School of Architecture

Omar Khan
Location: CFA 201
www.soa.cmu.edu

The SoA educates students in the discipline of architecture emphasizing the role of creativity in architectural design; understanding its historical, social and environmental context; critically engaging technology in its innovation; and ethically working for social progress and justice in the built environment. Our undergraduate and graduate degree programs prepare students for the challenges facing architecture and urbanism in the twenty-first century, namely global warming, artificial intelligence and social justice. We aim to produce discipline-defining designers and thinkers in diverse global contexts.

This world-class architecture education is enhanced by our position within one of the world’s leading research and entrepreneurship institutions, and by the fundamental premise that architectural excellence demands both rigorous training in fundamentals and the development of unique specializations. Students may extend their core knowledge either through concentration in architecture subdisciplines like urban design, sustainable design or computational design, or through interdisciplinary interaction with CMU’s other renowned programs in the sciences, humanities, business and engineering. Though every SoA student graduates with intensive architecture knowledge, no two graduates leave with the same education.

In the twenty-first century, few architecture problems are straightforward. Graduates of SoA excel in the roles architects have performed for centuries - and in new roles catalyzed by the depth and breadth of their education - to create and execute innovative solutions to a huge range of emerging global challenges.

Undergraduate Degree Programs

The SoA offers two baccalaureate degree programs: the 5-year, professional Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch), and the 4-year Bachelor of Arts in Architecture (B.A.). Both programs begin with the same studio-based curriculum in the first year, but then begin to diverge in terms of opportunities and outcomes. The B.Arch requires 10 studios and an extensive set of required professional courses, while the B.A. requires a minimum of 4 studios and fewer technical courses, all of which can be spread out over the four years of the program, and thus allow students to explore different opportunities in their studies.

Undergraduate students are admitted to the SoA without a declared degree program. By the end of the second year, students must select either the B.A. or the B.Arch degree program. The student’s academic advisors, faculty, and Head provide mentoring and information to guide the student in selecting their degree option.

Bachelor of Architecture Program (B.Arch)

The Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch) is a 5-year, first professional degree program accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB, https://www.naab.org/) with a carefully defined set of “Program Criteria” (PC) and “Student Performance Criteria” (SPC). The B.Arch is for students proposing to pursue a career as a licensed architect or related profession, and centers around a carefully structured set of professional and technical courses about building design and construction, alongside the social, cultural and professional contexts in which architects operate. Our students graduate with a professional degree that prepares them to excel in practice—but that also launches them into key specialties within and around the profession.

Due to the technical nature of the B.Arch program at CMU, it is STEM-eligible, meaning that in addition to one year of Optional Practical Training (OPT), an international student on an F-1 visa may apply for a 24-month STEM OPT extension following graduation.

Statement on NAAB-Accredited Degrees

In the United States, most registration boards require a degree from an accredited professional degree program as a prerequisite for licensure. The National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), which is the sole agency authorized to accredit professional degree programs in architecture offered by institutions with U.S. regional accreditation, recognizes three types of degrees: the Bachelor of Architecture, the Master of Architecture, and the Doctor of Architecture. A program may be granted an eight-year term, an eight-year term with conditions, or a two-year term of continuing accreditation, or a three-year term of initial accreditation, depending on the extent of its conformance with established education standards.

Doctor of Architecture and Master of Architecture degree programs may require a non-accredited undergraduate degree in architecture for admission. However, the non-accredited degree is not, by itself, recognized as an accredited degree.

The Carnegie Mellon University School of Architecture offers the following NAAB-accredited programs:
-- Bachelor of Architecture (450 units)
-- Master of Architecture (Pre-professional degree or equivalent + 180 units)

The next NAAB accreditation visit for the Bachelor of Architecture is scheduled for 2026.
The next NAAB accreditation visit for the Master of Architecture is scheduled for 2030.

The full 2020 NAAB Conditions for Accreditation can also be found on NAAB’s website at: https://www.naab.org/accreditation/about-accreditation.

Bachelor of Arts in Architecture Program (B.A.)

The Bachelor of Arts in Architecture (B.A.) is a 4-year liberal studies degree program that allows and encourages interdisciplinary exploration. The program is built around a core foundation of architectural studios and technical coursework, but more than half of the units required for graduation are general studies courses and flexible electives. B.A. students have the opportunity to double major, test the boundaries of the discipline, and explore a variety of interests. If you are a student that embraces creativity, is curious about the world around you, and enjoys engaging both the left and right sides of your brain, the B.A. program could be a perfect fit for you.

As a 4-year, pre-professional architecture program, the B.A. allows those who are interested to continue in architecture with a 2-year professional M.Arch degree program (often called a 4+2 degree), or to go on to specialize in other fields in graduate school, including urban design, landscape architecture or other fields related to design, the built environment, virtual worlds, community engagement, sustainability, and more. The B.A. also makes it possible for students to transfer into architecture from other studies.

In the first year, the B.A. program begins with the same studio-based curriculum as the B.Arch program, but then begins to diverge in terms of opportunities and outcomes. The B.A. requires only the first four studios and the core courses from the first two years of the B.Arch sequence, and these can be spread out over the four years of the program. Students may take more studios, specialize in particular aspects of architecture, or explore broadly.

For students seeking to integrate architecture with another field of study, CMU also offers the BXA Intercollege Degree Programs. BXA students graduate with a Bachelor of Humanities and Arts, a Bachelor of Science and Arts, or a Bachelor of Computer Science and Arts degree.

B.Arch Curriculum

Minimum units required for Bachelor of Architecture450

First Year: Poeisis

48-100	Architecture Design Studio: POIESIS STUDIO 1	15
48-104	Shop Skills	3
48-120	Digital Media I	6
48-121	Drawing I	6
48-119	Design Ethics & Social Justice in Architecture	3
76-101	Interpretation and Argument	9
99-101	Core@CMU	3

48-105	Architecture Design Studio: Poiesis Studio 2	15
48-112	Digital Fabrication Skills	2
48-125	Digital Media II	6
48-126	Drawing II	6
48-111	Exploring Pittsburgh	3
48-240	History of World Architecture, I	9
xx-xxx	Elective	6

Second Year: Poeisis

48-200	Architecture Design Studio: Poiesis Studio 3	18
48-215	Materials & Assembly	9
48-116	Introduction to Building Performance	3
48-214	Generative Modeling	9
xx-xxx	Elective	6

48-205	Architecture Options Studios	18
48-241	Modern Architecture: History & Theory	9
48-247	Fundamentals of Computational Design	9
48-026	Second Year Seminar: Architecture Edition II	3
xx-xxx	Elective	6

Third Year: Praxis

48-300	Architecture Design Studio: Praxis Studio 1	18
48-234	Structural Design 1: Form and Forces	6
48-315	Enviroment I: Climate & Energy in Architecture	9
xx-xxx	Elective	9

48-305	Architecture Design Studio: Praxis Studio 2	18
48-324	Structural Design 2: Materials and Analysis	9
48-432	Environment II: Design Integration of Active Building Systems	9
48-380	Constructing Value(s): Economies of Design	6
xx-xxx	Elective	6

Fourth Year: Praxis & ASOS

48-400	Architecture Design Studio: Praxis Studio 3	18
48-250	Urbanism and the Social Production of Space	9
48-561	Professional Development	3
48-xxx	Architectural History III (Selective)	9
xx-xxx	Elective	9

48-405	Advanced Synthesis Options Studio II	18
48-381	Issues of Practice	6
48-383	Ethics	6
xx-xxx	Elective	9
xx-xxx	Elective	5

Fifth Year

48-500	Advanced Synthesis Options Studio	18
xx-xxx	Elective	9
xx-xxx	Elective	9
xx-xxx	Elective	6

48-510	Advanced Synthesis Options Studio IV	18
or 48-519	Architecture Design Studio: Thesis II/ Independent Project
xx-xxx	Elective	9
xx-xxx	Elective	9
xx-xxx	Elective	6

B.A. Curriculum

Minimum units required for Bachelor of Arts in Architecture360

Architectural Design Studios

48-100	Architecture Design Studio: POIESIS STUDIO 1	15
48-105	Architecture Design Studio: Poiesis Studio 2	15
48-200	Architecture Design Studio: Poiesis Studio 3	18
48-205	Architecture Options Studios	18

History, Urbanism & Ethics Stream (30 units)

48-104	Shop Skills	Var.
48-112	Digital Fabrication Skills	2
48-116	Introduction to Building Performance	3
48-215	Materials & Assembly	9
48-234	Structural Design 1: Form and Forces	6

Architectural Technologies Stream (25 units)

48-104	Shop Skills	Var.
48-112	Digital Fabrication Skills	2
48-116	Introduction to Building Performance	3
48-215	Materials & Assembly	9
48-234	Structural Design 1: Form and Forces	6

Computation & Representation Stream (45 Units)

48-120	Digital Media I	6
48-121	Drawing I	6
48-125	Digital Media II	6
48-126	Drawing II	6
48-214	Generative Modeling	9
48-247	Fundamentals of Computational Design	9

General Studies & Electives

99-101	Core@CMU	3
48-025	First Year Seminar: Architecture Edition	3
48-026	Second Year Seminar: Architecture Edition II	3
76-101	Interpretation and Argument	9
48-xxx	Architecture Electives	45
xx-xxx	University Electives (Outside SoA)	45
xx-xxx	Flex Electives (In or out of SoA)	89

Minors in Architecture

The SoA offers several minors in various specialty subjects related to architecture, some are only available to non-architecture students, others are only available to architecture majors, and still others can be taken by all CMU students. For the most up-to-date list of minors, see: https://www.architecture.cmu.edu/minors.

Non-architecture students may minor in: Architecture, Architectural History, Architectural Representation & Visualization, Architectural Technology, and Computational Design.

Architecture students may minor in: Architectural Design Fabrication, Architectural History, Architectural Representation & Visualization, Building Science, and Computational Design.

The Minor in Architecture sequence is for students who intend to develop intellectual links to the architectural profession. The scope of courses offered includes a full spectrum of professional issues in architecture. (Available to non-architecture majors only.)

The Minor in Architectural Design Fabrication is intended for students who wish to develop focused, disciplinary expertise in both analog and digital material methods for shaping the built environment and become involved in a community of practice dedicated to a rigorous pursuit of making as a mode of architectural research and cultural expression. It is also for students interested in gaining advanced placement in the SoA's Master of Advanced Architectural Design (MAAD) program. (Available to architecture majors only.)

The Minor in Architectural History is intended for candidates interested in the history of architecture in its many manifestations, including high style and vernacular buildings, western and non-western traditions, built and theoretical works, and rural to urban contexts. Students wishing to pursue the minor should meet with the Architecture advisor to determine if a course is eligible. (Available to both architecture majors and non-architecture majors.)

