Architectural Design, Level II: Material Essence: The Glass House, Fall 2003

Abstract:: The theme that unites the Level II studios in the fall semester is a focus upon the making of architecture and built form as a tectonic, technical and materially driven endeavor It is a design investigation that is rooted in a larger culture of materiality and the associated phenomena, but a study of the language and production of built form as an integrated response to the conceptual proposition of the project. The studio will look to works of architecture where the material tectonic and its resultant technology or fabrication become instrumental to the realization of the ideas, in whatever form they may take. This becomes the art of technology - suggesting a level of innovation and creative manipulation as part of the design process to transform material into a composition of beauty and poetry as well as environmental control. In this regard the studio will look to the works and design processes of a number of architects including Shigeru Ban, Peter Zumthor, Herzog and deMeuron, Kazuyo Sejima, Richard Horden, Rick Joy and Glenn Murcutt among others.

Space Systems Engineering, Spring 2002

Abstract:: Space Systems Engineering (16.83X) is the astronautical capstone course option in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Between Spring 2002 and Spring 2003, the course was offered in a 3-semester format, using a Conceive, Design, Implement and Operate (C-D-I-O) teaching model. 16.83X is shorthand for the three course numbers: 16.83, 16.831, and 16.832. The first semester (16.83) is the Conceive-Design phase of the project, which results in a detailed system design, but precedes assembly. The second semester (16.831) is the Implement phase, and involves building the students' system. The final semester (16.832) is the Operate phase, in which the system is tested and readied to perform in its intended environment.