| | Description: | Drawing on the City brings together two seemingly disparate but actually complementary threads - the ability to draw and the opportunity to understand the city and its histories and issues in some breadth and depth. The course is open to both graduates and undergraduates, to students who are in the Sam Fox School and those who are not, and to students with any level of drawing ability - including none to start. During the first half of the semester, the drawing instruction is dominant, with the neighborhood visits becoming dominant in the second part of the semester. Generally a half-dozen or so neighborhoods are visited, and in most cases you will get to meet and spend time with residents. As the semester evolves, the two threads of the course will merge, and you will use your drawing ideas and your understanding of the city to create an ongoing book [writing, drawing, photography] of the semester, as well as a large, highly-individualized, ongoing drawing that builds on some aspects of the city experience that you wish to explore visually. |
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| | 01 | --W---- | 12:00P-1:50P | Givens / 116 | Denizen | Final Critique | 65 | 61 | 0 | | |
| A | ----F-- | 10:00A-10:50A | Weil / 120 | [TBA] | Final Critique | 13 | 10 | 0 | | |
| B | ----F-- | 10:00A-10:50A | Weil / 230 | [TBA] | Final Critique | 13 | 12 | 0 | | |
| C | ----F-- | 10:00A-10:50A | Weil / 330 | [TBA] | Final Critique | 13 | 3 | 0 | | |
| D | ----F-- | 11:00A-11:50A | Weil / 230 | [TBA] | Final Critique | 13 | 13 | 0 | | |
| E | ----F-- | 11:00A-11:50A | Weil / 330 | [TBA] | Final Critique | 13 | 10 | 0 | | |
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| | Description: | The third and fourth years introduce a selection of option studios to students. This year emphasizes voice as students adopt their own conceptual position relative to architecture history, theory, and culture through the iterative development of form, geometry, space, and aesthetics.
More specifically, this studio focuses on advanced architectural design and an in-depth study of a specific topic through rigorous design development.
Prerequisites: Successful completion of A46 111C or A46 144, 112C, 211D, 212D, and 311B with a grade of C or better. |
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| | 01 | M-W---- | 1:00P-5:20P | TBA | [TBA] | Final Critique | 72 | 44 | 0 | | |
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| | 01 | -T-R--- | 1:00P-2:20P | Givens / 113 | Lorberbaum | Final Critique | 20 | 20 | 19 | | |
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| | 01 | M-W-F-- | 1:00P-5:20P | TBA | [TBA] | Final Critique | 24 | 23 | 0 | | |
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| | Description: | The course examines the practice of representation in today's state of ubiquitous computing. Computing has reshaped Architecture representation, questioning the edge between representation and reality through the form of images, integration of construction, material relationships, and the ability to manage complex information. The class equips students with the fundamentals of computing and constantly seeks to question how this technology would shape the built environment. The course is divided into three distinct sections that examine various aspects of computing in architectural representation. The first section instills the basic of Nurbs modeling in Rhinoceros software. Through the study of architectural
drawings, notations and inscriptions are studied and transcribed into a system of points, lines and surfaces. The system of relationships between points, lines and surfaces are manipulated through a series of transformative operations to create an accumulated field of volume.
The second section explores the potential of image creation as a powerful simulation of spatial effects. A series of atmospheric variations are introduced to produce differences in an occupant's spatial experience. Light, colors, textures, material deviation, camera angles are some of the strategies employed to generate sensations beyond the visual.