The Minor in Architectural Representation and Visualization is intended for students who wish to develop particular skills in architectural representation, and for those who are interested in gaining advanced placement in the SoA's Master degree program in Computational Design (MSCD). (Available to both architecture majors and non-architecture majors.)

The Minor in Architectural Technology is intended for students who seek to develop intellectual links to the technical aspects of the profession. (Available to non-architecture majors only.)

The Minor in Building Science is intended for students that want to deepen their knowledge in the building sciences, and for those who are interested in gaining advanced placement in the SoA's Master degree programs in Building Performance & Diagnostics (MSBPD) or Sustainable Design (MSSD). (Available to architecture majors only.)

The Minor in Computational Design is intended for students who wish to engage with computation as a vehicle of generative, material, and spatial design exploration, and for those who are interested in gaining advanced placement in the SoA's Master of Science in Computational Design (MSCD). (Available to both architecture majors and non-architecture majors.)

Advanced Standing in Master Degree Programs

The SoA offers a unique opportunity to undergraduate students who wish to pursue a post-professional Master’s degree in an architecture-related field. The Accelerated Master’s Program (AMP) offers baccalaureate students the opportunity to expedite their completion of a Master’s degree, saving both time and money—and allowing them to hit the job market with specialized knowledge and two CMU degrees. Baccalaureate students can pursue a graduate degree in the following subjects: Master of Architecture (M.Arch) (B.A. students only), Advanced Architectural Design, Architecture–Engineering–Construction Management, Building Performance and Diagnostics, Computational Design, Sustainable Design, and Urban Design. An AMP student must complete all of the units required by BOTH programs, less a maximum of 48 units that can be double-counted. For instance, B.Arch + MSSD-Applied would be 450 units + 135 units less 48 double-counted units, or 537 total units total for two degrees. B.Arch students may begin pursuit of a post-professional Master’s degree through AMP as early as their third year.

Student Advising

Architecture students can receive advice from many sources, including the faculty, staff, and administration of the School. All SoA undergraduates are urged to meet with the Senior Academic Advisor to review their academic progress and plans before each semester. Such meetings are important to take full advantage of elective possibilities within the curriculum, general progress toward graduation, and professional goal-setting. Students may also check their progress using the online academic audit in the Student Information Online (SIO) and should review the audit results with the senior academic advisor. The Academic Advisor will assist students with registration, academic audits, transfer credits, study abroad, SoA minors, finals grades and academic actions, as well as SoA and university policies and resources.

In addition, we encourage all of our students to become involved with student organizations such as AIAS or NOMAS, as well as committees such as the Student Advisory Council (SAC) in order to learn from peers. Students should seek advice about the Architectural Experience Program (AXP) and architectural licensing through the Architect Licensing Advisor

Study Abroad

The SoA strongly encourages students to study abroad. The perspective gained through immersion in another culture and language is invaluable. A student is exposed to architectural subjects not readily available at CMU and will study architecture directly in a foreign context. The Office of International Education (OIE) is an excellent resource for getting started for study abroad planning.

Study abroad can fall into four categories: University Direct Exchanges, University Sponsored Programs, External Programs, and Departmental Summer Programs.

Students are allowed one semester abroad for which they receive studio credit except for those students at approved direct, year-long exchange programs. Students may study abroad in the Fall, Spring, or Summer semesters. Careful planning and scheduling of your courses are necessary when incorporating a study away experience into your curriculum. Students should investigate and start making decisions to study abroad by the fall of their second year, so they can plan their courses accordingly. Please see the academic advisor prior to making any decisions on what term to schedule your study away experience.

To qualify for a study abroad program other than the departmental summer programs, a student must have completed their third year of the program, have a minimum overall QPA of 3.00, and be in good academic standing (no current academic actions).

Students in SoA departmental summer programs must have completed their first year, and must be free of any academic actions for the semester prior to studying away, or permission may be denied. Students can petition the UPEC for exceptions.

Students who participate in a study abroad program for one semester will transfer non-studio course credit by submitting course descriptions of each course taken as well as an official transcript from the host Institution. Official translated transcripts must be submitted to the academic advisor before the beginning of the academic year to receive transfer credit. Grades are not transferred, only credits. Transfer credit is awarded upon receipt of an official translated transcript and only for courses with the grade of a C or better (not C-). When students return from study abroad, they must pin up original work during the study away exhibit, which will be subject to review by the UPEC or designated faculty.

Academic Standards

The College of Fine Arts seeks to support each of our students on their pathway towards graduation. Thus, we review each student’s academic performance and progress towards degree at the close of each semester. Academic actions are designed to notify a student of specific academic and graduation requirements, outline goals for completion, and identify avenues of support. Academic actions are opportunities for students to reflect, grow, and get connected with appropriate campus resources to help them succeed.

To stay on track for graduation, each student is expected to complete a minimum of 36* units each semester, have both a semester and cumulative QPA of at least 2.0, pass at least 80% of their attempted units for the semester, as well as to make adequate academic progress towards their declared degree. Adequate progress requires that a student registers for and passes all of their degree’s critical coursework as defined in each program’s curriculum.
To remain in good academic standing a student must achieve the following criteria:

Pass at least 80% of attempted units in the current semester.
Achieve a minimum QPA of 2.0 both in the current semester and cumulatively.
Make adequate academic progress towards their declared degree as defined by their degree track.

Students in the School of Architecture are expected to register for and successfully complete their required Architecture Design Studio sequence in order to make Adequate Academic Progress towards their declared degree. Students are required to pass all required Architecture Design Studios with a D or better, with the exception of the three Praxis studios. These studios must be passed with a C or better to progress in the sequence. Refer to the Academic Regulations section of the handbook for additional details. If a student does NOT make progress towards their designated degree path they will receive an academic notification. See CFA Handbook for specifics concerning academic standards, academic policies, and the academic action sequence.

Incomplete grades will be conditionally actioned by the default grades until the student completes the missing coursework. If the student does not complete their missing coursework by the faculty deadline agreed upon, their default grade and action will become permanent.

*Students approved for Part Time Status through the Office of Disability Resources will work with their Program’s administration to determine the minimum number of units needed to remain in Good Standing.

Course Descriptions

for AN up-to-date LIST AND Descriptions of courses being taught in the SoA, see soa.cmu.edu/courses, including links to offering to previous semesters

About Course Numbers:

Each Carnegie Mellon course number begins with a two-digit prefix that designates the department offering the course (i.e., 76-xxx courses are offered by the Department of English). Although each department maintains its own course numbering practices, typically, the first digit after the prefix indicates the class level: xx-1xx courses are freshmen-level, xx-2xx courses are sophomore level, etc. Depending on the department, xx-6xx courses may be either undergraduate senior-level or graduate-level, and xx-7xx courses and higher are graduate-level. Consult the Schedule of Classes each semester for course offerings and for any necessary pre-requisites or co-requisites.

48-025 First Year Seminar: Architecture Edition: Fall: 3 units
The main objective of this first-year seminar course is on how students learn, develop, and make decisions as they transition into architecture education. The goal of this course is to promote academic success and encourage connections within the SoA and the University at large. Teaching and learning strategies will be introduced to help support the transition into architecture and the development of independent critical thinkers. Students will be introduced to campus resources that support their academic/social/personal integration into the campus community. Topical areas to be covered in the seminar will include academic success strategies in architecture education, academic development, career planning, mentorship, academic and personal support services, and the aspects of professional practice in architecture.

Course Website: https://soa.cmu.edu/courses

48-026 Second Year Seminar: Architecture Edition II: Spring: 3 units
The second-year seminar (part 2) introduces students to opportunities at Carnegie Mellon University and beyond. The goal of this course is to encourage students to pursue their interests inside and outside of the School of Architecture by introducing a range of opportunities, including study abroad experiences, internships, academic minors/additional majors, and research opportunities. Additional topical areas to be covered in the seminar will include an evaluation of the previous semester, scholarship/academic funding opportunities, ethical decision making, design resume writing/branding, and engaging with the Career and Professional Development Center.

Course Website: http://soa.cmu.edu

48-095 Spatial Concepts for Non-Architecture Majors: Fall and Spring: 10 units
This course serves as an introduction to the spatial concepts of architecture for students from other disciplines. The course is focused entirely on project design work (this is not an historical survey, technical or lecture course). This course is very hands-on Projects will explore the design and experience of spatial environments through a series of creative investigations. The semester will be broken in to 3 parts:Intro/Exploration and a long term project. In Intro/Exploration, students will have many hands on opportunities to start to build a common language to describe spacial investigations as well as creating them. This will consist of short projects, with each design investigation progressively building upon the previous exploration; these early projects will consist of both individual and group work. They will focus on Making. The second half of the semester will consist of one long term project to be created individually, incorporating students? personal theories of architecture based on an overarching question. Studio work will be supported by group discussion based upon critical review of student work, readings, slide presentations, videos and films. There will also be a few field trips. Students are encouraged to explore their own areas of interest with respect to their work in class. Self-motivation, class attendance and an open mind is mandatory, however, no prior architectural, engineering or artistic experience is required. Students are expected to perform work both inside and outside of class. Students should be prepared to purchase various supplies throughout the course. This course is in partial fulfillment of requirements for an Architecture Minor.

48-100 Architecture Design Studio: POIESIS STUDIO 1: Fall: 15 units
Poiesis Studio I introduces students to the fundamentals of architectural design through practices of critical thinking, iterative design methodology, and design agency. Emphasizing form, space, and composition, this first-year studio lays the foundation for a rigorous and creative design practice. Students engage in a cyclical design process that includes precedent and site analysis, freehand and orthographic drawing, formal analysis, perspective drawing, model-making, collage, and writing. Through a sequence of structured exercises, the course builds core skills in spatial thinking and visual communication while introducing key architectural concepts including site, context, program, materiality, tectonics, cultural practice, and spatial experience. In parallel with skill development, students are encouraged to understand architecture not only as a formal and material practice, but also as a cultural and ecological act. Throughout the semester, we explore the global, environmental, and social dimensions of the discipline and begin to shape our own agendas within it.

Course Website: https://soa.cmu.edu/courses

48-104 Shop Skills: Fall: 2 units
This course will introduce basic material assembly methods, and the use of shop machinery, hand and power tools. It prepares students to participate in a wide range of subsequent building and fabrication projects. We will aim to build confidence and safe work habits while demystifying the interactions between tools and physical materials.

