arch 711-001 Spaces in tourism, Jose castillo
tourism is not only the world’s largest industry, but also a spatial and temporal practice that transforms territories through economic, social and physical techniques as well as the specific management of time. this seminar investigates some of these techniques and procedures undertaken by tourism as they relate to the transformation of space. It uncovers the effects and poten- tials they have on architecture, cities and landscapes. the seminar considers specific cases, projects, histories and readings that frame the architecture/ tourism relationship. the students use maps, diagrams and representational techniques to discover tourism’s impacts on architecture and planning.
arch 712-001 the Philosophy of materials & Structures, manuel delanda
this course examines concepts in Materials Science, stressing not only the usefulness of this knowledge for the purposes of design but also its intrinsic interest as a basis for a technically sound philosophy of matter. the course is shaped by the belief that architects benefit from a more detailed philo- sophical knowledge of the theoretical principles behind structural engineering. At the same time, it is informed by the idea that the creative use of computer software and digital simulations benefit from additional philosophical resources. Specifically, the course highlights new software that simulates biological evolu- tion (so-called ‘genetic algorithms’ that may be used to ‘breed’ new architectural designs) and illustrates its value in the practice of engineering. the course integrates insights from two different areas crucial to contemporary design:
material science and engineering, on the one hand, and computer simulations involving a host of new ‘virtual materials’ such as nUrBS surfaces, particles and meta-balls, as well as the intersection of these with the new evolutionary software.
arch 712-002 the changing nature of architectural representation: architecture between science and humanities, dalibor veseley
Most of the questions facing architecture today are linked directly or indirectly with the problem of representation. this is an apparent and open problem created by the growing preoccupation with new possibilities of digital representation and virtual realities. the course will address the changing nature of representation, in relation to the new kind of knowledge developed in modern science, and in relation to the conditions under which meaningful design is possible, developed and cultivated in the modern humanities.
arch 712 004. transforming the nursing home, matthias hollwich
there are 17,000 Medicare and Medicaid certified nursing homes in the United States today. Despite their ubiquity, they continue to be an underdeveloped architectural typology; one that lacks architectural innovation and design ingenuity. this research seminar uses the planned refurbishment of an existing facility built in the 1960’s in LA to envision a new future defined by progressive, sustainable, humanistic, technical and spatial advances. Beyond technical and spatial re-imagination, the projects will attempt to eliminate loneliness, helplessness, and boredom, and create an enlivened environment that succeeds where pills and therapies fail. the seminar will work in conjunction with other PEnn departments, and will result in extensive documentation in the form of a publication and video presentation. the seminar includes a 5 day research trip, and ultimately will be the basis for a 700 level design studio, as well as an international conference on aging.
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design and build in order to lessen these impacts. these efforts have produced a number of revised construction techniques, innovative design tools, new products and marketing strategies, with significant effect on the building industry. this course explored the evolving notion of “sustainability” as it relates to the practice of architecture. We study how energy conservation, resource efficiency, open space preservation and indoor environmental quality are affecting design. We learn to track the ecological scale effects of architectural design decisions. We critically review the currently accepted metrics of sustainability including the LEEED® Green
Building rating System, the Ecological Footprint and other indicators. We investigate the integral connections between urban design, landscape architecture and hydrological engineering and their environmental impact.
arch 739 Building Pathology, michael henry
this course addresses the deterioration and failures of buildings and their com- ponent systems. It includes the technical aspects of materials and building failures, as well as the social and economic forces that also affect the fate of a built environment. Students are exposed to the techniques and vocabulary of construction, building failure assess- ment, restoration processes, and the techniques and methods of monitoring and testing buildings. Case studies are reviewed. For all of these topics, the course explores the various ways build- ings deteriorate and fail physically, and the techniques of measuring and monitoring buildings for the purpose of assessing or foreseeing these changes.
