Through a critical and historical lens, students will examine material, spatial, and ecological practices in architecture and design that perpetuate racial inequities and exacerbate climate injustices. This course will challenge students to consider the ways in which design decisions negatively impact black, indigenous, and other people of color, while also causing harm to the environment. The extraction of raw materials for production often leads to the displacement of communities, destruction of habitats and ecosystems, and the depletion of finite natural resources. Historically, urban planning and design has been used to enforce racial segregation and deny access to services and amenities to non-whites. The siting of toxic waste facilities, highways, and industrial zones in low-income communities of color has had devastating impacts on public health and quality of life. Probing the intersectional relationships between design, race, and climate change, students will engage with a range of texts, multimedia content, case studies, and hands-on projects. By the end of the semester, they will have a deeper understanding of the ways in which design impacts communities and the environment and be equipped with knowledge to advance a more just, equitable, and resilient future. Register
An investigation of an object-oriented design process utilizing digital drawings, rapid prototyping, and digital fabrication techniques. This course introduces design as a creative act marking out a synthesis based on observation of a problem, interpretation of possibilities, and translation of a concept into meaningful three-dimensional objects that engage with society and social justice. The course includes a weekly lecture and studio component. Register
Languages of Landscape introduces the history and theory of landscape through a global survey of concepts about the meaning of landscape and place. It is a seminar course that addresses the meaning of landscape and place through historical and theoretical contexts: philosophy, mythology, social and environmental justice, the Anthropocene, ecology, natural science, horticulture, religion, belief, art, industry, literature, colonialism, utopianism, agriculture, and
gardens. The course will also survey places as they are or have been palimpsests evolving through time and human occupation. Both real and imagined ideas of landscape and place will be considered. Register
This course explores the diversity of forms and expressions that architecture took on in Japan from the 19th century till today. It poses questions on the capacity of design and construction to express and represent cultural, aesthetic, climatic, social, and political concerns. Through lectures and discussions, it examines drawings, images, texts, and films about architects whose work and words were emblematic of the following topics: The human interaction with the country’s climate and geography; The tectonics and construction of preindustrial civic and domestic buildings; The Meiji-era shift from carpentry to masonry; The adoption of foreign technology and styles; Visiting architects’ reflections on Japanese identity, style, and modernity; The critical reception of global ideas by local architects in the 1930s; Tradition and creation - their tectonic and technological expression in relation to socio-political motivations; The Metabolist group - its conceptual, metaphorical and technical underpinnings; Relations between form, abstraction, and meaning in the postmodern era; ‘Relieving’ architecture of its materiality through the concepts of flows, media, and scale; The challenges and opportunities of returning to wood as a construction material for public architecture in the 1990s; The concept of ‘weak architecture’ and the shift in the relation to the environment in the 21st century; The meaning of resilience in architecture in response to its clashes with environmental forces. Register