Course Website: https://soa.cmu.edu/courses

48-105 Architecture Design Studio: Poiesis Studio 2: Spring: 15 units
The Poiesis II Design Studio Family nurtures a way of making and thinking in design that aims to cultivate the practice of architecture as an act of creative citizenship. Cultivating an approach to appraise cross-cultural study of how people perceive and manipulate their environments can help us understand architecture and urban design from different and diverse perspectives. Together, we will become detectives to interrogate the contemporary and historical tissue of Pittsburgh through the occupations and working lives at the scale of a neighborhood. These stories elevate ordinary folks and trades that continue to foster how our city functions and create spaces of belonging. We will appraise and use architectural tools as a base of inquiry to speculate and allow us to transform the way we view our world - empathy for ourselves and those around us. The structure of the studio will follow one cohesive research driven design project that will explore narrative modalities by using critical cartography, archival research, spatial compositions, and tectonic exploration. We will explore these techniques to produce a hybrid house focused on acts of care in Pittsburgh. Designers in the sequence will be introduced to critical proficiencies, learn new techniques of representation, and adapt rigorous illustration and animation tools in the production of a dwelling project that is rooted to its context. Tools students will learn include Rhino, Adobe Creative Cloud, and preliminary skills in GIS. These practices in documentation, design, and storytelling will help us spatialize the way our cities situate itself, its ecological relationship, and social scenes in an accessible way for diverse audiences. Poiesis II advocates a multi-conception of moral knowledge built around notions of relationships, interdependence, lived embodiment and responsibilities.
Prerequisite: 48-100 Min. grade C

48-111 Exploring Pittsburgh: Spring: 3 units
The city of Pittsburgh is at once our (permanent or temporary) home and the site of many of our studio projects. In this class the students will start exploring Pittsburgh: as built environment in which their work might be situated, as cultural context they need to interpret, and as creative material for their own work. The class is designed to give the students a deeper understanding of the relevance of the historical context on the physical changes they observe in the urban fabric, starting from their studio site and neighborhood. By learning about key moments in Pittsburgh's urban history, critically engaging with evidence (from maps to archival material to everyday objects) and participating in occasional site and museum visits, the students will learn to read cities as complex and layered, shaped by invisible forces as much as by visible ones.

48-112 Digital Fabrication Skills: Spring: 2 units
"The formal qualities explored by designers today necessitates the use of sophisticated tools with a combination of flexibility and precision. This course serves as an introduction to the type of equipment and methodologies utilized in architectural fabrication. Students will develop a basic understanding of the field to leverage these processes to explore and represent the complex nature of their designs. Through lectures and lab sessions, students will learn the affordances of the machines available in the DFAB Lab (Digital Fabrication Lab), how to prepare 3D CAD models in Rhino 3D for digital fabrication, and basic CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) programming. A series of projects, each highlighting an individual machine, will reinforce this technical knowledge while requiring students to rationalize their designs so their physical manifestations are informed by the techniques introduced."

48-116 Introduction to Building Performance: All Semesters: 3 units
This course will introduce fundamental concepts of building physics. The knowledge and skills obtained from this course can be applied to studio projects and beyond, improving building design and performance through standard methods of evaluation and simulation tools. Couse curriculum running concurrent with studio projects will aid students in further developing and guiding design decisions to incorporate fundamental concepts related to climate, energy, light, relationship to site, and occupant visual and thermal comfort. Students will develop a general understanding of, site analysis, building placement and amp; form as it relates to building performance, photometric principles to evaluate lighting conditions, thermodynamic principles, and heat transfer, building energy, renewable and embodied energy. Skills, tools, and knowledge base learned in this course with enable designers and architects to employ sustainable practices at all phases of design, leading to better performing buildings.
Prerequisites: 62-126 and 62-122 and 62-123 and 62-125

Course Website: https://soa.cmu.edu/courses

48-119 Design Ethics & Social Justice in Architecture: Fall and Spring: 3 units
This seminar confronts the ethical imperatives of architectural practice within the intersecting crises of climate collapse, technological acceleration, and systemic injustice. Anchored in Carnegie Mellon's pedagogical ethos of critical praxis, the course reconceives design not as a neutral exercise in problem-solving, but as a deeply political and philosophical act—one that implicates the architect in broader struggles over power, subjectivity, and the conditions of collective life. We examine architecture's operative capacity across multiple registers: from planetary systems of resource extraction, displacement, and ecological vulnerability, to the intimate geographies of race, gender, ability, and the right to bodily presence in space. Drawing from contemporary critical theory, decolonial thought, and social philosophy, the course constructs a conceptual scaffolding through which to interrogate the spatial logics of injustice and the emancipatory potentials of design. Through case-based inquiry into housing justice, algorithmic governance, speculative resilience infrastructures, and insurgent public space, students engage in a sustained investigation of architecture's entanglements with violence and its possibilities for repair. Special attention is given to frameworks of disability justice, queer and feminist spatial practices, and climate futurisms that center marginalized epistemologies and material needs. Rather than treating ethics as an external constraint, this seminar invites students to reimagine it as a generative design methodology—an active, situated, and collective mode of world-making grounded in care, accountability, and transformation.

48-120 Digital Media I: Fall: 6 units
This course will engage in an overview of foundational workflows in digital media regarding two-dimensional representation techniques for spatial design processes. The course is divided into two topics with one assignment each: Technical Drawing and 2D Graphics. Students are required to submit work at the end of each class, in addition to self-guided work outside of class times: satisfactory completions of the two assignments, specific Lynda tutorials, final project, and final portfolio are required for the successful completion of the course. Through these deliverables, the course will inquire issues of 2D representation as it pertains to the effective communication of technical and conceptual information in spatial design processes. With digital media, designers now have an arsenal of tools that can subvert and augment traditional means of representation with exponentially greater fidelity and efficiency. Students will have an opportunity to practice these values and favor hybrid approaches that strive to blur the boundaries of analog and digital media, so as to learn how to be versatile in leveraging all forms of media for the design task at hand. Students are required to bring their own laptop computers with AutoCAD, Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign installed.

48-121 Drawing I: Fall: 6 units
62-125 is an introductory course in free-hand architectural drawing. Its central learning objective is building a capacity for visualizing three-dimensional space through freehand drawing. A parallel objective is fostering visual literacy: the ability to use line and tonal values to represent architectural space. Topics covered are contour drawing, freehand perspective, axonometric projection, and tonal drawing in charcoal. The course concludes with a final project conducted jointly with 48-100, first-year architectural design.

48-125 Digital Media II: Spring: 6 units
IDM2 is a required course for all first year architecture students. This course is the continuation of IDM. IDM2 introduces students to measured drafting and the process of creating a construction drawing set. The coursework is directly coordinated with Studio assignments providing the students with the opportunity to master their digital skills in a meaningful manner. Due to the amount of content covered there is no single text for this course, but the course is supported by materials created by the instructor. IDM2 addresses topics such as digital drafting, construction drawings, advanced 3D modeling and HTML programming.
Prerequisite: 48-120

48-126 Drawing II: Spring: 6 units
Drawing and Appearance? is a traditional course in free-hand architectural drawing. Its central learning objective is building a capacity for visualizing three-dimensional space through the making of hand-made drawings. Two secondary objectives foster visual literacy: the ability to use line, tonal values and color to represent architectural space and the ability to use drawing to represent architectural proposals at various levels of abstraction Coursework includes free-hand and constructed perspective, shade and shadow projection, chiarroscurro drawing in colored pencil and color drawing in pastel. Work is submitted in three portfolio submissions of two weeks duration each. Coursework is built around exercises in the required course text: Drawing and Perceiving, John Wiley and Sons.

48-175 Descriptive Geometry: Spring: 9 units
Descriptive geometry deals with solving problems in three-dimensional geometry through working with two-dimensional planes using basic mechanical tools. Descriptive geometry deals with physical space, the kind that one is used to since birth. Things one can see around us have geometry and even things that one cannot see, also have geometry. All these things concern geometric objects almost always in relationshipsthat is, next to, above, below, intersecting with, occluding, hidden by and so onto one another that sometimes requires us to make sense of it allin other words, when we try to solve geometric problems albeit in architecture, engineering, or the sciences. In fact, descriptive geometry has proved itself to be practically useful; it has been one of the more important factors in the design of scientific apparatus, engineering systems and architectural structuresit is the basis of modern geometrical computing. Descriptive geometry is constructivemeaning, one uses conventional mechanical drawing tools: namely, compass, ruler, protractor, divider, triangles, etc., to construct solutions to geometric problems. This course specifically revolves around the historical techniques for manually solving three-dimensional geometry problems.

Course Website: http://soa.cmu.edu

48-200 Architecture Design Studio: Poiesis Studio 3: Fall: 18 units
By conceptually recognizing the built/natural environment as a complex web of interacting parts constantly exchanging energy and resources, we may learn to develop architecture that enriches the context from which it arises. In response, the Poiesis Studio 3 explores how architectural and landscape design can respond to a local biome and climate through passive design strategies. We highlight the use of precedent and the relevance of our changing climatic context in how architecture takes shape - how it develops its morphology. Through an iterative process students develop formal and programmatic organizations as field conditions, or aggregations that highlight the localized interconnectivity of buildings, bodies, and environment. These building and landscape morphologies redefine boundary conditions to promote a connection to the local biome. Their envelopes become mediators between interior and exterior, public and private, the social and the ecological. Working from the scale of the territory to that of the building enclosure our goal is to arrive at a sensorially rich, environmentally responsive, and resilient architecture.
Prerequisites: 48-105 Min. grade C and 62-122 and 62-125 and 62-126 and 62-104 and 48-025 and 62-123 and 48-100
Course Website: https://soa.cmu.edu/courses

48-205 Architecture Options Studios: Spring: 18 units
The second year option studios offer varied design strategies through material, computational, chronopolitical, cultural and ecological lenses.
Prerequisite: 48-200
Course Website: http://soa.cmu.edu

48-214 Generative Modeling: Fall and Spring: 9 units
This course introduces students to the fundamentals of generative modeling using computer aided design as practiced in the field of architecture. Core competencies will be developed through modeling projects and software intensive labs, while a broader critical framework for conceiving of contemporary and historical parametric practices will be encouraged through periodic lectures. Emphasis will be placed on careful consideration of digital mediums and developing a sense of craft related to digital modeling in the hope that students will become conscientious makers and consumers of digital content. Students will be encourage to understand and apply algorithmic problem solving to the many design constraints encountered in architecture. The course will explore the relationship of parametric workflows to design thinking and will situate contemporary trends in a broader framework of computational design. The course will also forefront complex form-making as a response to bio-mimicry, systems thinking, and mass-customization. Rather than positioning parametric modeling as a disruption of historical architectural design process, the course will encourage students to consider how new tools might augment the discipline's historical commitments to orthographic projection, perspectival drawing, and physical modeling.