arch 741-001 architectural design Innovation, ali rahim
this seminar explores systemic thinking and digital design techniques yielding architectural forms that have aesthetic aspirations. the mastery of techniques,
whether in design, production or both, does not necessarily yield great architecture. As we all know, the most advanced techniques can still yield average designs. Architects are becom- ing increasingly adept at producing complexity and integrating digital design and fabrication techniques into their design process—yet there are few projects that emanate an aesthetic sensibility. the seminar explores some of the instances in which designers are able to move beyond technique, by commanding them to such a degree that they achieve nuances within the formal development of projects and guide their development with an iterative sensibility.
arch 741-002 experiments in design techniques: textile hierarchies, Jenny Sabin
this course uses a combination of seminar and workshop formats to explore new design techniques from a number of sources including advances in digital technology, natural models, advanced geometry and material practices in allied arts, crafts and design disciplines. this section of the course focuses on algo- rithmic design techniques, and craft and fabricated material assemblies for the production of fiber structures at a range of scales and applications. the course considers historical and architectural connections between computation and textile fabrication and contemporary applications in scripting and generative models. Case studies will be used to explore subjects from responsive surface architectures in biology and buildings to diagrid structures at the scale of skyscrapers. the course will introduce scripting techniques in a parametric and associative environment, with feedback derived from material constraints as well as performance assessments.
232. ISAAC SILVErA, AKArI tAKEBAYASHI 233. ALAn SonG-CHInG tAI,
SUnGHAK Ko, KYU Ho CHUn
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arch 743-001 form and algorithm, cecil Balmond/roland Snooks
the seminar studies non-Cartesian, non-linear geometries and forms, from their inception and conceptualization to their realization in the form of space, program, circulation and structure. It investigates the unit (cell, bit, module), its relationship to the whole (body, program, building) and its environment within the context of generative and algorithmic design. It shows the organization of new forms of structure, demonstrating how these models can operate at various scales and levels in the built environments and investigates the role of material feedback in abstract systems. the seminar illustrates the power of numbers and number systems as means of generating form and structure, and explains how new geometries and forms are generated through the use of tools, demonstrating how these tools are important instruments of design.
arch 744-001/002 digital fabrication, ferda kolatan and david ruy
this seminar investigates the fabrica- tion of digital structures using rapid prototyping (rP) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) technologies, which offer the production of building components directly from 3D digital models. In contrast to the industrial-age paradigms of prefabrication and mass production in architecture, this course focuses on the development of repetitive non-standardized building systems (mass-customization) through digitally controlled variation and serial differentiation. Various rP and CAM technologies are introduced with examples of use in contemporary building design and construction.
arch 745 001. nonlinear Systems Biology & design, Jenny Sabin/Peter lloyd-Jones
Systems biology examines the nature of nonlinearities, emergent properties and loosely coupled modules that are the
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repeatedly in British Hi-tech during the last 40 years. this course delves deeply into the particular siting of Archigram’s influence with British Hi-tech, studying effects wrought as visionary architecture was made tangible, probing into actual technologies of contemporary building and the thinking behind various excesses. the course also examines buildings on a case study basis and many of Archigram’s visionary objectives often manifest in non-causal ways in contem- porary London. It studies Archigram through London and London through Archigram’s visions. this entails the construction of a network of influences and eventualities, paralleling the invasive and often subversive infrastructures proposed by Archigram itself—from relationships to urban infrastructures, especially transportation and com- munication technologies, to precedents in Victorian engineering, to influences of Gothic literature and 60’s science fiction, to ideas of event and happening, to other radical movements contemporary to Archigram’s rise and demise, especially Superstudio and Archizoom in Italy and the Situationists in Paris.
arch 722 advanced drawing Procedures: Behavior & response, rhett russo
the making of architecture is executed through the reading of lines, mathema- tically described to indicate the boundaries and relationships of materials. Central to the act of drawing is the act of invention; illusion precedes realization. Line, surface, shadow, and perspective, explored through different media, are the language of inquiry. As a laboratory to test both analog and digital media, the intent of the course is to test how modes of representation can reveal the qualitative aspects of spatial propo- sitions. the course is organized as a series of loops between media, layering and capturing their intrinsic effects and intensifying the potential for new expression. A series of investigations paralleled discussions with artists and
architects exploring representations of space and form. this course seeks to engage the intuitive and ephemeral with the highly precise, recognizing that the act and the artifact of the drawing invite new possibilities for transformation.
