s greatest artists and inventors. However, over 500 years ago, one controversial sketch wasn’t as much appreciated and has been the topic of many contemporary investigations. Today, more than five centuries later, we are reexamining Da Vinci’s ambitious proposal but not only to look into the structural feasibility of whether or not his design would have been safely constructed, but to delve into the inner workings of Da Vinci’s mind to see if the polymath had prior knowledge of creating stable and efficient forms which has only recently being developed using a computational framework based on the principle of geometrical equilibrium in 3D. Was his sketch just free-handed, something he had done in seconds? Or the renaissance painter and inventor had an intuition that was more than five centuries ahead of its time? Although most historians believe he had no mathematical or geometrical calculation in his design, our study proves otherwise! Through rigorous analysis of Da Vinci’s design, we have found that the polymath had intuitively drawn his sketch according to the principles of geometric design that was developed in 2D almost 400 years after his time and just recently in a 3-Dimensional manner with the help of computational frameworks. This research further continues to explore the potential of Da Vinci’s design with the use of modern materials and methods of construction to see how the design would have been built in our modern time.

Web Model Dot Space looks at the spatial opportunities of archival information – a process we refer to as “embodying the archive”. This work begins with the collection of geospatial building data through LiDAR scanning technology and ultimately envisions and develops a variety of thematic experiences through their subsequent creative applications. Two goals within this work are to 1/ document and archive buildings indicative of cultural legacies within the city over time and 2/ provide opportunities for expanded engagement and interpretation of these buildings through multimedia and mixed reality formatting. The name “Web Model Dot Space” is derived from the point cloud outputs of LiDAR scanning ( dot spaces ) which are then subsequently coded into an online webGL archive as interactive architectures (web models). The result of this work is a series of visual and performance art artifacts which are accessed both through URL (www.webmodel.space) and IRL as big models, small architectures, and printable design ephemera. Of particular interest is the ability to map complex geospatial building data onto simple 2d plottable files which could then assemble back into representational environments.  These low-resolution building copies or “home domes” provide a type of physical spatial access to this archival information across expansive geographies and in decentralized simultaneous instances. Through “embodying the archive” these domes become analyzed, occupied, and/ or programmed in new and improvisational ways. Ultimately, the engagement of these existing architectures through multimedia and mixed reality formats provides new avenues for interpretation regarding the ephemerality of buildings, their legacies over time, and their capacity for visionary adaptive reuse.

Part of a comprehensive studio design project, the exercise presented in this paper is a vehicle to investigate design thinking processes and how students construct intentions. The theme is the book and media. The semester’s project begins with seminars on the history of books. The discussion delves into a book’s craftsmanship and as a symbol for embodied knowledge and progresses to the roles books have played in society. Expanding the theme, discussion leads to the question of a book’s preservation (vault) or its destruction in a digital society (memorial). The exercise is contingent upon the opposition created between the two spheres inherent to the title, Vaults versus Memorials. It positions the student in a manner that resists allocation to one sphere or another, an impetus for restructuring specified spheres according to new schemas. Written texts play an interlocutory role during the production of students’ drawings. Each of the assigned texts offers an entry point to a tacit learning situation and a restructuring of semantic fields. With reference to Paul Ricoeur’s research on interpretation theory,1 a mental distancing between text and drawing exposes students to ambiguities and the realization that prejudices play a role in understanding and interpreting meaning in the production of a visual work. The act of drawing produces its own frame of reference that we trace in three modes of production. These can be categorized as metaphoric interaction, textual dissection, and the guess. Vaults versus Memorials establishes a dialectical situation between explanation and understanding which lends itself to an open investigatory process. With the expansion of theme through drawing and by the depth of inferred meanings, students can speculate as to which interpretation is the most plausible fiction establishing probable, subjective criteria to carry forward during later stages of the design.

For the past 27 years, the community design center based at the University of [redacted] has worked with community organizations and nonprofit partners across the city of Detroit to envision neighborhood spaces resulting from community-engaged design processes. For the past decade, since co-leading a broad and deep citywide civic engagement effort, the center has expanded its methods and tools of engagement with intention and in collaboration with partners and in the context of diverse projects in distinct neighborhoods. Engagement methods aim to enable community-driven design of spaces for and by local communities. Central to the mission and methods of the center is the belief that the best design solutions merge discipline and community expertise, which results from relationship-building, two-way exchange of information, and meaningful partnerships. This approach relates to design processes on projects ranging from building rehab and pocket parks to neighborhood plans and citywide infrastructure. This paper will situate the center’s work in a broad history of community-engaged design, call out lessons for effective engagement from decades of practice, highlight lessons from recent projects with testimonials from project partners, and situate the work in light of recent challenges. A discussion of principles and methods will unpack strategies that draw a direct line from community conversations to design decisions, at a variety of scales. This work recognizes shifts in strategies to be responsive to scale, cultural and community context, and capacity, and considers influencing variables such as trust-building required, project pace, participating partners, and COVID constraints. In turn, this paper articulates lessons for community engagement practice at the center as well as the broader field.