48-215 Materials & Assembly: Spring: 9 units
48-215 introduces and examines the fundamentals between design intent and construction materials, the science of materials (performance), their assemblies, and the regulatory context such as building code, zoning and accessibility.
Prerequisite: 48-100
Course Website: https://soa.cmu.edu/courses

48-217 Structures: Spring: 9 units
Structures is a required course taught in the second year. It is a successor course to Statics, complementing that previous course by emphasizing structural member design in wood, steel, and reinforced concrete; spatial synthesis of hierarchical one-way systems for gravity load; structural types for lateral load including braced frames, shear walls, and rigid frames; introduction to geometric structures such as cable nets, domes, shells, and air-supported structures.

48-222 Explorations in Craft: Soft Forms, Stable Structures: Fall and Spring: 9 units
Softness is an evocative quality in architecture, but how do we "find" and then fabricate those elusive forms? How do we manipulate materials with control when the forms we seek, or their own structural makeup may lack it? When do we follow the material and when do we control it? This course is focused on physical model making of soft forms. It offers a series of encounters with material specificity, including textile, metal, and plastic materials, and the techniques used in transforming 2D patterns to 3D forms. Demonstrations, and workshops will inform material qualities, their formal affordances, and structural stability. Design and application of cutting and sewing patterns, bending jigs and casting molds will introduce the planning required to facilitate thoughtful crafting. The methods we work with are intended to open possibilities and refine skills for future making, ranging from quick form finding strategies to techniques for execution with precision. Note: A materials fee will cover workshop costs.

48-234 Structural Design 1: Form and Forces: All Semesters: 6 units
This course introduces structural systems and the materials and elements that make up those systems. Students will study historical and contemporary examples of bridges, long-span roofs, and tall buildings from technical, social, and symbolic perspectives. Through these built works, students will become familiar with structural engineering terminology and the behavior of different structural systems. They will also learn how materials, construction, and non-technical factors influence structural form. Additionally, students will evaluate the aesthetics of large-scale structures and discuss the relationship between engineers and architects. As they learn about structures, students will develop their problem solving skills and ability to communicate ideas by practicing using equations, drawing, and writing.
Prerequisite: 48-105

48-240 History of World Architecture, I: Spring: 9 units
This survey cuts a broad swath through time, geography and cultures, surveying critical episodes in the built environment of Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and the Americas from ancient times through the nineteenth century. Reflecting the inseparable relation between building and human needs, this course is not only a history of architecture, but also a history through architecture. Over the semester, we will examine architecture as a form of cultural expression unique to its time and place. Through readings and lectures, we will study the ways that the design, use, meaning, and legacy of a building and its site was conditioned not only by the architect's will or the patron's desire, but also by a web of technological, religious, social, cultural, economic, and political factors of the time. There will be several exams over the course of the semester including during finals week.

Course Website: http://soa.cmu.edu

48-241 Modern Architecture: History & Theory: Spring: 9 units
This course investigates the history of a wide range of buildings, architecture, cities, landscapes and theory across the 20th century around the world. The content is organized around 5 major themes: decolonization, climate change, technology, social justice and theory. We explore major movements and monuments of the Euro-American avant-garde and so-called "heroes" of modernism, but also diverse responses to modernity, including popular, tropical, vernacular, indigenous, and even anti-architecture around the world. We ask critical questions about the modern canon, the changing nature of history and theory, the biases embedded in terms like "modernism," "progress," "Non-Western," and even "architecture." We interrogate the deep legacies of colonialism, globalization, extractivism, and capitalism in which modern architecture so actively participated. The work includes weekly critical reflections on the readings and lectures, as well as a semester-long research project investigating "Non-Canonical" buildings from the Global South from three distinct eras in the 20th-century.

Course Website: http://soa.cmu.edu

48-247 Fundamentals of Computational Design: All Semesters: 9 units
As analog mechanisms; as metaphors; as bodily extensions or prosthetics; as material systems; as building envelopes; as partners or slaves? of humans. This course takes computers outside the box and outs a journey of discovery revealing computation as the connective tissue encompassing multiple facets of architectural practice and experience. Addressing conceptual and practical aspects of the relationship between computation and design, the course explores the fundamentals of generative and rule-based systems for designing and making, simulation, and responsiveness, along with basic approaches to creative data processing, representation, and realization. The course offers a holistic view of computation, exploring the different roles computing plays in the design of our built environment. Organized in two-week modules, the course explores six themes, each combining historical insight, architectural examples, and hands-on design exploration.

48-250 Urbanism and the Social Production of Space: Fall: 9 units
The course introduces contemporary urbanism, offering a comprehensive exploration of how cities and urban systems are made, remade, and even unmade. It approaches contemporary urbanism through urban theory, research, and practice to investigate the relationship between a set of intentions and consequences. It reflects the multidimensional nature of the externalities that determine the complex processes of urbanization and draws discussions on the fields of architecture, planning, landscape architecture, and social science. With a focus on physical, social, environmental, technological, political, and economic forces that influence city-making and urban life, this course analyzes various types of urban issues and phenomena, exploring through the questions of aesthetics, power, equity, and sustainability measures. In doing so, the course offers an understanding of the challenges of the 21st century, spanning from architecture to the city to planetary, and equips students with both conceptual and practical frameworks to observe, document, and analyze diverse urban milieus.

48-300 Architecture Design Studio: Praxis Studio 1: Fall: 18 units
Typically, we do site research and then design something for that site. However, this is a studio where the design research part of the semester will become the project itself. We're going to do site research and correlate it with the information we can find. We're going to make unconventional models and experiment with how we construct a network of sites through sets of relationships, linguistic, computational, and visual descriptions. In principle, we're going to think critically about how we construct the identity of a place through its cultural, social, and ecological systems, and develop procedures for doing so. We will investigate Pittsburgh as a collective site. Over the course of the semester, we will develop a "necklace" or circuit of sites that addressing Event, Housing and Infrastructure. The Steel Necklace will be a composite of these three different architectural/urban interventions to address the cultural, social and ecological issues of Pittsburgh. As the urban condition is a network of shared expressions, lived experiences and relationships, our studio will be a collaborative studio exchanging and intermixing projects. Students will detail into the collective network developing in high resolution a housing component relative to infrastructure and event spatial interventions.
Prerequisites: 48-215 and 48-200 Min. grade C and 62-275 and 48-116 and 48-205 Min. grade C and 62-225

Course Website: https://soa.cmu.edu/courses

48-305 Architecture Design Studio: Praxis Studio 2: Spring: 18 units
This studio introduces integrated architectural design as the synthesis of disparate elements, demands, and desires. It situates architecture as a technological, cultural, and environmental process that is inherently contingent and entangled, yet tethered to a historical project of autonomy. It is within the contested space between these two notions of architecture that the studio operates. The studio sets out alternatives to extractive practices and introduces students to bio-based material practices and computationally facilitated methods of manufacturing and construction. While the studio directs attention to concerns of building, such as context, building systems, program, and regulatory constraints, it challenges students to situate design as a Project that engages contemporary discourse and ecological imperatives to explore emerging aesthetics, spatial organizations, and materializations. Our discussions and your work this semester will be guided by the following overarching questions: What is architecture's capacity to facilitate civic exchange/life in America today? How might we understand public space today? What are the public spaces, rooms, and interiors of the city in an era of increasing virtuality and privatization of public space? How do building typologies evolve and transform in response to technological and cultural shifts? How can architecture support and reveal the fluid and diverse needs of a community? How might a material-first, carbon-aware approach infuse the design process with greater material specificity and productive constraints?
Prerequisite: 48-300
Course Website: http://soa.cmu.edu

48-308 Reading and Writing Architecture: All Semesters: 9 units
As readers and learners, we consume lots of writing about architecture: articles appear in magazines, convincing and polished, finished products for which we struggle to imagine the process. We seldom pause to reflect on how that writing is produced, much less on how we could make writing a tool that works for us. In this collaborative, hands-on class we will work to demystify the process of writing in all its messiness and to highlight its iterative nature. We will explore how various genres of writing work and how architects can use them effectively, not only to communicate with audiences of all kinds but also to explore their own creative ideas. We will read writing about architecture by a number of different voices - architects, critics, historians, journalists, and activists. We will discover from their own approaches to writing what might work for us. We will experiment with writing and editing and explore how text, images and layout may come together to create a cohesive communication strategy. We will focus on becoming sophisticated as consumers and producers of written communication as we are for visual media.

48-310 Between Mountains and Seas: Detailing Architecture and Folklore: Fall and Spring: 9 units
"This design research seminar explores vernacular and folklore as a point of departure to frame the theoretical position of the architect as an integration of socio-ecological systems. While the conventional "detail" in architecture and urban design normalizes professional values, we will look to myths, the mundane, to nurture a critical appreciation of material culture, landscapes, stories, and people. We will dwell into theories of informality and in turn produce a series of experimentations through fabrication, aesthetics, and precarities to challenge conventional architectural order in favor of storytelling, ethnographies, and ecologies. There are three phases to this course: (1) developing questions, (2) appraising theoretical frameworks, (3) drawing and prototyping architectural details. Researchers in this course will gain skills in craft, design through storytelling, fabrication, detailing, and vernacular design research. Tools we will learn are ethno-ecological drawings, operational fabrications, toys, puppetry, and filming prototypes. Our journey "Between Mountains and Seas" will curate a volume of sketchbooks, mock-ups, and artifacts which will be showcased at the end of the semester through an exhibition. "

48-313 New Pedogogies: Fall: 9 units
These courses are offered by visiting faculty. Please review each section for course information.

48-314 New Pedagogies: Fall and Spring: 9 units
New Pedagogies are courses offered by new and visiting faculty (sections A-E). Please visit https://soa.cmu.edu/courses for complete course descriptions.

48-315 Enviroment I: Climate & Energy in Architecture: Fall: 9 units
Our commitment to designing net zero energy and indeed carbon positive buildings and communities is critical to environment equity and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This course introduces architectural design responses for energy conservation and natural conditioning, human comfort, and the site-specific dynamics of climate. The state of the art in building energy conservation and passive heating and cooling technologies will be presented in lectures and supported by readings and assignments.vAn overview of energy flows in buildings and energy design standards is illustrated by lectures on building energy conservation successes, and emerging demands for a broader definition of sustainability. To understand the significance of architectural design decision-making on energy consumption and comfort, students will compile a professional energy consultant's report for a residential-scale building, designing the most viable energy conservation retrofit measures for their client from siting, massing, organization, enclosure detailing, opening control, to passive system integration and management.