The third section develops geometrical responses through variation of space to context relationship. Parameters are first identified and assigned as forces to calibrate the system of relationships between points, lines and
surfaces that result in the inherent geometry. Variations in these forces would create geometrical variations, making visible space to context relationships. Architectural Representation II is the second in the series of the two required representation classes offered in the graduate program. Each student is required to have a laptop computer. |
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| | 01 | M---F-- | 8:30A-11:20A | TBA | Stitelman | See Instructor | 24 | 23 | 0 | | |
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| | 01 | -T----- | 10:00A-11:20A | TBA | Hauk | Final Critique | 100 | 86 | 0 | | |
| E | ---R--- | 11:30A-12:50P | Weil / 230 | [TBA] | Final Critique | 15 | 5 | 0 | | |
| F | ---R--- | 11:30A-12:50P | Weil / 330 | [TBA] | Final Critique | 15 | 0 | 0 | | |
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| | Description: | Since the beginning of the 20th century, art, architecture, and urbanism together have investigated the production of images that shape the symbolic dimension of our experience of large cities. The main goal of this course is to critically embrace this tradition through the format of the artist's book. St. Louis is the focus for our observations because it is familiar to our everyday lives and also because it provides key situations for understanding contemporary forms of urbanity and how urban space is produced and imagined. The course bridges the curricular structures of art and architecture by enhancing the collaboration between the practical and scholarly work developed in both schools, with additional support from Special Collections at Olin Library. It combines the reading, lecture, and discussion format of a seminar with the skill building and creative exploration of a studio. This course is divided into three progressive phases of development: the first consists of weekly readings, discussion, and responses in the form of artist's books. The second phase focuses on the Derive with physical activities and assignments based on interacting directly with the urban environment. The third phase focuses on individual research, documentation, and final book design and production. College of Architecture and College of Art sophomores, juniors, and seniors have priority. |
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| | 01 | --W---- | 1:00P-3:50P | Bixby / 124 | Lima | Final Critique | 12 | 11 | 0 | | |
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| | Description: | Urban Mining, encompassing deconstruction, salvage, and reuse, aims to recover materials and components from existing old buildings to repurpose them in new construction, which can significantly reduce embodied energy and carbon footprints while creating new forms. Design for Urban Mining (DfUM) presents a new paradigm for architectural design for sustainability. In Spring 2025, team WashU will investigate DfUM concepts, methods, and processes by experimenting with (1) design with salvaged material for future construction, (2) design with the concept of future deconstruction, (3) showcasing urban mining innovations through an experimental living unit, potentially contribute to, Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB 2025). Students will use design/build as a vehicle to study how architectural design deals with resources from the city and how it can create attractive architectural forms. The course will include literature review of the state of the arts, and the research may be transformed into a formal journal or conference publication. |
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| | Description: | The Sustainability Exchange engages interdisciplinary teams of students to tackle real-world energy, environmental, and sustainability problems through an experiential form of education. Students participate in projects with on- or off-campus clients, developed with and guided by faculty advisors from across the University. Teams deliver to their clients an end-product that explores "wicked" problems requiring innovative methods and solutions. New and varied projects are introduced each semester. Past projects have included conducting greenhouse gas inventories for a community organization; developing a tool to screen University investments for sustainability parameters; developing a sustainability plan for a local nonprofit; addressing water savings initiatives for local breweries; and assessing the vulnerability of city sanitation systems. Team-based projects are complemented by seminars that explore problem solving strategies and methodologies drawn from a wide range of creative practices, including design, engineering, and science, as well as contemporary topics in energy, environment, and sustainability. Students will draw on these topics to influence their projects. The course is designed primarily for undergraduates, with preference given to seniors. Registration for this course is direct to waitlist, followed by submitting an application here by 5pm on Monday, December 4. Faculty will review applications and begin notifying students of acceptance by 5pm on Tuesday, December 12. After faculty confirm students want to accept the invitation to enroll, students will be manually enrolled into the course. |
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| | 01 | -T-R--- | 2:30P-3:50P | January Hall / 110 | Williams, Kim, Krummenacher, Knipp, VanRiper, Bumpers | No Final | 0 | 0 | 9 | | |
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| | Description: | The third and fourth years introduce a selection of option studios to students. This year emphasizes voice as students adopt their own conceptual position through the iterative development of form, geometry, space, and aesthetics.
More specifically, this studio focuses on advanced architectural design and an in-depth study of a specific topic through rigorous design development.