Profound architecture engages all our senses and placing us in the world with distinct specificity. Memories are triggered by the tactile, sonic, and aromatic qualities of an environment. We are at once very keenly aware of our surroundings while also sometimes viscerally transported to another time and place. This ability for environments to hold us in two places at once is powerful and speaks to the imprint memories can have on us when all our senses are employed.  How can sensory-centric design be utilized to create learning environments where the primary learner is dependent on non-visual cues? Can broader notions of exploration, journey, learning and discovery be elevated by these strategies? The project explorations presented here trace inclusive sensory-centric design strategies that allow visually impaired and blind children to engage with their surroundings within learning environments. In working with a community partner, The Kansas State School for the Blind and their orientation and mobility specialists, keen insights to the challenges and barriers in developing appropriate and inclusive environments were documented. This study also draws from two case studies that test the impact of sensory design and its ability to allow users to more fully experience their surroundings: the Denver Anchor School for blind children (2007) and the Glasgow Hazelwood School (2008).  Lessons can be taken from these learning environments designed for educational settings in which “ocularcentrism” 1 has not been privileged over experiencing the world through all our senses. The question explored here is whether projects that prioritize sensory engagement create greater human experiences by connecting us more meaningfully to our built environment. In this way, environments not only function better for those with sight impairment but inclusive to all users of the space. Pedagogically, the exploration develops three important skills. First, the ability to conduct research into the needs of a very specific demographic in order to fully emphasize with the needs of that group. Second, the ability to value a collaborative and participatory design processes. And, three, the ability to recognize that designing environments with all senses in mind can yield more meaningful places than designing only for the visual.

Activate, Articulate, Advocate: for the Right to Occupy, Hold Ground, and Upgrade
This multi-year participatory action research with engaged mentoring of professional students provides a spatial justice lens to the arsenal of tools and strategies available for activist educators. The transdisciplinary project involving 14 favelas and young land occupations, NGOs, and universities, highlights the informal urbanization of green and blue zones in São Paulo’s southern periphery. Building on the Freirean legacy, this collaboration calls for the US academy to adopt an anti-colonial stance, learning from and providing support for informal dwellers’ everyday urbanisms while joining social movements’ struggles for social transformation. The project operates through three tactical actions aimed to [A]ctivate through capacity building; [A]rticulate through knowledge exchange between younger and consolidated informal communities, [A]dvocate through proper funding and policy reform, for the right to occupy, hold ground and upgrade. Activate: The project carries out the co-production of resilient land occupation practices at the community level. Working with the residents of occupation Jardim Gaivotas, students from the US and a local institution engage with grassroots’ methodologies that emerge from the lived experiences of land occupiers, such as the tree of dreams. Articulate: the 14 favelas and land occupations, with a platform to exchange experiences of community organization, which engendered demands for urbanized land, housing, and access to water during Covid-19. Advocate: elevating the action research findings as part of the 1st and 2nd Meeting of Favelas and Occupations in October 2019 and March 2021, where over 70 favelas and occupations and institutions proposed and demanded solutions to the government through Urban Manifestos. Informal dwellers at the megacities of the Global South are citizen- architects & planners, blending nature and artificial environments to create secure shelter and resilient habitats. US universities must recognize their protagonism, joining their fight to defy inequalities. Without Roof, Water, and Floor, We Live No More!

Architecture of Ecological Attunement is a collaborative design pedagogy for the core studio curriculum centered on architecture’s response to climate change, designed and led by Dana Cupkova at the Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture from 2015-2021. The studio framework focused on the interface of  landscape and architecture: uncovering its social, infrastructural, and ecological histories, and its related patterns of pollution and toxicity as they shape cultures of post-industrial urbanization. Investigating conditions of aging infrastructure as a substrate for new forms of human and non-human habitation, the studio is situated within an urban ecology of perpetual flooding.  Structured as BArch/MArch coordinated studio, with collaborative teaching sections, the overarching pedagogy was supported with a series of lectures, computational design workshops, and embedded simulation workflows to enhance the student’s agility in evaluating design impact across scales. The focus was on coupling qualitative design methods with evidence-based design, while emphasizing environmental ethics beyond the professional confounds of sustainability.

Architecture as a Vehicle for Ecological and Communal Restoration: Ecology works across boundaries imposed by social and political systems. Historically, large-scale ecological patterns have been disregarded within the practices of architecture and urban planning. Instead, modernist design thinking as inherited from the era of industrialization was largely co-opted by ideologies of capital that organize social systems according to political and economic engineering, rather than equitable access to resources. This studio nurtures drawing techniques founded in a rejection of such reductivism, borrowing from cartography and dynamic landscape descriptions, while moving towards data-rich design frameworks. Resisting the current trend towards ever larger human ecological footprints, the studio aimed to instill the design of architectures and landscapes to promote new forms of spatial democracy; to provoke novel architectural aesthetics; and to enable a projective design imagination tightly linked to creation of bio-syntsynthetic and natural, multispecies environments.

