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Lecture & Lab Courses

ARCH 460: Mark Cabrinha

This seminar takes a hands-on, materials first approach to developing digital skills. This approach has precedence in the 18th Century spline in which curves were drawn analogous to the material resistance in ship building. In other words, the tools developed were in relation to material properties. In fact, this is the history of non- uniform rational b-splines (NURBS) developed by mathematicians such as Pierre Bezier for the automotive industry in the 1960’s. Bezier’s intentions were not to develop a more efficient means of existing methods, but to create a bi-directional link between design and manufacture. Through the accessibility of digital fabrication (CAD/ CAM) tools, the goals of this seminar are to develop material tactics as a means to inform form from which larger design strategies develop through digital representation.

Method We will begin with the physical basswood spline understanding its material limits, and construct a material wireframe from there. These will be digitized, essentially deriving the basics of NURBS through the physical spline. From there, digital surfaces will be generated and rationalized such that they can be flattened (unrolled), laser- cut, and rebuilt as a verification and development from the physical study. From these basics, alternate approaches will be developed to map patterns onto simple surfaces investigating alternate structures based on material qualities. Depending on experience in the seminar, Rhino's Grasshopper (similar to Generative Components) may be covered.

The final project will develop from these two digital strategies. The scope of the final project will be set based on the skills of each individual student. In each case, this will entail physical study models and prototypes from which developed graphic strategies are represented.

Technical Note While these approaces will work with most NURBS-based software (e.g. 3dsMax and Maya), this course is based upon Rhino software. Class will be held in 05-308, and in the shop (CNC and Laser) as necessary. Please be advised this is not simply a computer class nor rendering class, nor is it a how-to-use digital fabrication tools class though certainly these will be covered. We will be reading some relevant theoretical essays and you will be asked to propose your final project based on the material covered.

No experience is required, while advanced users will benefit greatly as well.

For additional information, Email: Marc Cabrinha

BofA Low-Income Housing Challenge
Looking for 4th or 5th Year Architecture Majors

The Cal Poly Affordable Housing Team is currently recruiting students to work in a multi-disciplinary team, which will include: Architecture; Business; City Planning; and CM majors. Our objective is to create an affordable housing proposal that is financially viable, physically attractive, and buildable. Application Deadline: If you are interested, please submit your application ASAP.

The project involves partnering with community organizations, selected experts, and a nonprofit developer to propose a viable project which addresses: the market; the community; financing; architectural design; and constructability. The team decision processes, work schedules and deadlines will be made primarily by the team with significant input from the faculty coach and other experts. The competition begins in Jan. and finishes with a May presentation in San Francisco.

Valuable Experience: One participant described the competition saying: "this project was my best experience at Cal Poly;" he subsequently received a position as Project Coordinator with Hawaii’s largest land developer. More importantly, several of the past proposals have been constructed locally. The competition is with graduate student teams from UC Berkeley, Stanford, and UC Davis.

Course Credit: Students selected to participate will enroll in Arch 480: Independent Study for 1 unit in Wtr.. and 3 units in Spr. 09.

Credit for Arch 453: Architecture majors doing design & presentation receive 1 unit additional in Spr. allowing 4th year students to receive credit for Arch 453.

Skills Needed We need a couple of exceptional individuals with: the ability to work in teams; good communication skills (oral & PowerPoint presentation); outstanding architectural design and computer skills (3D modeling, including fly-throughs). Knowledge of sustainability is crucial. Team meetings will be scheduled at a mutually convenient time, probably on Tuesday and Thursday.

Contact: Prof. Daniel Panetta at 756-5371, Bldg. 34-220 or email dpanetta@calpoly.edu.

Note: If you are interested, please make an appointment with Prof. Panetta. We would like all members to be well informed before starting and committed to completing the competition once it’s begun.