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Arch 111B or Arch 144, 112B, 211C, 212C, 311, 312, and 411 with a
grade of C- or better. |
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| | 01 | M-W---- | 1:00P-5:20P | TBA | [TBA] | Final Critique | 72 | 43 | 0 | | |
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| | Description: | This course, which is based on the textbook Designing the Modern City: Urbanism Since 1850, is a lecture course that examines designers' efforts to shape modern cities. Topics covered include the technical and social changes in mid-19th century industrial cities, notably London, Paris, and Barcelona, as well as varied efforts to shape urban extensions and central new interventions elsewhere. These include reform housing efforts for the working class in 19th-century London and New York, Städtebau (city building) in German-speaking environments, the Garden City Movement, the American City Beautiful movement, "town planning" in Britain, and "urbanisme" in France (the source of the contemporary term "urbanism"). Less well-known topics that will also be addressed are urban modernization in East Asia before 1940 and suburban planning in the United States, including Frank Lloyd Wright's Broadacre City. The book also addresses social change and modern urbanism in Europe in the 1920s, including the emergence of CIAM (International Congresses for Modern Architecture), which met from 1928 to 1956; the political, technological and urban transformations of World War II; the expansion of racially segregated decentralization in the United States; and some European and Latin American postwar urbanism. It also addresses urbanistic aspects of postwar architectural culture, including critiques of modernist planning by Jane Jacobs and others and more recent responses to the ongoing challenges posed by efforts to create organized self-build settlements and to make more ecologically sustainable cities. |
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| | Description: | This seminar surveys the history of East Asia's great cities through the lens of social, urban, and architectural change from pre-modern to modern times. It explores how the ever-shifting geopolitical landscape of East Asia shaped the trajectory of the region's urban morphology, with each week devoted to a specific topic. Tracing the flow of knowledge, ideas, and technologies across borders, the seminar addresses such themes as the influence of the Chinese cultural sphere on the design of pre-modern capitals outside of China; the emergence of Japanese castle towns; the social and architectural impact of semi-colonialism in treaty-port cities; and the top-down planning carried out by imperial Japan in Manchuria. At the same time, we will consider what these larger forces meant for the daily lives of the people who had to live with their consequences and for the broader ecologies that both shaped and were reshaped by urban growth. Weekly lectures will introduce students to principles and policies that shaped the built environment of major metropolitan centers from Beijing to Seoul to Tokyo, while in-class discussions will draw from a broad range of readings, stories, and visual sources that bring cities, and their inhabitants, to life. For the final project, students will write and illustrate a historical narrative of a city and time of their choice based on their own research.
Prerequisite: junior, senior, or graduate student standing |
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| | Description: | How can we provide for the possibility of public space to become a ground for social interaction - a ground for participation to contribute towards the idea of collective play?
Exploring the intersection of art making and play, this course will experiment with the design of a playful and non-conventional obstacle course that embraces participatory imagination and collaboration for children between the ages of 6 to 11. With this in mind, we will develop a kit of parts that will allow for collaboration, inventive thinking, and interconnective activities among children. We will create interactive devices, made of shapes and forms that allow for the adaption and transformation of the obstacle course. This will allow for a site-specific sequencing of the obstacle
course.
It is encouraged you bring curiosity, playfulness, and knowledge of digital design software (such as Rhino, SketchUp, and illustrator) to the course. In addition, it would be helpful if you are familiar with the fabrication-shop at the Sam Fox School as the final product will be a 1:1 scale obstacle course you will build as a team. Each team member will develop one part of obstacle course, contributing to the greater assemblage. We will test the obstacle court at the end of the semester with invited guests from a nearby elementary school. Note: This course meets every other week for the length of the semester. |
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| | 01 | --W---- | 8:30A-11:20A | Weil / 120 | Kempf | Final Critique | 12 | 13 | 6 | | Desc: | This course meets for the last seven weeks of the semester. |
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| | Description: | Diverse cultures throughout history have developed creative architectural practices that often became inseparably entwined with their cultural ethos. The homogenization of global architectural values, under the guise of modernity, has undermined the cultural legacies that protected local and traditional building practices to the extent that many such practices are at risk of being lost forever. The Promiscuous Project utilizes generative AI's ability to disassociate from the imposed socio-political hierarchy of history to mine underexplored architectural qualities tied to cultural practices and hybridize them, drawing unexpected threads across time and space. In an increasingly mobile world, cultures are often practiced far from where they originate and are constantly evolving in response to their surroundings. This course seeks to parallel this cultural transgression in architectural production.