Many schools of architecture are facing a pressing issue: How do we offer access to fabrication in an equitable and inclusive manner? Furthermore, how can we create a sustainable, pedagogical model for our institutions to share knowledge about machinery and fabrication processes that are often inaccessible? Two architecture programs, one a PWI (Predominately White Institution) and one an HBCU (Historically Black College/University), joined forces during the 2020-2021 academic year. Together they explored the teaching of advanced fabrication in a virtual/remote learning space. Advanced fabrication mentors from the PWI provided virtual/remote mentorship for students at the HBCU, to assist in designing for and using the ShopBot CNC router at their school’s fabrication space.  The team of fabrication mentors stayed constant over both semesters, in contrast to a changing cohort of students and project objectives. During the fall, HBCU worked with mentors to complete a bigger scale, parametric modeling project. Throughout this semester, both teams realized that existing practices, already developed for use in other remote learning environments, were not fulfilling the pedagogical goals of these advanced fabrication efforts. In the spring semester, the PWI/HBCU teaching team reworked the curriculum, as the student body progressed towards smaller scale making-focused projects. In addition, the implementation of newer, innovative technologies in live-streaming allowed for more responsive and interactive collaboration. These projects tackled two primary challenges: working through the technical issues of digital and physical fabrication, and establishing a remote, fabrication-oriented mentorship process, which by nature is hands-on and requires in-person work. Coordinated work sessions between the two universities’ fabrication spaces were facilitated through a real-time, multi-camera, CNC set-up which utilized open-source software to sync multiple audio feeds, screen share (Rhino and CNC programing software), and live video feeds of both CNC router setups. Iterative improvements to the technical set-up were invaluable as consistency and learning from past errors were major keys to success, evidenced by a dramatic improvement in the quality of work and participation from one semester to the next. To sustain this new pedagogical model of exchange, a legacy of knowledge needs to be built. This starts by ensuring that there are always more experienced students who can guide incoming students (and those who are new to fabrication). All of this will be possible by maintaining the primary goal of increasing accessibility to the technological and machine-based integration that is necessary for architectural education programs to remain relevant in the future. This collaboration demonstrated that remote digital and physical fabrication is possible, and both universities are working to expand this platform to other projects and collaborations. By recognizing and leveraging the expertise that already exists within faculty and staff of each institution, collaboration-come-knowledge exchange is not only possible but fruitful and highly effective. Remaining vigilant in the efforts to increase equity of access should be the charge of all schools of architecture; embracing ever-evolving pedagogy through an understanding that experimentation is necessary will propel this type of learning, allowing for a model that is both transportable and sustainable.

Legitimation Code Theory, or LCT, a framework from education studies, offers the potential for a new perspective on architectural education by distinguishing the different forms knowledge can take and the conditions that determine whether knowledge is considered legitimate within a field of practice such as architecture. At a time when the field is under pressure to respond to climate change and social equity,  LCT offers a cogent and tested set of tools for understanding the present state of architectural education and influencing its future. Building on the core LCT dimension of Specialization, three potentials for the field are identified in the interest of moving the field toward a polyvalent definition of architecture.

The construction of a certified passive house in a rural, red state signals the successful completion of a case-study project that has had far-reaching effects beyond initial expectations. Instituting passive house principles into the curriculum of a newly established professional degree program was highlighted by the design, construction, certification, sale and monitoring of this single-family home. And while the house is the most visible manifestation, the ongoing influence of the larger initiative may prove to be its most important legacy. This includes a solidifying curriculum that teaches passive strategies, environmental stewardship and professional responsibility, and further establishes the department’s role in community design, leading by example in an underserved region. The cycle of certified houses, established by PH01:BRK, now seeks to enter a self-sustaining mode of developing projects. The PHIUS certified PH01:BRK serves as a model to successor projects that hone technical, budgetary and curricular constraints while continuing the momentum established by the first house. This paper describes the initiative within a pedagogical context, as a forerunner of sustainable building within the regional building industry, and as a political marker in a state that rejects regulation and often the notion of climate change altogether. This cultural condition has even created a difficult framework for the continuation of the initiative within the university itself.  This paper also summarizes and speculates on the initiative as a unique pedagogical model for design-build studio and supporting technical and professional coursework. Students were exposed to many of the design challenges that we have come to expect from a design-build studio in terms of process, outcomes, and challenges. This does not diminish the student’s effort and embrace of the project. It does, however, bring attention to the positive effects that have been seen in the resulting curricular and service roles of the department and the recognition throughout the community. This is especially significant in a rural state with no residential energy code and negligible building code enforcement, suggesting issues that go beyond pedagogy and are measured against the region’s cultural and sociopolitical landscape.

An architect and small firm owner of New York-based Subterranean Architects, Camille Sherrod has been a part time faculty member at the School of Public Architecture within the Michael Graves College at Kean University since 2017 and was recently awarded an inaugural Equity In Action Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship. Camille balances her teaching and creative work with a focus on the relationship between architecture, health, and culture. She serves as studio coordinator and NOMAS faculty advisor allowing her to develop independent study coursework and research opportunities that allow students to complete core course credit for their work on NOMAS design competitions and Habitat for Humanity. She emphasizes methods, tools, and techniques as diverse as her students themselves, reflecting both the diversity of the profession and its capacity to accommodate diverse voices from its practitioners. Camille graduated with an M.Arch from the Architectural Association in London. Camille recognizes the “long, illustrious history of forward-reaching, creative achievements and socio-cultural impacts” in architecture and design, but notes that the “contemporary field suffers from a severe lack of diversity in its ranks as well as in academia.” Her research focuses on the marginalization of design, which she describes as a built environment that does not reflect the socio-cultural richness of its communities. Camille helped lead the establishment of the Center for Design Equity (CDE) at Kean University. The goal of the CDE is to address the critical need to support a diverse profession and to increase and support the meaningful creative output of underrepresented groups in architecture and design. In doing so, the CDE has a three-fold impact: to raise the living standard for under-resourced communities, to grow and support equity-minded leaders in A&D, and to provide opportunities for the public to better understand the value of the built environment.

This paper outlines combinatorial methods in design which empower architects with systematic approaches for producing novel spatial and formal aggregations that allow for sustainable and practical approaches to fabrication and construction. Combinatorial design methodologies, differ from parametric approaches in that they explore part to whole relationships, through additive repetition of discrete parts designed to share tectonic relationships in three-dimensional space. This paper outlines two case study projects that appropriate this methodology and describes the formal, material, and manufacturing possibilities of the approach.