ARCH 242: Woody Combrink

The second in the series of 2nd year Architectural Practice and a continuation from what was learned in Arch. 241. The class is taught in conjunction with ARCH 252: Howard Weisenthal and Art Chapman. In the first half of the quarter in coordination with the design lab the students will produce a set of As-Built drawings through hands on measurement and analysis of an historic building that will be used in the design lab as part of their design project. The As–Built drawings will display the fundamental features of the existing building including the materials, use and structural network. The second half of the quarter the students will concentrate on producing a set of Design Development drawings of their newly designed project with an introduction and development of possible structural systems for the new building.

For further information, email: Woody Combrink

Design Studios

ARCH 252: Art Chapman & Howard Weisenthal

This is the second in a three part series of classes intended to build a foundation in the theories, principles and skills for students studying to be environmental design professionals. This program also reinforces and extends the drawing and visual communication skills acquired in the first year courses and in Arch 251.

The course is closely linked to Arch 242 that presents lessons in construction materials and methods of construction as well as the principles of architectural graphic communication and documentation.

The teaching style involves the concept of discovery, believing that it is more meaningful to explore and discover possible solutions than to be given examples of what is expected. Projects are open-ended and demanding. There are no preconceived solutions. All points of view are respected and appreciated if supported by discovery and reason.

This course will focus on the development of knowledge, concepts, processes and methods related to the design and organization of archetypal elements that define space. Projects will emphasize the design of space and spatial organizations that support an intended design idea and function as well as a response to an existing historic architectural context. A series of small projects will be explored with increasing levels of complexity.

Project Sequence Summary

• Observing and Designing Space:
  Observe and record the activity and qualities of a selected space and define and form a space that reacts to an activity.
• A Composition of Spaces and Structure:
  Utilizing a spatial design concept as a form generator, create a clearly ordered composition of varied spatial types. The composition should reflect a well developed “space / structure" relationship.
• A Research Project:
  A research project requiring the identification design issues, spatial concerns, functional requirements and other primary compositional aspects of either an adaptive reuse project or building addition project.
• A Conference Center Addition:
  Design a small conference center / meeting room as an addition to a historic building.
• An Adaptive Reuse Project
  Within the limits of an existing building envelope and context, design a series of spaces that functions as a new facility for a defined intent.
• An Architectural Sketchbook:
  A quarter-long project in which you are to record in graphic and written form observations, evaluations, design ideas.

For additional information, email: Art Chapman, and Howard Weisenthal

ARCH 252: Donna Duerk

People who know me know that I've been a Space Cadet for a long time. This quarter, NASA has given me an opportunity to share my enthusiasm for the return to the Moon with students by mounting an Art & Design Contest for High School and College students to image life and work on the Moon. The big prize is $1000, but there are other prizes and opportunities to exhibit the work.

I plan to use four weeks of the quarter for a project that will allow students to create an entry to this contest if they choose. There are three categories: 2-D, 3-D, and digital with a deadline of March 15, 2009. The reference for the contest is http://artcontest.larc.nasa.gov.

The rest of the quarter will be devoted to supporting lessons of architectural simplicity and complexity, space definition, multi-use in a small space, 3-D thinking, and the roles that floors, walls and ceilings play in our understanding of architecture. The text will be an excerpt from Thiis-Evensen: Archetypes in Architecture.

It is my contention that anything that we learn about living on the Moon can be readily translated to living on Earth — from the fact that one must live completely "off the grid" when on the Moon to the need for compact, multi-use spaces in labs and habitats that cost thousands of dollars just to get to the site. The major factors that play out on the Moon that are NOT part of life on Earth are: no atmosphere (only vacuum), extremes of temperature, high levels of radiation, and very abrasive Moon dust.

For additional information, email: Donna Duerk

ARCH 252: Chandrika Jaggia

Architectural design (ARCH 252) will be learned in conjunction with the architectural practice course on building construction (ARCH 242).

For a building to come alive it needs to embody within it a soul. And for the soul to shine through, the building needs to be sound and healthy. As in the words of Rafael Moneo, “Architecture arrives when our thoughts about it acquire the real condition that only materials can provide. By accepting and bargaining with limitations and restrictions, with the act of construction, architecture becomes what it really is.” In the fall quarter you learned about the properties of materials. In the winter quarter you will learn the details for constructing these materials. Hands-on construction of building elements, field trips, and sketching will all be used to enrich your learning of construction and its role in design.