This iteration of the seminar will focus on the cultural, architectural, and religious significance of domes in well-known Gothic churches like Notre Dame in France and lesser-known Persian and Ottoman mosques like the Shah Mosque in Iran. We will closely study their formal and ornamental qualities and speculate on how the hybrid domes are derivative of their origins while also deviating from them. We will explore virtual 3D scanning tools such as Trnio and RealityScan, AI processing tools like Google Colab, Automatic1111, and Adobe Firefly, and 3D modeling software like Rhinoceros, Blender, and ZBrush. The final deliverables will be a series of estranged physical objects that make productive the inevitable clash between diverse cultures and their spatial affinities. |
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| | 01 | --W---- | 8:30A-11:20A | Weil / 230 | Mhatre | Final Critique | 12 | 10 | 0 | | |
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| | 01 | -T----- | 10:00A-11:20A | TBA | Hauk | Final Critique | 100 | 86 | 0 | | |
| E | ---R--- | 11:30A-12:50P | Weil / 230 | [TBA] | Final Critique | 15 | 5 | 0 | | |
| F | ---R--- | 11:30A-12:50P | Weil / 330 | [TBA] | Final Critique | 15 | 0 | 0 | | |
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| | B | --W---- | 11:30A-12:50P | Weil / 330 | Allen | Final Critique | 16 | 9 | 0 | | |
| C | --W---- | 11:30A-12:50P | Weil / 120 | Allen | Final Critique | 16 | 6 | 0 | | |
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| | Description: | "The real is saturated with the spaces of projection, possibility, and the new that we now designate as virtual in order to keep them contained behind the glassy smoothness of the computer screen. The virtual reality of computer space is fundamentally no different from the virtual reality of writing, reading, drawing, or even thinking: the virtual is the space of emergence of the new, the unthought, the unrealized, which at every moment loads the presence of the present with supplementarily, redoubling a world through parallel universes, universes that might have been." Elizabeth A. Grosz
Focused on "Media and Materiality", we will be mapping the genealogy of the formation of materiality as a concept and will investigate ways that "media mediate material relations". Heavy emphasis is given to possibilities for the media to be understood as varied environments. The course format consists mainly of small lecture sessions and active reading discussions which are moderated by the faculty but led by the students. There is a semester-long hands-on project. Through this project, we will utilize visualization and 3D projection mapping to bring focus on the moments when material relations point to incorporeal environments. |
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| | 01 | -T----- | 1:00P-3:50P | Weil / 120 | Safaverdi | Final Critique | 12 | 10 | 0 | | |
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| | Description: | In contemporary construction practice, building enclosures are sophisticated assemblies conceived through complex processes that merge design, science, technology and craft. The outermost layer of the exterior wall is the most exposed to natural forces and therefore it needs careful attention as it must work effectively over the lifetime of the building. The primary goal of this fabrication seminar is the construction of full-scale mockup pieces that function as part of real building envelopes; this is an opportunity for hands-on experience. Students will design, develop and build enclosures out of different types of precast high-performance concrete assemblies as critical components of building envelopes. The course will be developed in partnership with Gate Precast, a leader company in the precast concrete industry. Supported by a grant from the PCI Foundation, students will have a budget of $12,500 to design and prototype precast mockups of building envelopes. Students will start by conducting research and analyzing historic and contemporary buildings, focusing on their skin properties and configurations. Then, they will proceed to identify specific environmental condition(s) and develop an enclosure as a response to such condition(s), advancing the design through detail drawings and study models, culminating in a full-scale mockup mold. Construction of the molds will be done at Washington University's facilities combining digital and analog methods of fabrication, including CNC milling, laser cutters, 3D printers, and vacuum-formed plastic, among other methods; a fully equipped wood shop is also available. Once the molds are finalized, they will be transported to Gate's architectural plant in Ashland City, TN, for reinforcing and concrete casting; this project will culminate in the demolding of full-scale precast mockup pieces. Students will tour the facility and participate in the entire fabrication process, including mold preparation, reinforcing, casting, demolding, handling and finishing of the final panels. |
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| | 01 | --W---- | 8:30A-11:20A | Givens / 118 | Moyano Fernandez | Final Critique | 9 | 12 | 12 | | |
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| | Description: | Environmental Systems 1 is the foundation course in the architectural technology sequence. This course addresses the relationship between buildings and an expanded idea of context, including ideas of environment, landform, energy, material and space. The class places an emphasis on each student developing his or her own attitude toward architectural sustainability, its role within the design process, and its relationship to architectural form.