Zippered Wood | Creating non-orthogonal architectural assemblies using the most common linear building component (the 2×4)
The challenge and our solution: Across North America, the building industry razes and replaces existing light wood-frame buildings with new structures at an alarming rate. Zippered Wood strategically taps into this waste stream, productively feeding waste-wood back onto the job site through the unconventional redeployment of light-frame construction’s most basic component: the 2×4. With Zippered Wood, we take custody of “spent” lumber, pulled from demolished houses, used formwork, and off-cuts; all likely destined for the landfill or furnace. Our technique (and requisite tools) transforms this waste material into new, formally specific elements, ready for reuse in fresh or modified construction. Zippered Wood is our novel take on wood joinery and deformation. We cut digitally generated, formally specific joint patterns into salvaged boards to produce predictably precise bent and twisted members. The technique introduces new formal opportunities for architects. It also extends the 2×4’s ­material lifespan, sequesters carbon, and offers a second chance for existing material to be useful in new contexts. Our process consists of bespoke geometric analysis algorithms that translate simulated twists or bends into unique joint patterns. Robotic milling transcribes these coded joints into reclaimed stock, removing the need for formwork or skilled assembly. After milling, we assemble corresponding milled members by the simple application of adhesive and pressure. Form is a result of the cumulative displacement occurring between all faces of the internal joint pattern. Zippered Wood uses material-informed digital processes to convert standard 2x4s into formally sophisticated building components (both sticks and sheets). Wood knot detection, radio frequency glue curing, custom CNC saws, and automated assembly are notable in-process research goals. Our ultimate agenda is to intercept what would normally be considered waste lumber (off-cuts and post-demolition material) and, through this novel reclamation technology, to productively extend its usefulness to future generations of buildings.

New River Train Observation Tower
AGENDA: The New River Train Observation Tower (NRTT) student-faculty design-build strives for excellence in design learning outcomes through a tripartite approach: cross-disciplinary education, research innovation, and service to community. The project links “Beyond Boundaries” curricular objectives to design pedagogies through the cross-pollination of scientific and artistic practice during both the early-stage (material research) and late-stage (design research and construction) project phases. EDUCATION: The design-build project is the physical manifestation of nearly eight years of material and design research across multiple collaborating disciplines and university colleges. Stemming from two pedagogically linked courses between Sustainable Biomaterial and Architecture students in 2018, the NRTT project has solidified sustained cross-college collaborations between Architecture, Sustainable Biomaterials, Wood Science, Forestry, and Building Construction through hybrid courses, multi-disciplinary design lab reviews, hybrid thesis committees, student pursuit of minors, and other student learning benefits.

RESEARCH: The NRTT design-build project sets multiple benchmarks for cross-laminated timber (CLT) research, design, and construction globally. Rather than import softwood CLT into oversupplied, hardwood-dominate forest regions of the Eastern US, the student/faculty project team chose to “think local” to reduce carbon costs. The multidisciplinary student-faculty team developed a structurally-viable, high-performance, local-species H-CLT product with low-grade wood and utilized it for the construction of a 30-foot high, 75-foot long publicly-accessible tower. The team’s H-CLT product not only outperforms all other CLT in the US market, but the project is also the first permanent building permitted for, and constructed with, hardwood CLT in the United States.

SERVICE: As the hardwood was harvested and upcycled within a 200-mile radius of the project site, the design-build sets a precedent for the sustainable upcycling of low-value local resources. Programmatically, the NRTT provides handicap access to views over the New River, one piece of a larger community service effort to improve the built environment in an economically-depressed Appalachian town.

FURNITURE URBANISM Furniture Urbanism is a fabrication-oriented design studio conducted to provide our students with an experience of engaging the realities of full-scale fabrication and the complexities of designing objects for public urban spaces. Co-conceived and co-led by an architecture professor and a fine-furniture maker who manages the university makerspaces, this course highlighted their varying yet complimentary pedigrees of furniture, fabrication, and material insights. Furniture Urbanism is a hypothesis that is related to urban furniture, the human-scaled urban objects and infrastructures that populate the public realm. It also draws from Everyday Urbanism, the activation of common and unconsidered urban spaces with periodic events and opportunistic uses (Crawford 2008). It also has affiliations with Tactical Urbanism, low-cost, high-impact urban interventions to transform public behavior and use of city spaces (Lydon and Garcia 2015). Furniture Urbanism is meant to stimulate social interaction by engaging people not only with the designed object but also with the other urbanites who are drawn to it. The studio was composed of two phases: Furniture and Urbanism. In the Furniture phase, each student produces a finished furniture object, building skills alongside an awareness of furniture from a creator and user standpoint. This immediately engaged students in improvisational thinking and a ‘designing-through-making’ process. Prototyping early and often supported student improvisation while increasing their confidence in navigating the undiscovered. In the Urbanism phase, students formed design teams to conduct a collaborative process of merging the individual designs into purposeful propositions. The final Furniture Urbanism objects were then deployed as finished prototypes across our urban campus. Through this sequence of individual and collective projects, the students learned to balance what craftsman and author David Pye describes as the “workmanship of risk” that is dependent on individual dexterity and the “workmanship of certainty” that is rooted in systems of production (Pye, 1995). [i] Crawford, Margaret. 1999. “Blurring the Boundaries: Public Space and Private Life,” in Everyday Urbanism, edited by John Chase, Margaret Crawford, and John Kaliski. 22-35. New York, NY: Monacelli Press. [ii] Lydon, Mike, and Anthony Garcia. 2015. Tactical Urbanism: Short Term Action for Long-Term Change, 2-6. Washington, DC: Island Press.  [iii] Pye, David. 1995. The Nature and Art of Workmanship. 20. London: Herbert Press.