How materials and their construction provide truthfulness to architectural design is the focus of the design studio. Fundamentals and principles of design are reviewed and the systematic, iterative process of design followed to arrive at a core idea. This idea embodying the soul or spirit of the design has within it an intrinsic knowledge of materials and their construction. The inter-relationship of natural light and materiality is also studied and employed. The design process culminates in a small sustainable architectural design project, full of life. Physical 3-D models, plans, sections, elevations, perspectives, and construction details are prepared to convey your design.

This studio is enriching and exciting while also requires hard work and a commitment to excellence.

For additional information, email: Chandrika Jaggia

ARCH 252: Kent Macdonald
Long History, Long Future: A Cultural Institute

This course continues your foundation work in architecture with an emphasis on light, function, and materials as design determinants in the built environment.

A series of short, focused projects will go hand in hand with the design of a small building, a cultural institute in an urban setting. The emphasis in the course is studying the craft of architecture: exploring the impact of light within the different spaces; investigating the overall interplay of the various spaces; and experimenting with the palette and assembly of materials, in this case, stone, glass, and metal. The goal is to create a refined work, developed at the larger scales of the city, neighborhood, and site, of course, but also at the smaller scale of particular elements within the building itself.

In learning to create a synthetic design, that is, one developed by integrating many different tectonic parts (rather than one derived from a single overarching idea), the hope is that you might divine a nuanced perspective on the possibilities of architecture as an expressive force.

For additional information, email: Kent Macdonald

ARCH 252: Richard Schmidt

The studio focuses on space-making and the joy natural light brings into space. Students will imagine space, draw space, model space, bring light into space, and think about how we move through space. Those are architectural basics. There’s much more than we can possibly cover in one quarter, but we’ll get a start on thinking about these life-long architectural pursuits.

ARCH 352: Mark Cabrinha
Material Organization

"It will be seen that form does not behave as some superior principle modeling a passive mass, for it is plainly observable how matter imposes its own form upon form. Also, it is not a question of matter and form in the abstract, but of many kinds of actual matters of substances - numerous, complex, visible, weighty - produced by nature, but not natural in and of themselves." Henri Focillon, The Life of Forms in Art (1934)

The central issue explored in this studio is the relationship between the concepts of the 'natural' and the 'artificial'. To stake a position in this, we will depart from Goethe's statement that "even the artificial, now that too is natural." We are, after all, biological creatures are we not? If we can accept this, and are therefore natural, then why is what we produce 'artificial' while, say, an ant colony is perfectly natural? On the other hand, aestheticizing nature - to make architecture 'look natural' - now perhaps that is artificial. Rather than polarize the natural versus the artificial, nor propose to aestheticize biomimicry, we will begin with material itself, following what Henri Focillon wrote in 1934 that matter imposes its own form upon form.

The first two weeks of the studio will be an intensive exploration of structured material play and digital technique in tandem with a focused collection of readings. These first two weeks focus on tools, techniques, and materials with the theoretical readings to project larger propositions from which these tools, techniques, and materials play out in contemporary design culture. These two weeks, as the rest of the studio, will be a materially intensive and digitally immersive studio environment employing digital fabrication tools to integrate between the digital and physical. Concurrent with this focus in material organization, is the integration of ecological design strategies introduced in the co-requisite Arch 307 lab. Through the integration of form, material, and environment, this studio embraces a kind of phenomenal pragmatism. Suggested by Reiser + Umemoto, in their Atlas of Novel Tectonics, and our primary text for the studio: "Material practice is the shift from asking 'what does this mean?' to 'what does this do?'"