Course Website: https://soa.cmu.edu/courses

48-317 The Chair: All Semesters: 9 units
Making entitles to an intimate connection with the site, native atmosphere, building components, and their assemblies, where a designer/maker can operate at local - regional and global levels comprising all the building systems. This sedulous process takes very closer to the materials where a designer/ maker can gather insights into material behavior (both mechanical and visual) and is better placed to alter the effects of architecture through its materials and generating processes. The same can be applied to chair making. The chair no longer remains a chair, as the making process makes it a ground of experimentation and learning to shape the material into the desired object. The reaction with the matter is no more inert, as it tends to provide feedback to the maker while shaping it. This immersive process of learning by doing in entirety, aids students, in improvising their thought process, the judgment of material behavior, use of the right tool to save material, and developing novel ideas for production and assembly. Prototyping and making largely help develop the understanding concept of joinery/material behavior, and properties in relation to form. The exercise allows understanding chair as a piece of furniture, the manner of making that gives qualities to an abstract design or idea, the know-how of handling material, emergence of tacit knowledge in the maker, and tolerance and feedback from the material.

48-318 Discourse and Praxis in the Climate Emergency: Spring
This course engages with emergent modes of architectural thinking and praxis in the climate emergency. If buildings consume vast resources and are embedded in extractive systems of material and labor, how can discourse be deployed to consider other forms of praxis?

48-324 Structural Design 2: Materials and Analysis: Fall and Spring: 9 units
This course introduces fundamental concepts of static equilibrium and stability of structures. In contrast to conventional methods of learning structures that are based on numerical calculation and analysis of stresses in materials, this course explores a new geometric approach to understanding the relationship between form and forces of structures through graphic statics, a graphical method of visualizing, designing and analyzing equilibrium. By using geometry as the common language between architecture and structure, the students will explore new ways of shaping structural form by drawing and manipulating the geometry of forces. Through a series of lab exercises, the students will learn how to construct form and force diagrams used in graphic statics, and learn how the behavior of basic structural systems can be understood through such representations. The lab exercises are complemented by group design projects, where the students have the opportunity to apply the concepts and principles learned in the lab to design and build physical structural models that will be loaded to failure. No prior knowledge is required for this course. Structural Design 1 is the first of three courses of the Structural Design curriculum offered at Carnegie Mellon Architecture.
Prerequisite: 48-205
Course Website: http://soa.cmu.edu

48-328 Detailing Architecture: Spring: 9 units
"This course examines the role of the architectural detail in the formation/ thematic development of a work of architecture and how the detail reinforces the theoretical position of the architect.
Prerequisite: 48-205
Course Website: http://soa.cmu.edu

48-332 Teaching and Learning: Intermittent: 6 units
In this course, students will learn about effective strategies for teaching architecture and the built environment. Topics include the cognitive differences between novices and experts, instructional techniques, and goal alignment. As part of the coursework, each student will implement these teaching strategies to design and teach a lesson. Elements of developmental psychology, learning theories, and classroom practices will inform the architectural education lesson. Teaching and learning techniques can be generalized for communication with clients, practice, and the community.

48-336 Architecture and Agency: All Semesters: 9 units
If buildings consume vast resources and are often embedded in extractive systems of material and labor, how can the agency of architecture be deployed to consider other forms of thinking and praxis? What tactics, strategies, manifestos, and actions can architects deploy to resist, upend, destabilize or reinvent normative mechanisms of architectural production? How do such practices seek new modes of conceiving the architectural project and its concomitant processes; radically reinvent the brief, site, program, material or tectonic capabilities? This course will consider agency simultaneously through historical and contemporary forms of praxis as well as theories that inform them.

Course Website: http://soa.cmu.edu

48-338 European Cities in the XIX Century: Planning, Architecture, Preservation: All Semesters: 9 units
The history of the main cities of Europe during the XIX century is a history of change and transformation. The physical environment and the political, financial and administrative structures adapt to the needs of new masses of population and to the challenges of metropolitan life. In some cases, cities even acquire new representative functions, as they become a national capital. This course traditionally offers an overview of the urban culture of XIX century Europe, reconstructing aspects of the broader historical context and then focusing on reading the effects of the XIX century transformations on the physical appearance, structures and image of present-day European cities, such as Paris, London, Berlin, Barcelona, Vienna and Rome. This semester we will add to this analysis, acquired by learning and applying a set of essential questions about XIX century urban transformations, a second look at the image of the city - the issue of how the city is represented and described in the various moments of its Nineteenth century transformation (from historical maps, to paintings, from postcards to literary descriptions). We will try to consider its changing visual representation and the different perception of its character and peculiarities over time, finally discussing how the Nineteenth century image of each city still affects how it is viewed today. We will rely, along with the usual reading materials (articles, book excerpts) also on visual documentation, such as photography and film. The course is based on lectures and discussions and requires personal elaboration, as well as a fair amount of reading and writing.
Prerequisite: 48-240

48-339 IDeATe: Making Things Interactive: Spring: 12 units
In this hands-on design-build class you will learn the skills to embed sensors and actuators (light, sound, touch, motion, etc.) into everyday things (and places etc.) and to program their interactive behavior using a microcontroller. You'll also dive into the fields of VR/AR/MR and experiment with combining these disciplines with physical computing. Through weekly exercises and a term project the class will introduce basic analog electronics, microcontroller programming, projection mapping and virtual reality; as well as exploration into using kinetics and materials to make the things you design perform. Emphasis will be on creating innovative experiences. The graduate edition of this course will require additional work including a paper that can be submitted to a peer-reviewed interaction design conference such as CHI, UIST, or TEI. Students from all disciplines are welcome: but please note that the class demands that you master technical material. Experience in at least one of: programming, electronics, or physical fabrication is strongly recommended.(Participants will provide their own supplies and materials.)
Prerequisites: 16-223 or 60-223
Course Website: http://soa.cmu.edu

48-340 Modern Architecture and Theory 1900-1945: Intermittent: 9 units
This architectural history lecture course surveys the modern buildings and literature of the first half of the twentieth century, focusing primarily on Europe but extending also to non-western countries. We begin with a look at the "crisis of modernity" that plagued most of western civilization in the late 19th-century, and then focus on the major movements of both the avant-garde and other responses to modernity from 1900-1945. The course includes lectures, readings, and discussions about a broad range of issues, including 1) Formal tendencies; 2) Theoretical issues; 3) National traditions; 4) Biographical sketches; 5) Significant technologies and materials; 6) Political motivations; 7) Social and amp; cultural influences. Emphasis will be placed on the relationship of buildings to the more general cultural, intellectual, and historical circumstances in which they were created, especially the important manifestoes, theoretical and critical writings that so determined the project of modern architecture. Work for the course involves extensive reading and a major research paper.
Prerequisite: 48-240

48-341 Expression in Architecture: Intermittent: 9 units
This architectural history seminar will explore expression in architecture in its many forms, particularly in written works of architectural theory through the ages. We start with the premise that architecture is not merely pragmatic, technical, or functional: it can express or communicate like a language, it can represent and inspire like many of the arts, it can shape behavior and emote, it can trigger memories, emotions, or meanings. As Isozaki put it: ?Architecture is a machine for the production of meaning.? We?ll investigate many ways that architects have theorized the design process, as well as the forms, materials, and contexts of architecture, to express a myriad of ideas and sensibilities. We?ll also look at the ways that buildings can communicate and have meaning, often beyond the intent of the architect, and usually changing over time. Some of the topics to be explored include the classical orders, gothic geometry and mystical light, the theatrical space of the Baroque, architecture parlante, character, and style in the Enlightenment, tectonics as structural expression, political architecture and morality, the aesthetics of functionalism, Expressionism, key terms such as ornament, representation, linguistics, and semiotics, as well as more recent theoretical constructs such as embodiment, materiality, atmosphere, and affect. The work of the seminar will include intensive weekly readings, especially of primary sources by the architects seeking to express ideas, weekly presentations and discussions about the sources, and a term paper on an important theory of expression in architecture of your choice.
Prerequisite: 48-240

48-348 Architectural History of Mexico & Guatemala: Intermittent: 9 units
Despite the leveling forces of mass culture and globalization, the geographic and social diversity of the U.S. has created distinctive regional mosaics of landscape and architecture. Say New England and images of English Pilgrims, town greens with white framed churches, and industrial mill villages may come to mind. The Southwest conjures different images, perhaps of adobe pueblos, Spanish friars, arid ranches, and the color turquoise. The built environment of the Midwest, the California coast, the Mississippi Delta, and many places in between reflect particular regional identities that have been both unconsciously and consciously created over time. This course examines the historical development of regional patterns in the American built environment. It investigates how and why a regions architectural identity evolved in the ways that it did. To what degree is place something to respond to, to interact with, and to what degree is place something that is created? Our focus will be primarily pre-20th century when the forces of vernacular traditions were stronger, we will also examine more recent trends of regionalism as an aesthetic choice and a theoretical stance.
Prerequisite: 48-240

48-350 Postwar Modern Architecture and Theory: Intermittent: 9 units
This architectural history lecture course surveys the modern buildings and architectural theory of the post-World War II period. It begins with the cataclysm of WWII and the fundamental shifts it caused on the conception of modernism, technology, cities, and geo-politics. It proceeds to investigate themes such as rebuilding and reconstruction, grand modern masters such as Mies, Kahn, and Le Corbusier, the fascination with technology, megastructures and utopian thought, the need for monumentality, meaning, and regional identity, and the dissemination of modernism from corporate America to the third world. It ends with the rupture in modernism associated with the social revolutions and the rise of a post-modern architecture in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The course includes lectures, readings, and discussions to define the unique character of the postwar period, as modernism both reigned supreme, and began to be questioned. Emphasis will be placed on the relationship of buildings to the more general cultural, intellectual, and historical circumstances in which they were created. Special attention will be devoted throughout the course to the important manifestoes, theoretical and critical writings that so determined the project of modern architecture. Work for the course involves extensive reading, preparing for class discussions, and a major research paper.
Prerequisites: 48-240 or 48-241

48-353 Monopolis for the Masses: Fall and Summer: 9 units
How do economic theory and coeval ideologies shape land use and impact architectural agency? Whether you have an endless growth or scarcity mindset, believe in industry dominance vs. economic equilibrium, or would like to do a maximalist/minimalist run of capitalism, we seek to further system-based understanding and reflect critically on industry-based development. We will produce verbal and written arguments, map the complex terrain of architectural and economic conditions, and use the design of board games as projective simulations to influence multiple win/fail states. Drawing from historical precedents, we will study the architectural actualization of previously dominant sectors (textiles, steel) and explore current sectors (agriculture, manufacturing, tech) for their roles in the production of space. Particular attention will be given to cities characterized by monoculture economies, as they demonstrate pronounced shaping by periods of intense demand and rapid decline.
Prerequisite: 48-240