Augmenting the digital review serves as an investigation into the use of augmented reality technology within early architectural education as means of introducing both historical and contemporary tools of abstract making and seeing. The research, which culminated in a summer pre-college outreach two-week intensive program, examines the critical usage of image-based software applications, for their ability to bridge the digital-physical divide within a youth population whom, had not previously been exposed to architectural making, but might have native familiarity with readily accessible smart phone interfaces for camera based environmental capture. The research builds upon the optic history of architectural drawing procedures towards a new form of abstraction and representation using photogrammetry and augmented reality. The pedagogy exposed students to analog, digital, and augmented versions of producing the image illusions of false depth, trompe l’oeil, and spatial collapse as a means of bridging the historical principles of architectural drawing into the new iterations of augmented reality technology. The first week allowed the students to familiarize themselves with drawing procedures, image production, scanning, digital modeling, and augmentation in the second dimension, while the second week repeated these techniques in the third. For the first week, the studio structured itself around discussions of a figural corridor as spatial architectural device, which could be designed, and manipulated by the students utilizing one-point perspective construction. Each student designed a figural corridor utilizing the Albertian method of constructing perspective, which were then inked, colored, and digitally scanned. Within the computer this drawing served as a background upon which students could digitally spatialize their figural corridor in a digital model environment. Students began to investigate ways of altering the corridors form, populate with scale figures to inform a creative understanding of this linear world. The first week culminated in a review which allowed students to walk around and view each other’s AR corridor environments wherein each hand-drawing served as a trigger that would utilize their phone to activate the augmented digital model of the corridor allowing for students to deploy these in their own personal realm. The second week’s exercise focused on the third dimensional application of image-scanning and augmented display surrounding a physical model environment. Students produced a third dimensional patterned proto-architectural object which was then scanned utilizing the student’s personal smart phone camera to be deployed as photogrammetric object back into the computer. Within a digital modeling environment, students again altered their three-dimensional scanned image by adding new volumes and people as a means of exploring how this object sits amongst its contexts. The last day of the week allowed the students to deploy their new augmented digital creations amongst their physical models in augmented space and time, creating a palette of mixed realities, inclusive of the physical, the digitally scanned, and a third augmented object. The associated paper will present this reality capture and dimensional translation, as a technique that empowers young students to work in between reality and the abstract world of the computer.

Classic urban design theories and research methods have been limited to qualitative approaches, such as subjective intuition and small-scale surveys(Batty, 2013; Kvan, 2020). With the emergence of new urban science, adopting big data, virtual reality, and wearable sensors, it is possible to achieve a precise analysis of people’s perception and behavior of urban space(Offenhuber and Ratti, 2014). In this way, not only will new insights in urban study be inspired, but also high-quality, human-scale space design can be generated(Shen et al., 2017; Ye et al., 2019). A systematic review was conducted to map the emerging literature in related fields(Townsend, 2015). With the keywords “urban design”, “big data” and “new urban science,” more than 200 representative journal articles published on Web of Science in recent years were selected as the dataset. There are three new research directions emerging on the leading edge of the literature (Fig.1). In this context, a systemic brand-new framework for computational urban design can be proposed, integrating big data, machine learning algorithms, and geographic design to achieve a refined analysis from a human-oriented perspective. The new algorithm is applied to the depth of the whole process of urban design, with an emphasis on fusing science, technology, and design depth, in the form of quantitative calculation to support a better design(Miao et al., 2018; Wilson et al., 2019; Tunçer, 2020). In order to deal with complex urban design projects, computational urban design has to involve three major directions: data-informed, evidence-based, and algorithm-driven (Fig.2). This paper took the Shanghai Urban Design Challenge as an example of computational urban design in practice(Fig.3). First, the data-informed urban design is helpful to identify problems and formulate strategies. Multi-source city data, such as POIs data, and AutoNavi map path planning API, helps refine the needs, functions, and characteristics of the citizens(Fig.4). The evidence-based urban design with specific inquiries helps to select the design intervention point and control spatial elements. Virtual reality technology, wearable biosensors and the visualization SP method are combined to measure space utility. The final algorithm-driven part can use sDNA, UNA and virtalvizer to simulate spatial elements, to perform morphological analysis and vitality evaluation, and to further adjust the design(Fig.5). This paper introduces systematic and scientific thinking into urban design practice and controls the whole process and all directions of the design process. It can be seen that the application of this framework can make the entire design process more automatic, efficient, and robust under the existing constraints. New design tools enable urban research to directly support the most central part of urban design: scheme generation. More importantly, through simulation prediction, the effectiveness of the scheme is evaluated, and the designer and decision-maker can obtain real-time feedback and check the scheme accordingly. In addition, it helps the perspective of urban design expanding from the previous “top-down” perspective to the “bottom-up” perspective, transforming from a two-dimensional to a three-dimensional, obtaining real-time feedback and optimizing design accordingly, emphasizing embodied perception and hu-man-oriented scale.