We will pursue these issues through a Neuro-Biological Research Center. As a laboratory typology, we will have a field trip to San Diego to visit two extraordinary precedents: The Salk Institute and The Neurosciences Institute. The technical aspects of laboratories should integrate with ECS, while in design the emphasis will be on the social interaction between scientists and the public explored through the architectural section. The studio will be structured around three propositions, each comprising a design milestone and a particular design representation: from site strategy, to building section perspective, to immersive perspectives and/or section models.

For additional information, email: Marc Cabrinha

Arch 352: Allan Cooper
Simpson Strong-Tie Materials Demonstration Lab (Cal Poly, SLO)

This is a proposed 7,500 square foot facility with a 5,000 square foot attached working courtyard that will be the heart of the Construction Innovations Center. The MDL is being constructed to directly support the activities in its four adjoining major labs of the Construction Innovations Center. The building is designed to express the construction of the building and expose the tectonic expression of its components. This "exposed skeleton" idea is to help teach students the principles of construction. On top of a low concrete wall around the building will be the exposed timber frame with visible Simpson Strong-Tie structural connections. The building is clad with a translucent polycarbonate glazing system which will allow the timber frame to be seen from out-side the building and allow a generous amount of natural light through to the interior and present an illuminated glow in the evening when the building is lit. In addition, sustainable design is abundantly present in this building incorporating resource, water and energy conservation techniques.

The owner/developer is California Polytechnic State University. The architect of record for this project is Omni Design Group. You will be meeting with the job captain, Aaron Williams and the Principal, Tom Reay, Architect. You will also be meeting with a LEED-certified, Cal Poly fifth-year architecture design student who is currently working for Omni Design Group, Bonnie Miller. Your Arch 342 instructor, Curtis Illingworth, has indicated an interest in assisting us in integrating the HVAC, structural and architectural systems as well as developing full code compliance for seismic design, handicap access and exiting.

ARCH 352: Charles Crotser

This quarter, we will consider the implications of "smart-growth" practices and principles through the design and development of a modest urban project on a site containing basic existing infrastructure.

The building typology that we will focus on this quarter will be a form of mixed-use, urban infill. We will explore the process of real project development by identifying opportunities and constraints of a local site, as well the as utilization of appropriate resources. We will strive to respect the pragmatic, yet necessary considerations of appropriate technology and construction methods, grading and drainage design, building code requirements, handicap access considerations and other qualities of health, safety and well being. At the same time, our overriding interest is to create an environment of comfort, joy and delight for the occupants. We will explore the manipulation of light and color, and the selection of materials for not only their functional, but tactile and aesthetic qualities.

We will explore and incorporate principles of sustainability in our work. Clearly, an architect’s responsibility is to create more efficient buildings that consume less energy and contribute to the reduction of greenhouse emissions. With regard to thoughtful, sustainable design, one of our goals will be “to design a project which will engage the environment in a way that dramatically reduces or eliminates the need for fossil fuels”.

We will develop a comprehensive project from concept through a relatively complete design development package. Your project should be persuasive, and one which clearly shows design intent, feasibility and constructability.

For additional information, email: Chuck Crotser.

ARCH 352: James Doerfler
Transparency, Disjunction and The Fold

A transparent organization of space has, because it allows and even encourages multiple readings of the interconnections between parts of a whole system of related spaces, a built-in flexibility of use. Flexibility is provided and exists through possible interpretation, through flexible use of a supply of possibilities inherent in a given arrangement of spaces and not through physical flexibility of, say, movable partitions. Again we have the life-enhancing vigour of the tension between fact and implication, between physical fact and interpretation.

Addendum, Transparent Form-organization as an Instrument of Design, Bernard Hoesli

A series of short projects at the beginning of the quarter will introduce the architectural concepts of transparency, disjunction and the fold. These design projects are supported by readings and lectures. The first short project  seeks to have the student explore the space inherent in two-dimensional media, namely paintings. The student will choose a painting to analyze and produce drawings and models which speculate on the layering of elements within the painting and the creation of space within or between these elements. The potential nature of space in a two-dimensional image is interpretive. It is up to the observer  to create the transparent layers, whether literal or phenomenal, and extrude, separate and find positions for the layers.

