Design Integration Lab: Materials

This unit introduces students to the role of materials as a proponent of architectural form. The objective of this unit is to equip students with an ability to think critically about the transformation, evaluation and creative application of different materials in terms of environmental, structural and aesthetic performance. In-class lectures and assignments provide students with an opportunity to explore fundamental concepts about material propensity, material performance and material scale as a conceptual and practical basis for architectural design. To this end, students will also be introduced to regional and international precedents from antiquity to the present that demonstrate the application of innovative and sustainable practices with the use and reuse of materials in the built environment. To facilitate the dialog between material and form in architecture, students will engage in a progressively complex semester-long design project. Upon successful completion of this unit students will be provided with the necessary skills for thinking with materials as a determinant of architectural form.