The intent of this course is to reveal the role that construction plays in the ideation and elaboration of architectural form and to focus on the inherent and tangible materiality of the built artifact. Lectures are given twice weekly and provide an introduction into theories and methods of construction. The first series of lectures focus on:
- The architecture of mass and of the wall.
- The development of the frame.
- The building envelope.
Lectures are reinforced by reading assignments intending to place the role of construction in a historical and theoretical context and to locate it in the realm of enlightened practice. The second part of this course is the construction studio. Here the student is required – in a number of exercises that parallel the lecture sequence – to demonstrate through small but precise models their understanding of issues of wall, frame, and enclosure. This work is critiqued in the studio as it develops and concludes with a formal public review.