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arch 726 furniture design, katrin mueller-russo
this course provides a platform, in the form of furniture, to execute and deploy architectural and engineering principles at full scale. It is conducted as a seminar and workshop and introduces students to a variety of design methodologies that are unique to product design. the course engages in many of the considerations that are affiliated with mass production; quality control, efficient use of material, durability, and human factors, such as comfort. Students conduct research into industrial design processes, both traditional and contemporary, and adapt these processes into techniques to design a prototype for limited production.
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arch 728 design of contemporary Products, Josh owen
this course introduces students with design background in architecture, landscape architecture and engineering to the field of industrial design using a combination of seminar and workshop formats. the goal of the course is to inspire innovation in product develop- ment. By capitalizing on industrial design theory and process, which encourages the integration of engineering and business concerns along with the experience of human interaction and emotive qualities, students are encour- aged to re-think a utilitarian product by exploring beyond models promulgated by disciplines that focus more exclusively on either form or function.
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arch 731 experiments in Structure, Peter mccleary and
mohamad al khayer
this course studies the relationships between geometric space and those structural systems that amplify tension. Experiments using the hand (touch and force) in coordination with the eye (sight and geometry) are conducted during the construction and observation of physical models. Verbal, mathematical and computer models are secondary to the reality of the physical model. In typology, masonry structures in com- pression correlate with “classical” space, and steel or reinforced concrete structures in flexure with “modernist” space. We seek the spatial correlates to tensile systems of both textiles (woven or braided fabrics where both warp and weft are tensile) and baskets (where the warp is tensile and the weft is compressive).
arch 732 Building Systems Integration, ali malkawi
this course explores the interrelation- ships of environmental control systems by means of building type studies. Innovative systems are emphasized and a variety of projects including residential, educational and commercial buildings, office and assembly building are analyzed in detail. the main principles of “integrated building design” are illustrated and studies and the relation- ship between energy conservation and the principles of initial building cost versus life cycles costs are discussed.
arch 734 architecture & ecology, muscoe martin
Architecture is an inherently exploitive act—we take resources from the earth and produce waste and pollution to make buildings. the construction industry is one of the single largest producers of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States as well as in other industrialized economies. over the past ten years, a growing awareness of the negative environmental consequences of construction has led many designers
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and design in architecture have grown in response to radical breakthroughs in technology and an increasing inter- est in the use of algorithmic and generative tools within the design process. Algorithmic imaging and molecular tools found useful in analyzing nonlinear biological systems may therefore prove to be of value to new directions in design within architecture.
this rapid manufactured prototype structure is the culmination of two year’s worth of research and work that started in ArCH 745 nonlinear Systems Biology & Design. the final stage of this study involved the scalable reconstruction of embedded biological behavior within deployable structures to a pavilion prototype. the rapid manufacturing of a skin structure composed of water-jet cut aluminum flaps is married with the intricate design and fabrication of steel struts and mechanisms composed of hinges and pins. Information gained from studying geometry and matter at the cell and tissue scale is embedded in the final assembled prototype alongside architectural constraints dealing with issues of scale, material thickness and fabrication. this project was funded by the Sabin+Jones LabStudio through an UPenn research Facilities and Development Grant. Manufacturing by Amuneal, Philadelphia.