The class is organized around the themes of climate, site and energy. The theme of climate addresses macro- and micro-climates, and the roles they have in developing architectural form through 'passive' strategies. The theme of site expands the idea of the architectural project to examine landform, position, access and region. The theme of energy looks at architecture as both embodied energy and a consumer of energy, to understand how the architect helps to control and direct these flows at macro and micro levels.
Two goals for the class are to provide students with ways of thinking about and of working with issues of sustainability which can inform their design practice, and to equip them with the basic knowledge needed to continue within the technology sequence. The course is open to graduate students and undergraduates at the junior and senior level. |
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| | 01 | -T-R--- | 8:30A-9:50A | Givens / 116 | Freixas | Default - none | 51 | 51 | 0 | | | Actions: | | Books | | Syllabus | | Syllabi are provided to students to support their course planning; refer to the syllabus for constraints on use. |
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| | Description: | We as architects have to analyze and address complex issues and relationships, synthesize them, and then make them manifest through clear design strategies. Building systems must reconcile: solar heat gain, glare control, daylight levels, thermal insulation, ventilation, acoustics, air quality, structure and fabrication - all in relation to the scale and comfort of the
human body. The development of environmental systems into a clear, comprehensive, and elegant design solution cannot be an afterthought; it must be a synthesized and integral part of the design process, with a clear strategy that operates at multiple scales. Building upon the passive strategies explored in Environmental Systems I, this course will lay the foundation for the integration of active environmental systems with enclosure, space, and the requirements for human occupation. This will be done through the study of climate, air, temperature, water, light, sound, and energy. Each topic will be assessed against problems, principles, possibilities and potential. This course focuses on how important it is to consider active systems as part of an integrated design strategy addressing both FORM and PERFORMANCE throughout the design process. Prerequisites: Environmental Systems I & Building Systems I |
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| | 01 | M------ | 10:00A-11:20A | Givens / 116 | McGrath, Brown | Default - none | 50 | 28 | 0 | | |
| A | -T----- | 8:30A-9:50A | (None) / | McGrath, Brown | See Instructor | 15 | 10 | 0 | | Desc: | This discussion section meets online. |
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| B | -T----- | 10:00A-11:20A | TBA | McGrath, Brown | See Instructor | 15 | 13 | 0 | | |
| C | -T----- | 11:30A-12:50P | TBA | McGrath, Brown | See Instructor | 15 | 5 | 0 | | |
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| | 01 | ----F-- | 1:00P-3:50P | TBA | Bernstine | Final Critique | 12 | 12 | 1 | | Desc: | This course meets for the first seven weeks of the semester.
NOTE: This course meets at Sumner High School. |
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| 02 | ----F-- | 1:00P-3:50P | TBA | Bernstine | Final Critique | 9 | 9 | 1 | | Desc: | This course meets for the last seven weeks of the semester.