The second short project seeks to have the student investigate spatial relationships determined by program requirements. The term program, by definition, signifies classification of various elements, which compose the content of the building. It is necessary to identify specific spatial characteristics, which have a functional consequence in the inherent nature of the program. Identifying these can create distinctions such as spaces which are inside or outside, those of a public or private domain, spaces of movement or rest, hidden or revealed spaces. This type of binomial analysis pairs opposites or “dis-”similar spaces. Potential identities might also include: individual/collective, static/dynamic, served/servant, and conscious/unconscious. The creation of this layer of and including it in a diagram allows for multi dimensional and simultaneous readings of the program. A phenomenal display of the program.

The architectural method for the final project is set by the introductory short projects. The main project for the quarter will be the design of a cinema and film archive in an urban area. An essay by Eisenstein, “Montage and Architecture,” will form the basis for conceptual linkages between our architectural concepts and cinema. The large programmatic spaces and complex supporting areas of the program will also reinforce the continuing exploration of the concepts from the first projects. The exploration of form and the impact of internal and external spaces in an urban context will be explored with this project. This project will also integrate with ECS to study the technical issues of a public building of this scope. When complete, the project will present an explanation of systems and materiality and a clear three dimensional understanding of the project with a focus on sectional qualities.

ARCH 352: Marc Neveu
(302 co-requisite)

This studio and seminar will explore various strategies of architectural translation, interpretation, and transmutation and to determine if such strategies may be meaningful and productive for architecture. Historically, architects have translated form and ideas from diverse fields to explore ways of thinking about and making architecture. To borrow from Umberto Eco, this may be understood as an inter-linguistic (from architecture to architecture) or as inter-semiotic (from another field to architecture). Examples of the former include the Boston Public Library as a translation of Sainte Geneviève in Paris or projects by OMA that at least reference those of Le Corbusier. One might also consider work such as the Castellvechio in Verona by Carlo Scarpa or the Pompèia Factory Leisure Center in Sao Paulo by Lina Bo Bardi, where the architects have translated an existing artefact into an entirely new project. Inter-semiotic architectural translation may include translation; from literature, as in the Danteum in Rome by Terragni and Lingeri; from literary theory, for example Eisenman’s early house studies; from painting such as Hejduk’s diamond house studies; from music as in the Stretto House in Dallas by Steven Holl; and from natural forms seen in the work Calatrava, Dieste, Gaudi, and Horta. More recently architects draw formal inspiration from diverse fields such as biology, botany, philosophy, various fabrication and representational techniques, and even pasta. What is being gained, or lost, by making such translations? Are some strategies more effective than others? In this studio and seminar, we will study the nature of translation, various strategies of translation, and then determine criteria by which we may judge such translations. In other words, why is the book always better than the movie? We will then engage a study of architectural translation: projects that have relied upon translation, those strategies employed by such architects, and, again, the criteria by which we can judge such translations. Can a bad translation still make a good building? The result will be the production of a project based upon, and demonstrative of, such inquiry. Projects will be sited in an urban environment and will accord with NAAB criteria. The studio will be supported by a seminar (ARCH 302). Students are required to enroll in both courses.

For additional information, email: Dr. Marc J Neveu.

Arch 352: Panetta
Affordable Senior Housing

Have you ever wondered who your most likely clients will be if you work in the housing field?

Well please consider that the U.S. Census estimates that by the year 2011, one person will turn 65 every 8 seconds; by 2030 more than half of all Americans will be over 50 and one in every five persons will be age 65 or older. The attached graph shows the unprecedented increase in the number of people who will be 85+ over the next four decades.

To accommodate these growing numbers of aging Americans it is important that we learn to design dwellings which are adaptable to meet the changing needs and capabilities of this population. As environmental designers we will be required to develop an expanded realm of knowledge and skills to meet this major demographic shift this studio will explore these requirements.

The studio will work with a local non-profit affordable housing developer, People Self-Help Housing, focusing on the design development of a small, multi-family housing complex which will provide affordable housing for local seniors. This is a real project and is in the early stages of feasibility assessment.