48-355 Perspective: Spring: 9 units
This freehand studio drawing course considers perspective from three understandings of perceptual psychology. Part 1, built on the pedagogy of Kimon Nicolaides, aligns with the Transactionalist understanding of perception. It considers perspective as discovered truth. Part 2 builds on the early work of the perceptual psychologist, J.J. Gibson, and aligns with the Ecological position of Gibson and his followers. It considers perspective as an absolute truth of the visual field. Part 3, aligning implicitly with Gestalt psychology, treats perspective as an imposed schema. The course concludes with a final project built around the student's interest. Prerequisite: 62-126 or permission of the instructor
Prerequisite: 62-126

48-356 Color Drawing: Intermittent: 9 units
48-356 Color Drawing provides practice in the use of color to depict architectural surroundings. Following preliminary exercises using pastels, watercolor is used for most of the course. A central objective is that by the end of the course, students will have good judgement in evaluating color hue, value, and temperature and gained confidence in use of watercolor. Coursework assumes some knowledge of linear perspective. Work consists of in-class exercises and weekend assignments built on these. Students can expect to spend up to 6 hours of work per weekend.
Prerequisites: 62-126 and 62-125

Course Website: https://soa.cmu.edu/courses

48-359 Special Topics: Design Build / Building Systems: All Semesters: 9 units
In this studio we will consider Thoreau's essayso much of it about his own design/build experiencein today's context. Collectively, we will design a cabin to meet the high standards of sustainability set by Eden Hall. After a round of prototyping, testing, and design development, the studio will create a set of construction documents and shop drawings. Covid and funding allowing, we will begin building the cabin at mid-term, with construction continuing into the summer or fall as required. This studio has a nine credit co-requisite, 48-358 Cabin Building Systems, which is also open to CEE students. Its focus will be on the building systems for the cabin that is being developed in the parallel studio. Topics include energy performance (e.g. production, renewable energy systems, passive and active ways to achieve efficiency, and modeling); integrated structural and engineering systems (e.g. building envelope, water treatment and management, heating and cooling systems, and electrical and lighting systems; and sensing for monitoring and control. The class will have a team-based format that is hands-on and lab-oriented rather than a seminar structure, and it will contribute directly to the build part of the studio.

48-367 Material Histories: All Semesters: 9 units
Materials affect the way we engage with a building and carry cultural meanings connected with complex histories, deeply and at times messily intertwined with the social, political and ecological context. In this seminar we will look at the history of the architecture of the last two centuries by following the thread of the history of materials. We will discuss the ways in which buildings of the past and the practice of architecture were affected by which materials were available, how they were produced, and the craft required to work them. We will reflect on how architects interpreted, manipulated, or added to those meanings through their own work. Materials' lifecycles and the networks of extraction, production, transportation, and reuse had an impact on the built environment in the past, just as they do today. We will learn from historical examples to assess the consequences of the choices we make as designers. Finally, we will critically engage with the presence of history as a layer of complexity embedded in the material itself - an effect that is compounded in the practice of reuse of materials with patina, marked from their past use.

48-368 Rediscovering Antiquity: Archaeology for Architects: Spring: 9 units
The course follows the intertwined histories of architecture and archaeology from the mid-eighteenth to the early twentieth century, critically engaging with the outsized influence of classical antiquity on architectural theory and practice and its role of authority and model in the Western artistic and cultural debate. The traces of classical antiquity, buried in the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern landscape, retained part of their cultural significance over the centuries and became the object of a "rediscovery", almost a cultural obsession. Artists, travelers and architects filtered and re-interpreted the reality of ancient objects and places, conjuring up their own vision of the past and nourishing their own creative pursuits from a continuous dialogue with history. At the same time, new political agendas, new biases and new goals were associated with antiquity, influencing the way the past of the region was explored, how the finds were studied and exhibited in residences and Museums, and ultimately creating a stern competition to appropriate this legacy, with deep links to colonialism and imperialism. The ripple effects are still being felt today, for example in the discussion about the repatriation of cultural heritage. We will study the history of this moment to better understand the cultural vantage point that often influenced the fabric of our cities, presided over the creation of many of our cultural institutions and the buildings that represent them, and had a deep and lasting impact on the ideas about architecture and its relationship with history. This will help us grasp more clearly the impact of the "passage to the Modern" and some of the complex and still open issues it brought about.
Prerequisite: 48-205

48-369 Sustainable Architecture and Urbanism for the Gulf Region: Intermittent: 3 units
Ensuring a sustainable built environment in Qatar is critical to sustainable Gulf Region and indeed a sustainable world. The quality of our architecture and urban design can significantly address the challenges of heat, water, energy, mobility, material resources, waste, and health. This course is intended for non-architects to explore the potential of sustainable design for desert climates. Six weeks of explorations and presentations will introduce each student to: Climate analysis for Gulf Region countries and their 'twins' around the world; Green standards for desert climates with their embedded metrics (eg UNSDG, LEED, GreenStar, WELL); and Precedent as a precursor to innovation - a search for great sustainable examples across building types and land use. In-class and homework assignments will create a series of collaborative student slide shows each week. As possible, invited speakers and site visits will be pursued. The final week will be dedicated to a class perspective on the importance of the built environment for carbon and climate change, and student recommendations for building and infrastructure goals for a more sustainable Gulf region. CMU-Q graduates should be dedicated to a more sustainable built environment and understand the design changes needed for sustainability, the benefits to quality of life and to ecological sustainability. Every discipline is a catalyst and a stakeholder in our future - as client, as design/engineer, as consumer, as financier, as scientist.

48-371 City & Suburb: Housing in America after 1850: Fall and Spring: 9 units
This architectural history course examines the development of American house and housing choices during the period 1850-1975. A recurring picture of the "American Dream" has typically included the image of a single-family, detached dwelling set within its own green yard in the suburbs. However powerful and durable that image is, the history of house and home in America is actually a far more complex story with many different twists and turns. In the course we will look at both urban and suburban housing choices and cultures, ranging from single family detached dwellings to multi-unit housing, and across a social spectrum income, class, race, and gender. Through the use of occasional field trips, we will use Pittsburgh as a touchstone for understanding broader national trends in the history of American urban and suburban housing. The course is organized as a lecture course supplemented with field trips and discussions based on field trips and primary source readings. The additional time slot on Thursday afternoons will be used only when field trips are scheduled. Student work will include a research paper and several shorter written assignments throughout the semester.

48-373 Istanbul Constantinople. An Urban History: Fall and Spring: 9 units
A dynamic metropolitan area, with a burgeoning population and rapid urbanization, Istanbul is at the same time a finely woven tangle of historical layers. In this class we will introduce urban history and its methods as we focus on key moments of Istanbul's history. We will delve deeply into the city's powerful and at times competing historical narratives. We will trace the growth and transformation of the urban fabric, discussing Istanbul's role as imperial capital of the Romans, the Byzantines, the Ottomans, its changing fortunes in the twentieth century and the historical roots of the present-day world city. We will discuss cultural specificity and reactions to international models, the challenges of preservation and transformation of the urban fabric and the political making and re-making of its cultural identity. We will also take into account the power of this city to fascinate and inspire through the centuries - the imagined city as a layer of the physical one.
Prerequisite: 48-240

48-374 History of Architecture in the Islamic World- A Primer: Fall: 9 units
An introduction to the architecture of the lands where Islam spread over the centuries, this course aims to provide a basic understanding of major epochs and regional variations. We will learn the function and meaning of the most important building types, examine how these types changed over time to adapt to the needs of changing societies and consider influences and exchanges with other traditions. We will examine the historical context within which art and architecture developed and explore critically the lingering signs of those traditions in contemporary society.

Course Website: https://soa.cmu.edu/courses

48-380 Constructing Value(s): Economies of Design: Spring: 6 units
This course critically examines capitalist frameworks in real estate development and explores alternatives that prioritize social equity, inclusivity, and sustainability. Students will engage in lectures, storytelling, workshops, and case studies to understand how diverse cultural and social contexts can shape equitable development practices. Emphasizing leadership and collaboration, the course teaches students how to navigate complex stakeholder interests, regulatory requirements, and social responsibility. By the end of the course, students will be equipped to challenge conventional models and propose real estate projects that balance financial viability with socially responsible and inclusive outcomes.

Course Website: http://soa.cmu.edu

48-381 Issues of Practice: Spring: 6 units
This course critically examines the professional practice of architecture through historical and contemporary lenses. Students will explore how the practice of architecture has evolved and the role of the architect in shaping not just the built environment, but societal values and well-being. The course will integrate discussions on health, safety, welfare, professional ethics, regulatory frameworks, climate change, and career pathways. We will also discuss critical topics such as the challenges of professional practice with present and future AI tools and the legal implications of their use. Through case studies, readings, and debates, students will confront contemporary challenges in architecture while grounding their understanding in both historical contexts and current practice.

Course Website: http://soa.cmu.edu

48-383 Ethics: Intermittent: 6 units
Architecture is inextricable from the uneven social, political, technological, and environmental conditions shaping the contemporary world. With this reality as our starting point, in this course, we will examine the complex intersections of ethics, power, and space that often shape architects' choices. How would you respond if a major client demanded that you use materials you know create toxic landscapes and long-term environmental harm? Should architects unionize their labor? Would you take a job renovating an old sugar plantation? Through close reading, writing, in-class discussions, and role-play, we will explore the challenges facing architects across various spatial and temporal scales—from the long-term energy flows and planetary infrastructures of the polycrisis to the interpersonal challenges of daily life in the workplace. This course is not about mandating any ethical benchmarks. Instead, we will work to develop our own processes and strategies to help us navigate these difficult ethical quandaries.

Course Website: http://soa.cmu.edu

48-386 Portfolio & Resume Preparation (UG): All Semesters: 3 units
No course description provided.