In the context of a challenging year for face to face education and more specifically for courses such as design studios, this paper proposes to discuss how a pedagogy based on immersive virtual environments can be conducive to a more collaborative approach in architecture studio. As we are currently teaching design studios with a combination of remote and face to face modalities it seems an opportune moment to explore how Virtual Reality can affect the design and learning process. This paper presents a collaborative design exercise organized between three schools of architecture in Germany, the US, and Mauritius and involved the design of rooftop additions in different urban context on three continents. Students used the Spatial App with Virtual Reality headsets, Conceptboard, Slack, WhatsApp and Zoom to communicate, collaborate, design and formally present their work. The three sites for the rooftop projects matched the school locations in Hamburg, Mauritius and Florida. Each group of students was assigned a site in a location they were unfamiliar with so it would create a challenge in terms of physical and cultural environment. Mauritian students were asked to design a signature commercial building in a US downtown whereas students in Florida planned a subsidized housing project in Hamburg. The German students, on the other hand created Airbnbs in Port Louis, Mauritius. Each rooftop project responded to the specific needs of its context and therefore exposed students to a set of unfamiliar circumstances. The student teams onsite were responsible for providing site and context information to the offsite design teams. Then following a predetermined set of criteria, each student team periodically reviewed the work of the students designing in their location. The projects were initiated by a collaborative process where students exchanged information about site and context. Progress and final presentations were conducted using the Spatial App with either the Oculus Quest headsets, iPads or laptops. Students also used Conceptboard and Zoom as supplemental presentation tools. They also used  Slack and WhatsApp to communicate during the overall duration of the project. We postulate that the collaborative process discussed in this paper has value as it introduces different sets of connections between students along with a new sense of community and familiarity through immersive virtual environments and other digital formats. This project focused on emerging technologies as they offer new means for students to connect, problem solve and get exposure to diverse architecture pedagogies and design cultures.

The Color of Air is an installation that integrates code with design-build education to introduce students to the process of computer programming and to evaluate building performance. The project incorporates code, digital fabrication methods, and construction practices to create an interactive space that teaches students fundamental thermodynamic principles by way of their interactions with the structure. Through a project-based curriculum that adopts John Dewey’s experiential approach to education, the installation empowers students with tools and experiences for understanding, applying, and evaluating the impact of their designs within the built environment.

One of the myriad consequences of climate change is the increased amount of flooding that communities are incurring. This includes not only coastal communities flooding due to sea level rise and the resultant impacts of astronomical high tides, but also severe storm flooding happening along estuaries and even further inland along rivers and tributaries. Our built environment should permit water’s presence and, thus, designers must begin to accept a perception of water within the built environment and anticipate new interactions between ecological and human systems. How can the dissection of water and its hydrologic movements become the base for exploring how design interventions may tap into this system thoughtfully? How do we allow water to re-enter our built environment, not as a treacherous element as seen in the past (and current) paradigm, but as an element that enriches? In 2020, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) released a feasibility report and environmental assessment to address coastal storm risk for the Charleston Peninsula. In 2021 the City asked xxxx to produce a parallel design study in order to examine counter proposals to the USACE proposition, particularly nature-based design strategies. This paper articulates the process and product behind the counter proposal to offer suggestions for design grounded in social and environmental concerns in addition to physical and fiscal ones.

To rapidly reduce climate impacts from the built environment, architects must develop both expert knowledge to measure impacts, and the wisdom to interpret results and integrate them into design. This paper describes the application of quantitative life cycle assessment in a studio to advance design synthesis and integration by cultivating intuition about the embodied impacts of structural systems.  Students in an integrative studio modeled life cycle impacts of their projects, focusing first on the carbon embodied in the structure and then integrating other systems as the designs developed. Meaningful analysis depends on comparison, and professional judgement develops from repeatedly connecting new knowledge generated through skilled application with prior knowledge. Students compared results to a collaboratively developed baseline building with typical construction, and across the diverse projects of the studio, as well as an industry benchmark of 500 kg CO₂e/m² contextualized studio projects relative empirical data and challenged students to manage the carbon intensity of their evolving design. Neither declarative knowledge about embodied carbon nor the procedural skill of using simulation tools are not learning objectives of the integrative studio: the abstraction of quantitative analysis serves to enable a rich qualitative comparative discourse about design synthesis and integration. Case studies describe the range of outcomes for students engaged in this reflexive practice, and the opportunities and challenges for faculty and students to discern wisdom embodied in benchmarks and cultivate intuition about designer’s agency and material impacts.

Development of systems-level thinking and an entrepreneurial mindset is invaluable to prepare architecture program graduates for challenges posed by the global climate crisis. This paper reports initial results from the Sustainable Design Accelerator, a funded project within our Master of Architecture program to advance student skill sets through entrepreneurship and evidence-based design. Prior to this project, our students valued entrepreneurship but lacked curricular opportunities despite recent faculty experience in the area. Additionally, existing courses on sustainability provided only a broad overview of sustainable design principles, with little opportunity for hand-on exploration.   By stacking a lab course and a studio course, a semester-long sequence was created, introducing and applying a comprehensive suite of digital and analog tools for entrepreneurship and evidence-based design. In the lab course, tool introduction and application occurred within the context of a design challenge to produce innovative and marketable passive cooling system prototypes, while in the concurrent studio course, students applied tools to calculate environmental impacts at a whole building scale for proposed designs of a multi-family housing community. Both courses featured workshops by national experts in entrepreneurial studies and product life cycle assessment, as well as reviews by practicing architects specializing in environmental stewardship. In addition to direct assessment of learning outcomes, exit surveys were used to assess student perceptions of knowledge depth and the value of newly acquired skills. Survey results indicated improvement in students knowledge in the introduced  tools and helped outline modifications to a second iteration of the Sustainable Design Accelerator, to be delivered Spring 2022. Also reported here is the impact on the sequence of the university’s move to online-only education for the 2020-2021 academic year, due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Return to in-person instruction for the 2021-2022 academic year provides for future comparison between online and in-person iterations.

