Architecture is a diverse and global discipline with a rich and complex history of distinguished approaches towards design and construction. Characterized by a multiplicity of cultural, societal, and environmental conditions—and informed by locally available tools, materials, and technologies—these practices form an invaluable repository of unique and contextually based design strategies. Through research into region-specific precedents, the studio aims to expand each student’s understanding of the breadth and depth of architectural design while also understanding context as a crucial element in the design process. A close analysis of these projects will reveal their unique technological sophistication, material resourcefulness, environmental consciousness, and cultural significance.

Intrinsic to architectural design are the construction methods and material assemblies used to inform the qualities of space. These systems, while vast, can often be seen as a product of the building’s immediate social, cultural, material, and ecological contexts. Wood structures are built near the forest and stone buildings in rocky areas, whereas earthen structures may be employed due to a material scarcity in the region. Materials are not only a result of context but have a direct impact on a building’s scale and its spatial composition as well. For example, working with heavy earthen materials affords fundamentally different design opportunities than working with lightweight materials. Valuable architectural design innovation can emerge from a deep study of materials, tools of making, and construction processes. This approach enables exciting opportunities for spatial expression and a critical reevaluation of the often problematic carbon footprint of buildings.

The studio’s investigations are concerned with the architectural configuration of spatial, material, and construction strategies in response to a set of contextual and programmatic parameters. Through analysis and a series of iterative design studies that explore part to whole relationships and structural hierarchy, students will understand the role of material and construction methods as essential parameters that inform architectural expression. Additionally, students will grapple with patterns of use, rituals, and sequential nuances of a provided program. In this process, looking back towards architecture’s own histories—and understanding the unique relevance of past methods of construction and space-making— constitutes an important point of departure.

However, it is equally important to look ahead and to contextualize past innovation within today’s architectural discourse. This studio will expand architecture’s histories of making by also introducing contemporary projects and building practices from around the world, highlighting architecture’s evolving and diverse design configurations. Together, spatial expression (in relation to scale and function), material organization (in relation to assembly tactic and construction method), and contextual parameters (in relation to environment and culture), contribute to a diverse, complex, and ever-evolving architectural language.