48-390 Physical Computing Studio: Spring: 10 units
This collaborative studio course will allow interdisciplinary teams to develop wearables with a focus on assistive technology. The ubiquitous nature of mobile devices coupled with low-cost and easily integrated sensors and actuators make this a good time to approach real problems for a range of users from the physically disabled to athletes. Teams will learn skills in hardware, software, fabrication, and design communication in order to effectively develop and share their ideas.
Prerequisites: 16-223 Min. grade C or 60-223 Min. grade C

Course Website: http://ideate.cmu.edu/

48-400 Architecture Design Studio: Praxis Studio 3: Fall: 18 units
This studio is the capstone of your undergraduate education and is an opportunity for you to integrate the various technical aspects of your professional degree to date. Each student will have the opportunity to select from one of three proposed building typologies and project scales. As a requirement of this studio, students will participate in student teams developing each project to a high level of technical development. The objective of this studio is to go beyond the typical studio project and to demonstrate the necessary integration within the structural system, building envelope, environmental control systems and life safety system while providing the measurable outcomes of building performance as part of the design process (NAAB student criteria 6). Consultant engineers play an active role in the studio process providing expertise and discussions resembling professional practice. This semester the three studio instructors will be Professors Gerard Damiani, Erica Cochran Hameen and Stephen Lee.
Prerequisite: 48-305 Min. grade C

Course Website: https://soa.cmu.edu/courses

48-405 Advanced Synthesis Options Studio II: Spring: 18 units
Having proven competency in the spectrum of skills determined necessary for tomorrow's architect during the first three years of the program, students in their fourth and fifth year are permitted to select from a variety of studio options, each providing the opportunity to build upon or augment some of those skills with new or more nuanced perspectives. All advanced synthesis studios are open to both years, the vertical integration offering enhanced learning opportunities.The content and focus of each studio is governed by faculty interests, which run the spectrum of architectural pursuits, ranging in scale from the design of a piece of furniture to a city and in approach from a comprehensive and complex building program to a critically-driven speculation. They may also be interdisciplinary in nature, taking advantage of the unique juxtapositions made possible at Carnegie Mellon.
Prerequisites: 48-400 and 48-412

48-407 Carnival Pavilion: All Semesters
No course description provided.

48-408 Co-designing an Indigenous Biodiversity Knowledge Learning Space for the Vertica: Spring: 12 units
This is an advanced comprehensive Critical Practice track studio, with one large, complex, semester-long building design project. The studio pedagogy is based on the parallel development of a real project currently being planned, a new performance space for the San Francisco Symphony; it is on the same site and with the same goals and constraints as the actual project. The participation of clients, the professional design team working on these projects, and users is incorporated in the studio? exploration and design process, culminating in review presentations to the client and project team and publication of the body of work. This studio is also a key component of Carnegie Mellon University?s Theater Architecture Program, and is offered annually to fourth- and fifth-year students in the Bachelor of Architecture program. The co-Requisite, Theater Architecture Seminar (48:408), provides in-depth research in the typology, analysis of precedents, and the programming and planning of the studio project.

48-409 History and Future of Interaction Design: All Semesters: 9 units
The history of Interaction Design (IxD) is far richer than what is visible from today's tech. Many great ideas have been mangled and even lost. By making prototypes inspired by this history, we reach new insights and illuminate a future of promises and perils. In this course you begin by mining historical IxD innovations by building prototypes in a modern vernacular that forefront lost contributions. In 3 sprints you render a powerful but lost essence in the form of a concept storyboard, video, or clickable prototype. Thus you explore the History of IxD. To explore the Future of IxD, you are invited to invent itby developing your own vision in the design of a final project prototype with the focus and scope that you control. Coursework is partly historical review and largely designing and producing prototypes in a studio setting, especially suited for backgrounds in interaction design, computational design, responsive architecture, media, or coding.

48-410 Advanced Synthesis Options Studio II: Spring: 18 units
The vertically-integrated advanced studios encourage interdisciplinary collaboration from arts, technology, research and design. They range from large scale urban and ecological projects, to detailed investigations of materials, and fabrication strategies.
Prerequisite: 48-305 Min. grade C

48-425 EX-CHANGE: Exhibition & Publication in Practice: Spring: 3 units
Are you interested in exploring exhibition design, curating, or publishing as part of your practice? This course will give you hands-on experience, inviting you into the process of planning, designing, and curating the 2023 EX-CHANGE, an exhibition and publication that will be launched at the School of Architecture in fall 2023. EX-CHANGE is the School of Architecture's annual exhibition and publication celebrating student work from first year to PhD. Inaugurated in 2017, EX-CHANGE represents an ongoing opportunity to shine new light on the SoA's programs and to position the work within larger questions of research and practice. Students will work alongside EX-CHANGE director Sarah Rafson and the professional design team who have been selected for the 2023 EX-CHANGE to get a glimpse into editorial and curatorial practice. This is an opportunity to play a role in shaping an exciting school-wide event.

48-432 Environment II: Design Integration of Active Building Systems: Fall: 9 units
This course addresses the urgent need for sustainable building design amidst climate change and global challenges. Students explore the integration of active systems (HVAC, lighting, renewables) with passive design for high-performance commercial buildings. We examine building codes (ICC, ASHRAE), energy efficiency, and healthy environments, emphasizing U.S. standards with global perspectives. Key performance metrics like EUI and carbon intensity are covered. Students will analyze how climate, resources, and policy impact design approaches in diverse contexts, aligning with UN Sustainable Development Goals. Emphasis is placed on critical thinking and the student's role in shaping a sustainable built future.

Course Website: https://soa.cmu.edu/courses

48-435 Modern Mexico & Guatemala: 19th-21st Century Architecture: Fall and Spring: 9 units
This course focuses on the 20th-century architectural and urban history of Mexico City. We will study both the high-style design vanguards and the vernacular built environment. Topics include the 19th-century ruralscapes and cityscapes that sprouted the seeds of the 1910 Mexican Revolution, the role of arts and architecture in a post-revolutionary world, changing ideas about art and architecture within a globalizing world of international influences, projects oriented toward the elites including upper-class suburbs by prominent architects, projects directed towards the working classes including informal settlements by unnamed "squatters", and the cascading environmental challenges that have pushed to the forefront of the 21st century. A recurring theme of the course will be the various and competing architectural expressions of Mexican identity and #8212; Mexicanidad. Non-majors are welcome.

Course Website: http://soa.cmu.edu

48-438 Modern Mexico & Guatemala: 19th-21st Century Architecture: All Semesters: 9 units
This course examines the architectural history of modern Mexico and Guatemala, with an emphasis on the 20th century, but drawing on the 19th and 21st centuries as well. We will use architecture as a lens through which we study how both the high-style design vanguards and the vernacular built environment were responses to forces such as industrial modernization, urban growth, economic fluctuation, international relationships, political and social revolution, indigenous discrimination, genocide, and cultural regeneration. Throughout the course we will look at the countries' urban and rural architectural evolution as explicit and implicit expressions of identity (Mexicanidad or Guatemalidad).

48-442 History of Asian Architecture: Intermittent: 9 units
This course is intended to serve as an introduction to the evolution of urban spaces and the function of the architecture in South Asia, China, Korea and Japan. It is organized chronologically and will examine the impact of indigenous philosophical principles on the organization of villages, capital cities, and religious centers. The course will begin in the Indus Valley where complex urban planning along with public and private architecture flourished from 2600-1900 BCE. We will examine South Asian Hindu and Buddhist cave monasteries as well as freestanding Hindu temples and identify the salient architectural forms that identify each type. We will then move to China where the earliest villages were arranged according to ideas about nature and the organizing system of fengshui. By the earliest Chinese dynastic period, urban planning and building placement were beginning to be codified according to Confucian and Daoist ideals. Later Chinese imperial centers were consciously designed according to Confucian regularity and hierarchy in order to make visual statements about power. We will then move to consider urban organization and Buddhist temples in China, Korea to Japan where South Asian and Eurasian models were adopted and adapted. The examination of the Japanese warrior culture will include castles, new ideas in residential architecture, the Pleasure Quarters, and retirement villas. Contemporary architecture will be addressed through individual and group projects that will investigate specific structures and situate the buildings within the cultural and historic circumstances that led to their creation.
Prerequisite: 48-240
Course Website: http://soa.cmu.edu

48-448 History of Sustainable Architecture: Intermittent: 9 units
The History of Sustainable Architecture investigates themes of nature, ecology, pollution and conservation in the built environment and visual arts. The term ?sustainable architecture? is a comparatively recent one, arising in reaction to the destructive and toxic nature of the industrial era and its strident ambassador, Modern architecture. Yet, an esthetic and philosophical view of harmony with nature accompanies many forms of historical human activity in the built environment. Similarly, issues of waste removal, mechanical systems and natural materials that characterize current concerns have illustrative historical roots in numerous civilizations going back centuries and even millennia in pre-Industrial or non-industrial cultures. This course will engage texts and examples relating not simply architecture, landscape and urban history, but also art, philosophy and popular culture as a means to understand the many precedents for today?s interest in sustainable architecture and planning. The course will examine texts and works by figures including Vitruvius, Pliny, Leon Battista Alberti, Thomas Cole, Frederic Law Olmsted, Buckminster Fuller, Reyner Banham, Ebenezer Howard, Hassan Fathy, Bernard Rudofsky, Norman Foster, Robert Smithson, Andy Goldsworthy and more. Students will be encouraged to apply principles from the class to understanding and execution of work in their own discipline.

48-452 Real Estate Design and Development: Fall: 6 units
This course will introduce the Real Estate development process and explore the interdependence of development drivers and the design process. Classroom learning, exercises and guest-lectures will introduce students to the concepts of market and financial analysis, as well as the basic techniques of budgeting, proforma development, and valuation. Parallel to this investigation, students will evaluate real world developments and interface with the development professionals that executed them to learn how development drivers shaped the development process and decision making. Students will study how market demand, tenant requirements, site constraints, and available capital affect feasibility, and through this the ultimate design solution. The semester's effort culminates in the execution of a mini-development project. Students will work in teams to complete a basic market analysis, program evaluation, schematic design, construction and development cost estimate, proforma analysis, and a determination of financial feasibility. Development practitioners will interface with student teams during this mini-project to offer "real world" guidance on student schematic designs and feasibility analysis.
Prerequisite: 48-305

48-453 Urban Design Methods: Fall: 6 units
This undergraduate lecture course introduces urban design history, theory and methods. It is a required supporting course for the Urban Laboratory design studio, and similarly examines urban design at multiple scales: city form and networks, neighborhoods and block structures, streets, public spaces, and urban building typologies. Key issues introduced include the emergence and evolution of urban design as a discipline, economic, social and political factors affecting the contemporary city, and environmental sustainability at the urban scale. A wide variety of cities, projects, proposals and methodologies are examined. Assignments include readings from seminal texts, quizzes, and a final examination.
Prerequisite: 48-305

48-454 Futures of the City/Cities of the Future: Intermittent: 9 units
If all design can be read as attempts to predict and to shape the future, then no one looks further into the future than the urban designer and the urban planner. The work in which they are involved often does not materialize in their lifetimes; in fact, the duration of the projects are so long twenty, thirty, fifty and hundred year timeframes, it is more than likely that he or she will pass on before the project reaches fruition. The trouble with predicting the future is that it is so uncertain, so undecided, so unknowable. A brief look backwards reveals that we are not the first generation to consider the future. History is replete with predictions, some of which were actualized, the vast majority of which were not. Today's forecasts for tomorrow vary wildly. A handful of optimists view the future through rose colored glasses, whereby humanity is delivered to salvation via technological wonders and the widespread adoption of common social values. A larger group predicts the end of the world as we now know it, but even they cannot agree on the cause of our demise, with those arguing that climate change will kill us clashing with those convinced that we will be destroyed when robots achieve technological singularity. Shy of total extinction, however, any vision of the future requires designers, and will likely occur in urban (or formerly urban) locations. As of this decade, for the first time in history, more than half of the world's population, almost three and a half billion people, live in towns and cities. Estimates suggest that by 2030 this number will swell to almost five billion.
Prerequisite: 48-205

48-459 Material Simulacra: All Semesters: 9 units
This fabrication-based course interprets Jean Baudrillard's ideas of "panic-stricken production of the real and the referential, above and parallel to the panic of material production." Serial mold-generated surface studies activated by material properties, behavior, intuition, and expression ask how our perceptions of the real is mediated by language of the made artifact. Structured as the tripartite investigation: TheoryResearch-Craft, this seminar's pedagogy is centered on the cultural, historical, ethical, aesthetic and tectonic values of architectural materialism to arrive at an awareness of what a material conveys. Analog and digital techniques and simulations engage the technological and intellectual roles of the craftsperson.