New York City  generates 14 million tons of garbage per year, or 12,000 tons per day.  Seventy-five percent of waste is exported out of the city to landfills upstate and to Pennsylvania, Virginia, and South Carolina.  Two-thirds of recyclables end up in landfills. A 2009 study shows that burning waste is greener than landfilling it and generates more energy.  Localizing waste management reduces transportation pollution and expense.  Layering public programs onto infrastructural programs anticipates the increased densification of the city, where the increasing scarcity of ground-level space will prompt public spaces to continue to stratify. This project investigates proposes the localization of waste management through small-scale waste to energy and recycling facilities that serve the population of a New York City community district.   The project assumes the incorporation of the latest filtration technologies developed in places like Japan, Sweden and Denmark that are able to filter 95-99% of different types of emissions.  This makes it possible to situate these facilities in dense urban environments where they can locally capture waste streams where they are generated and where they can integrate into the local urban context and be coupled with public programming. It is understood that the long-term solution to waste management is the elimination of the use of fossil fuels and the complete recycling of waste.  Localizing the waste to energy facility eliminates the pollution issues associated with transportation.  Waste to energy puts garbage to good use by converting it to steam for electricity production and has been proven to be environmentally preferable to landfill, which are known for their greenhouse gas emissions. Combining infrastructure with public programming that can take advantage of the heat and energy byproducts of the WTE process has the added benefit of bringing visibility to the issue of waste.  When neighborhoods are constrained to effectively live with their waste they are incentivized to process it as efficiently as they can. The test sites for the project were waterfront locations chosen to align with proposed East River Ferry stops to bring more visibility and efficiency to the proposed system of localized waste processing.  Pier 36 in Manhattan and the Brooklyn Navy Yard site straddle diverse residential and industrial urban fabrics.  The local community of the Manhattan site includes the Lower East Side and Chinatown, while the Brooklyn Navy Yard includes the Hasidic community as well as other Williamsburg residents. The pedagogical approach involves a team of design and engineering faculty advising teams of students to produce a design proposal with a high degree of technical resolution including the design of building systems and typical details.

While an interest in healthy building has been steadily increasing, COVID-19 has elevated health equity as a priority across architecture, engineering and construction initiatives, as evidenced by the recently launched WELL Health Equity Initiative and the LEED Safety First: Social Equity in Pandemic Planning Credit. This paper outlines preliminary findings from an exploratory case study on how a hybrid elementary school/ YMCA can support health equity through design and affiliated programming. Supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Interdisciplinary Research Leaders Program, the research focuses on exploring how the uniquely designed environment of an elementary school impacts the physical, mental, and emotional health of students, staff, and the greater Southeast Raleigh community. The case school was designed through a highly participatory approach, engaging a health equity lens early in the process to address the needs and wants of an often-overlooked community. This paper outlines findings from initial surveys that aimed to better understand not only the effectiveness of healthy design strategies, but also how the design of this unique environment has impacted aspects of equity in the context of physical and mental health. Opportunities for increasing health equity through built environment design will be outlined and recommendations will be provided to expand future research in this discipline.

A.B. McDonald Elementary School Outdoor Classroom
After witnessing the challenges and pressures brought on by Covid-19, design-build students at [redacted] were determined to proactively respond to the needs of their local community. They identified several focus areas and undertook an extensive outreach effort, leading to a partnership with the local school district. The A. B. McDonald Elementary Outdoor Classroom is a unique collaboration between the two schools, providing invaluable experience and knowledge to the students who created it, and safety and resources to the students that will use it for years to come. A. B. McDonald Elementary has long advocated for outdoor learning and encourages students to use the greenery surrounding the school for varied educational activities. An earlier outdoor seating area was located on the site in the past, but was removed in 2018 for safety reasons. With the onset of Covid-19, the loss of that space was acutely felt by the school. They required a permanent and centralized focus area to organize the outdoor space. This would allow students to socially distance and safely enjoy the benefits of the outdoor learning while giving the teachers the structure needed to lead class activities from a single location at the edge of the school gardens and learning forest. The team worked with the principal and staff, school district officials, and engineers to ensure that the classroom would both withstand the test of time, and adapt well to varied and changing instructional needs for the school. For now, it will help young students from kindergarten to 5th grade more safely transition back into normalcy as it also serves as a shaded outdoor lunch room. In the future, it will serve as a safe and durable gathering space for the children of the community to learn.

Thermal comfort and indoor air quality (IAQ) have a noticeable impact on children’s comfort, health and learning performance. Since people might feel thermally different in the same condition, they might have different preferences to interact with their built environment to improve their comfort. COVID-19 added another layer of complexity to these preferences. On the other hand, people are aware of the impact of their built environment on IAQ and their health, and this awareness has been significantly increased since COVID-19 hits the world in March 2020. All leading agencies agreed on the importance of adequate ventilation rate and outdoor air ventilation in safer reopen schools, during the pandemic. Despite the benefits of thermal and IAQ-related recommendations, there might be some drawbacks that make stakeholders not use the suggested strategies or use them ineffectively. This presentation is a part of an exploratory mixed-methods case study (a doctoral dissertation) that focuses on teachers’ preferred behaviors to improve thermal comfort and IAQ in their classrooms, and the benefits and drawbacks of these behaviors. It suggests strategies for different stakeholders to mitigate the drawbacks of those behaviors while enhancing their benefits. The methods used in this study are surveys and interviews.