Emphasis will be placed on social concerns related to built form. We will be integrating ideas from universal housing design and utilizing sources such as: Senior Cohousing, Pattern Language and Patterns of Homes, as well as various web based references (e.g. Affordable Housing Design Advisor, etc.). These references will describe design strategies to improve livability, increase resident social interaction, and help make buildings into homes. Students will have the opportunity to talk with the project manager and occupants of similar projects to better understand their needs & concerns and to translate them into programming ideas which will become design determinants. We will explore issues of site and building integration with emphasis on designing a continuum of spaces from interior to exterior which support social interaction.

A full range of analog and digital media will be used in the process of developing your proposals, this will include several freehand drawing assignments.

For more in formation email: Dan Panetta.

ARCH 352: Margarida Yin
Transition Country Home for P&P.S. Orphans in the World

This course is an opportunity to bring together the client with the development of one’s design skills. Arch 351 combined with Arch 307 introduce the relationship of architectural design to clients and the community, which is sometimes referred to as community design. Design ideas and formal design languages must be employed to realize the needs of people and communities in form and space.

This Winter Quarter, students will design a Country Transition Home for International Orphans. Students will engage clients with this real community project. Students will learn about translating community needs into buildings and settings. Students will utilize and expand their skills in exploring, developing and using concept development, precedent studies, architecture field trip, programming, site analysis and design responses, the use of building technology and sustainability. Students will continue developing their 2D & 3D drawing/modeling/digital skills, while exploring their design alternatives..

For additional information, email: Margarida Yin.

ARCH 452 Winter 2009 Eric Nulman
Schedule: MWF 10am – 3pm

The fifth in a series of studios that investigate an alternative design strategy for common programmatic typologies – the Event. This design approach responds directly to the event or activity that defines the project and the spatial experience. The studio will pursue an ambient architecture that engages the senses; atmospheric space will be investigated through the employment of form, texture, color, material and lighting. The course will be structured to encourage research via design – a rigorous exploration of an idea or proposition through a design proposal. Architectural research topics will be centered on the themes of the course and dependent upon a student’s well-defined project goals – without goals it is impossible to evaluate the results of an investigation. This term the themes will center on the design issues associated with a performing arts center. Venues for music, opera, theatre, and dance have long served as social and cultural hubs for the community. If atmospheric conditions can engage the spectator in an active (versus passive) participation in the production of precepts and affects of the event, then how might these sensations impact social practices of interaction? The project will focus on three primary social zones: a plaza serving both as a forecourt to the arts center and a outdoor performance area for the community, a grand foyer that operates as a venue for unscripted social performances, and a main performance hall staged for public amusement. The project scale will be restricted to a small/intermediate size to encourage substantial research/development of atmospheric design elements in both a digital and physical medium (including CNC fabrications). There will be an optional studio field trip(s) to visit the site and contemporary performing arts centers.

ARCH 452 & ARCH 453: Architectural Design
(enroll in Doerfler - Fowler - Cabrinha section)

Spring Quarter: James Doerfler, Thomas Fowler; (Arch)
Kevin Dong; (ArcE) and Mike Montoya; (CM)

Course Time: Tuesday / Thursday / Saturday 1 - 6
Location: 186 - 302 Top Floor Design Studio of the New CM Building

Course Description: Architecture Professors Cabrinha, Doerfler, and Fowler will be collaborating with Architectural Engineering Professor Kevin Dong during the 2009 winter and spring quarters (this is the second time this interdisciplinary course is being offered) and Construction Management Professor Mike Montoya spring quarter. The focus of the design studio project will be the 2008-2009 Steel Student Design Competition, sponsored by the ACSA/AISC Organizations. The competition is titled "Life Cycle of a School" (https://www.acsaarch.org/competitions/9thaiscmain.aspx). We will also be consulting with Buro Happold, the international engineering practice, during the course of the studio.

Email both Professors Fowler and Doerfler for information or to be added to a wait list.