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arch 762 design and
development, Witold rybczynski
Many factors affect architectural design, including architectural style, building technology, functional demands, social needs, and the forces of the marketplace. the examples discussed focus on the places where we live, work, shop and play. this course introduces the relationship between architectural design and real estate development. topics include domestic design, planned communities, and new urbanism.
arch 765 Project management, chip arena
this course introduces students to techniques and tools of managing the design and construction of large and small construction projects. topics include project delivery systems, manage- ment tools, cost-control and budgeting systems, and professional roles. Cost and schedule control systems are described and case studies illustrate the application of techniques in the field.
arch 768-401/402 real estate development, asuka nakahara/Jonathan Weller
this course analyzes the development process in terms of the different functions performed by real estate developers and architects, and the interrelationships between these two professions. Emphasis is placed on property evaluation, site planning, building design, underlying economics and discounted cash flow analysis.
arch 780 architecture in the Schools, William Braham
“Architecture in the Schools” is a 20+ year program of teaching architecture in Philadelphia area schools run by the American Institute of Architects. As a participant in the AIE (Architecture in Education) program, students have the opportunity to work directly with children in the classroom making an impact on their lives and on the future of our neighborhoods and cities. Students work with a classroom teacher and a design professional to develop a weekly series of eight (1–1½ hour) interdisciplinary experi- ential lessons using the built environment as a laboratory to create stimulating new ways of seeing, learning, and doing.
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permanent collection. other current projects include lutron Pavilion, a showcase of products and interactive environments, and Jingumae
orthodontics, a three phase project in
tokyo. Essays, interviews, and projects were featured in 1000 x Architecture
of the Americas, Architecture now, Yale Constructs, Frame Magazine, and The national newspaper of Abu Dhabi, with
another essay to be published in
Architectural Design’s “Excess” issue.
WItold rYBcZYnSkI lectured at the
Institute for Classical Architecture in San Francisco, and at the 1000 Jahre Andrea Palladio Symposium in Marberg, Germany. He visited the new Israeli city of Modi’in, designed by Moshe Safdie, and is writing a chapter on urban design for a book on the city. He lectured on his latest book, Last Harvest, at the University of Windsor and temple University. He was a featured speaker at a conference on Climate Change and the new Frontiers of Urban Development, at the Law School of the University of Colorado at Boulder. His architectural essays appeared this fall in the new York Times book
Review and the Wall Street Journal.
cathrIne veIkoS mounted Sheer opacity, an installation work on glass
that uses photography and line drawing to provoke questions about the visual perception of surface and depth, at the University of Minnesota, College of Design. She presented Surfaces/
effects at the 96th ACSA national
Conference in Houston and participated in the series, Conversations, and the symposium, terms of Engagement at PennDesign in 2008. She lectured at the College of Design and the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota, at Yale University on the subject of display at the Museum of Art at São Paulo (MASP), and wrote, Technical
Provocations —The Changing Role of Representation for the European
Association of Architectural Education (EAAE), Writings in Architectural
Education, representation in Architecture: Communication-Meaning- Visions. Fresh Air: Proceedings of
the 95th ACSA National Conference,
which she edited with Judith Bing, was published by the ACSA in 2007.
marIon WeISS is the Graham Chair
Professor of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design. Weiss/Manfredi’s olympic Sculpture
Park was winner in the nature category
at the 2008 World Architecture Festival in Barcelona and the only project from the United States to receive an award. the project, which was winner of an international design competition, also won
i.D. Magazine Environments 2008 “best in Category” Design Awards, the EDRA 2008 Places Award for best urban design,
and the vR green international Prize for
Urban Design. the sculpture Park was
also recognized as one of the best new
building Designs of 2008 in the USA by
the Chicago Athenaeum. Most recently her firm won the taekwondo cultural
Park international design competition
which is scheduled to break ground fall of 2009. Her firm’s competition winning
nexus, a new arts building for Barnard
College, is scheduled to open fall of 2009. Her firm’s work was featured in the
barcelona 2008 Landscape Architecture biennale, and Princeton Architectural
Press published the firm’s recent monograph, Weiss/Manfredi: Surface/
Subsurface. Weiss/Manfredi’s Brooklyn
Botanic garden visitor center
received a 2008 Award for Excellence in Design from the nYC Design Commission.