This abstract details a process-based design research project that reimagines traditional manual tube bending techniques with the precision and efficiency of digital formative fabrication. Leveraging the positional accuracy of industrial robots using custom tools to bend and interweave metal tubes in geometrically complex and spatially precise loops, the research follows a lineage of projects1&2 exploring the application of robotic bending of linear elements, primarily in solid-core rod form3. The material limitation of rod diameters conducive to bending constrains the span and length of the members, indirectly limiting the overall size of the resultant product. Solid profiles also prove far from ideal in terms of material efficiency when considering structural cross-sections for scaling up to larger inhabitable structures. To overcome this material limitation while building on similar methodology, the project’s focus shifts towards the use of hollow tubes to engage their potential in larger scale constructs. Previous projects highlight the use of traditional bent pipe methods, notably the large-scale installation work of Oyler Wu4, Warren Techentin Architecture5, and FUTUREFORMS6; while the projects achieve the scale and capacity to be inhabitable, they are typically realized through use of elaborate jigs, large fabrication spaces, and intense manual labor. This project attempts to integrate the material efficiency and scalar advantages of tubes with the precision and repeatability of industrial robot-based formative fabrication. Using a Kuka 6-axis industrial robot and a positioner as a turntable, a custom 3d-printed gripper with pneumatic control enables gripping, rotation, and feeding into the external axis turntable with a center die and an outer roller forming pin. For multi-planar bends the robot feeds the tube forward to the correct location, then grips and rotates the tube axially to the correct orientation for the turntable to execute the next bend. The computational workflow uses a parametric definition to reference simple polyline geometry and fillets the corners with a fixed diameter due to the static bending die diameter. The geometry is parsed and sequenced into Kuka KRL code for robot movement simulation, collision detection, as well as external axis instructions for the turntable and gripper. To calibrate the digital process with the physical results, automated springback compensation via linear regression analysis was incorporated into the generated code. As a demonstration piece to validate and showcase the project’s capabilities, InterLattice, a 2.3 meter tall construct consisting of two interwoven loops was designed to interlock and intertwine to offer opportunities for joinery and structural support. The two color-coded loops are folded upon themselves, utilizing pentagonal symmetry, while demonstrating the precision of this fabrication method and its ability to create complex interwoven structures. The accuracy of the irregular multi-planar bends required to realize this piece would be impossible to achieve manually with a similar level of speed and consistency. As an initial prototype in a series of explorations meant to gradually scale up in size and complexity, the project uncovers possibilities for bundled and interwoven tubular structures7 that represent a paradigm shift in how tubular structures might be designed and fabricated in the future.

The goal of this research project is to engage in a process of thinking by making, this is to say to problem solve (to design) by direct engagement with tools and material at hand. The project argues that in an increasingly digital world, the quality of architectural design is at risk due to the isolation of the maker (architect) from the materials we build with, all exacerbated by modern software.[1] Without retreating into nostalgic ideas of “hand-craft”, this research demonstrates how modern fabrication is a hybrid endeavor, its processes neither solely digital nor analogue in nature, with one depending on the other for good quality results. Thinking (designing) by making requires the maker to directly engage with material, to learn techniques with the tools (digital and analogue), to learn about the unquantifiable phenomena of the material, and to experience failures in the process, all to positively inform future design decisions. This research project is supported by a Mitacs grant[2] to explore methods for 3D printing Ultra-High-Performance Concrete (UHPC). In short, UHPC is a precisely tailored mixture that contains the same traditional ingredients for concrete along with various modern ones which serve to optimize the material’s mechanical properties for a specific application. This greatly reduces the amount of Portland cement used, thereby reducing the carbon footprint of the material.  The subject of this project is a chair, chosen because it is often considered analogous to architecture with its structural, programmatic, and ergonomic constraints, while being of a more manageable scale for the scope of this work. This research project is divided into four phases, each phase informing the next in a “forward-looping process of refinement.”[3] The process of thinking by making depends on experimentation and real-time problem solving to arrive at a product that embodies comprehensive thought in materiality, technique, technology, and craft in a design that engages with the human body. The first phase is an exploratory “hand-crafting” phase, meant to become engaged with the material, and to establish acceptable working techniques.[4] The second phase uses the lessons learned of the material and process of making to produce three conceptual models of potential chairs. Phase three enters a more formal design phase, and uses the conceptual models as departing points for the design and fabrication of three half-scale prototypes. The final phase is devoted to the design and fabrication of the final chair, which is predominantly 3D printed, but also incorporates the other techniques used throughout this research thesis. The final chair “prototype” is not without flaws, which can be resolved through more refining and making, but the primary area of interest for this work is understanding how the design and fabrication of the 3D printed UHPC chair is a direct result of engaging in a continuous process of designing by making in a hybrid analogue/digital fashion.

As designers and academics, the tools we have access to become critical instruments for evolving our ideas and bringing new work into the world. Unfortunately, not everyone has access to similar equipment, making the advancement and promotion of new ideas more accessible to a select few. With a desire to investigate wood paste extrusion techniques, and an interest in finding creative ways to level the playing field, a team at the Fay Jones School of Architecture experimented with simulating the type of inquiry that could be done with advanced robotics using an affordable electric caulk gun as the robot’s proxy. In other words, instead of being hampered by our lack of access to a more sophisticated tool which can cost as much as $200,000 – we instead employed a $40 tool that gave us the same feedback regarding extrusion capacity and design potential. This paper discusses ways designers can circumvent the inequities that exist within our academic environments, the type of learning that takes place when using inexpensive tools as design proxies, and how we plan to evolve these processes moving forward.