NOTE: This course meets at Sumner High School. |
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| | Description: | A major goal is to have elementary school students explore sustainable ways to live during the 21st. century. To this end, we will offer students curriculum ideas which will emphasize ecological sustainability, environmental health, personal responsibility, leadership, and a high-quality academic program. We will place emphasis on the environmental sciences, energy alternatives and conservation, recycling, organic gardening and the food sciences, and the emerging "green" economy.
We will work to help the students improve their math, science, writing, and hands-on skills - using the range of topics about sustainable living as the "vehicle." This course invites both undergraduate and graduate students from different fields of study to apply their discipline to the goal of designing and teaching hands-on problem -solving projects for elementary students. Gay Lorberbaum, with advising from administrators at the elementary school, will work individually with each WU student and each WU team to develop the right fit between the creative contribution each WU student will offer and the range of emotional and intellectual needs of the elementary school students. WU students enrolled in this course will work on-site at the elementary school during the scheduled weekly meeting times. |
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| | 01 | -T-R--- | 11:30A-12:50P | Givens / 113 | Lorberbaum | Final Critique | 20 | 20 | 11 | | |
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| | 01 | ----F-- | 1:00P-3:50P | Givens / 118 | Murphy | Final Critique | 12 | 12 | 3 | | Desc: | This course meets at Sumner High School on Jan. 31, Feb. 21, March 21, April 11, and May 2. |
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| | 01 | ---R--- | 1:00P-3:50P | TBA | Lima | See Instructor | 12 | 11 | 0 | | |
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| | 01 | M--R--- | 1:00P-5:20P | TBA | [TBA] | Final Critique | 12 | 5 | 0 | | |
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| | Description: | Working in small groups, students will acquire new perspectives and skills that put people and their needs at the heart of the creative process of re-imagining and transforming cities. Livability, lively cities, public life and other concepts describing inviting, vibrant and stimulating urban environments are frequently communicated in new visions for the future of cities today but are the most often unrealized component of design projects. This focus on 'urban life' is a direct reaction to the urban realities created in the 20th Century, where increases in our standards of living and the associated city building processes have created areas in which large and increasing numbers of people have become isolated from each other, socially and geographically. Despite our new awareness for the need to plan for a shared and intensified urban life in sustainable cities, we continue to have difficulties in understanding exactly what this 'urban life' is, how much of it we truly want and need, and how we can reconcile the often conflicting and simultaneous needs of people for privacy and social stimulation. Open to all graduate students. Master of urban Design students receive priority. The completion of both the Informal Cities (fall semester, 1 unit) and the Lively City (spring semester, 2 units) masterclasses may fulfill the Urban Issues elective requirement for MArch students. Students will be registered for the course from the waitlist by the Registrar's Office. |
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| | 01 | TBA | | TBA | [TBA] | See Instructor | 0 | 10 | 21 | | Desc: | This course meets during spring break: Sunday, March 9 - Saturday, March 15, 2024. |
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| | Description: | This course, which is based on the textbook Designing the Modern City: Urbanism Since 1850, is a lecture course that examines designers' efforts to shape modern cities. Topics covered include the technical and social changes in mid-19th century industrial cities, notably London, Paris, and Barcelona, as well as varied efforts to shape urban extensions and central new interventions elsewhere. These include reform housing efforts for the working class in 19th-century London and New York, Städtebau (city building) in German-speaking environments, the Garden City Movement, the American City Beautiful movement, "town planning" in Britain, and "urbanisme" in France (the source of the contemporary term "urbanism"). Less well-known topics that will also be addressed are urban modernization in East Asia before 1940 and suburban planning in the United States, including Frank Lloyd Wright's Broadacre City. The book also addresses social change and modern urbanism in Europe in the 1920s, including the emergence of CIAM (International Congresses for Modern Architecture), which met from 1928 to 1956; the political, technological and urban transformations of World War II; the expansion of racially segregated decentralization in the United States; and some European and Latin American postwar urbanism. It also addresses urbanistic aspects of postwar architectural culture, including critiques of modernist planning by Jane Jacobs and others and more recent responses to the ongoing challenges posed by efforts to create organized self-build settlements and to make more ecologically sustainable cities. |
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