Course Website: http://soa.cmu.edu

48-470 The Depth of Surface: Fall: 9 units
Lamination is the process of gluing wood together along the edge or face of a plank. There is unlimited variety in the ways to do this and to generate pattern in the process. This course will prescribe a few basic ways to laminate following standard rules of wood working and then introduce the possibilities of pattern generation. Generally lamination is unidirectional, however, in this class we will introduce ways to achieve cross directional patterning and the use of inlay to elaborate on the idea of patterning. Projects will be visual and sculptural statements. Their function will be limited and will not be furniture. Each exercise will present a series of basic wood working operations, which, when repeated and recombined will become products of compelling visual character. As visual idea statements you will be asked to experiment, invent and explore and take these standard operations in new directions. As visual idea statements the greatest clarity of vision will be achieved through careful construction.

48-473 Hand and Machine Joinery, New Directions: Fall: 9 units
In the Fall 2017 and Spring 2018 there will be some changes to the shop electives offered. First the Spring Furniture Design and Construction course # 48564 will no longer be offered because that content is incorporated within the Furniture Studio in the fall. Next, the two shop mini courses previously offered in the fall will each be expanded to become full electives, one in the fall and one in the spring. The prerequisite for both of these classes is documentable experience with the band saw, table saw (ripping and crosscut), drill press and the belt and disk sander. The Hand and Machine Joinery, New Directions, is scheduled Tuesday and Thursday mornings 10:30 am to 11:50 in the spring 2018, and will be a 9 unit elective running the entire semester. The elective will focus on building a free standing (or hung) cabinet with doors. If enrolled students have taken the Exploring Pattern course in the fall the doors made in that class will be mounted on the cabinet. If students have not taken that course then a pair of simple doors will be made instead. The primary goal of this course will be to learn the steps of making a simple cabinet using hand and machine joinery. Quality of craft will be of great importance. Uniqueness of design will not be emphasized, however individuation of the cabinet will still be possible throughout the construction, starting with choices between a wall mounted or free standing (with legs) cabinet, the selection of hardwoods, the specific size of parts, and the selection of particular detail options. The construction process will be carefully staged with demonstrations continuing throughout the semester. The cabinet will be perpendicular and rectangular. Students will use standard mortise and tenons of various sizes, bridal joints, floating tenons, tongue and groove, spline and dovetail joints.

48-478 Digital Tooling: All Semesters: 6 units
This course serves as an immersive analysis of the available technologies located in the Digital Fabrication Lab at Carnegie Mellon and beyond. Students begin to understand equipment limits/boundaries, purposes and concepts; and the possibilities that arise from thoroughly comprehending how these tools work. During your Digital Experience, students begin to understand more systematically how to use these tools to their advantage. A better understanding of the equipment proves very useful towards a SoArch Student's 3rd, 4th and 5th years at Carnegie Mellon; but more importantly provides a fundamental understanding of a leading edge technology that will certainly prove itself as an integral tool for any Designer throughout their professional career. It is based on the idea that pushing the limits of design fabrication; comes from knowing the limits of your tools. The course operates by discovering tooling extremes; thus indicating limits, and then incorporating these boundaries (and/or breaking them) with Digital Fabrication methods and tooling; ultimately providing a platform in which students begin to understand and incorporate project efficiency. Prerequisites: Imagination, Laser Cutting, Milling and 3D-Modeling Experience required. (Rhinoceros 3D Preferred)
Prerequisite: 48-205

48-482 Advanced Structural Design: Computational Explorations: Fall: 9 units
This course covers advanced topics in computational structural design and analysis. Students will explore various form-finding algorithms and computational design methodologies, learning to use structural geometry as a key design driver for creating efficient and expressive forms. Key topics include: parametric structural modeling; computational structural analysis; structural optimization; and form finding. The course is hands-on and skill-focused, organized around interactive workshops and design projects throughout the semester, each addressing specific computational tools and design objectives. Students are expected to have basic knowledge of statics and structural design and be comfortable using Rhino and Grasshopper.

48-485 Design and Documentation in Revit: Fall and Spring
This course will guide you through the process of designing in Revit from the schematic, conceptual design phase, to the construction document phase. The course will start with basic concepts moving on to more advanced topics. Layering information and how much to incorporate into the model, based on stakeholders and end users, will be discussed. Capturing the essential information from the BIM model will be explored to develop presentations, bidding documents, and construction documents to relay relevant information to clients, consultants, and contractors. We will discuss when it is imperative to model in 3D and when to overlay 2D linework detail. Real-time rendering techniques that streamline the design process will be explored using Enscape. The skills learned from this course will help you understand the phases of design and documentation in the Revit environment.

48-486 Systems, Cybernetics, Conversation: All Semesters: 9 units
Across many design disciplinesarchitecture and computational design, media and interaction design, design of services and organizationsmethods for grappling with complex adaptive systems is now table stakes. Furthermore, design today demands profound, authentic attention to equity, human and non-human living systems, climate and environment, sustainability and ethics. Overall, designers must have skills to collaborate in cross-disciplinary teams. An encompassing framework for these disparate disciplines and domains of 21st-century design is the transdisciplinarity (or "antidisciplinarity") of Cybernetics. Cybernetics can be understood as the study of "systems with purpose", whether machines or living things, including their unpredictable interactions. Central to Cybernetics is conversation as a mechanism of design, inclusivity, participation, innovation, and the impetus to action. The course offers systems frameworks and models of conversation that are also relevant to Designing for the Internet of Things (48-675), Inquiry into Computation Design (48-727), and Design Studies: Systems (51-277). Class time balances readings, discussion panels, and guest conversations with executing assignments that involve systems modeling; creating conditions for designing that are participatory and inclusive; and prototyping in a range of media (installations, screen-based interactivity, physical prototypes, workshops, etc.) that offer responses to global wicked challenges.

48-493 Representing Activism: Intermittent: 9 units
Efforts to promote social, political, economic and environmental change range in form from written word to direct action. Sources of injustice that those efforts address are multi-dimensional and complex. Effective forms of activism are fueled by creativity that synthesize and distill complex constellations of information and foster understanding. REPRESENTING ACTIVISM explores the role of multi-media graphic representation as a lens through which change and social justice can be fostered. Exploration of efficacy in application will span four dimensions, 1) Social Media, 2) Film, 3) Poster/Graphic Design, and 4) Publication - all aspiring to achieve the status of art. Art and Activism are predicated on exposing the truth. Art has the unique power to convey messages across linguistic and cultural barriers that often divide. Part of the Activist's challenge is to grip and inspire people to action. With the avalanche of information and media modern society absorbs every day, this is increasingly hard to do. Sometimes it is too much to ask people to stop and think: sometimes it's too much just to ask them to stop. Successful art compels this, penetrating apathy and imploring the viewer to look deeper and explore the narrative that is embedded in what elicited a visceral response. This seminar aspires to compel action in the public interest through artful representation.

48-494 Beyond Patronage: Intermittent: 9 units
TBD

48-497 Pre-Thesis: Spring: 3 units
This 3 unit course is designed for B.Arch and M.Arch students a year before their final Spring semester. The course develops an understanding of research methods, and explores the formation of ideas for architecture thesis projects. Many directions of architectural thinking (spatial, material, ideological and procedural), will be discussed and in framing a theoretical position we will see how an architecture thesis can use a creative process to discover and express findings in relation to large questions and to disciplinary discussions. This is a required course for Fall Thesis Seminar in F23 (9units) and Spring Thesis ASOS S24 (18units).

Course Website: http://soa.cmu.edu

48-500 Advanced Synthesis Options Studio: Fall
Having proven competency in the spectrum of skills determined necessary for tomorrow's architect during the first three years of the program, students in their fourth and fifth year are permitted to select from a variety of studio options, each providing the opportunity to build upon or augment some of those skills with new or more nuanced perspectives. All advanced synthesis studios are open to both years, the vertical integration offering enhanced learning opportunities.The content and focus of each studio is governed by faculty interests, which run the spectrum of architectural pursuits, ranging in scale from the design of a piece of furniture to a city and in approach from a comprehensive and complex building program to a critically-driven speculation. They may also be interdisciplinary in nature, taking advantage of the unique juxtapositions made possible at Carnegie Mellon.
Prerequisite: 48-410

48-505 Advanced Synthesis Options Studio III: Spring: 18 units
Having proven competency in the spectrum of skills determined necessary for tomorrow's architect during the first three years of the program, students in their fourth and fifth year are permitted to select from a variety of studio options, each providing the opportunity to build upon or augment some of those skills with new or more nuanced perspectives. All advanced synthesis studios are open to both years, the vertical integration offering enhanced learning opportunities.The content and focus of each studio is governed by faculty interests, which run the spectrum of architectural pursuits, ranging in scale from the design of a piece of furniture to a city and in approach from a comprehensive and complex building program to a critically-driven speculation. They may also be interdisciplinary in nature, taking advantage of the unique juxtapositions made possible at Carnegie Mellon.
Prerequisite: 48-105

48-506 Shape Grammars and Computational Design: Fall: 9 units
This interdisciplinary course investigates design and making practices through the visual-perceptual, rule-based approach of shape grammars. The course delves into shape grammars in architecture, engineering, and art, and its continued developments, and offers foundational knowledge of historical methods developed in the field, while also exploring new directions and questions for contemporary applications in situated making practices e.g. crafts, digital fabrication, art, and robotics. Students will learn how to use shape grammars to analyze design, create computational descriptions, and generate meaningful outcomes of creative acts. The course covers the fundamentals through lectures, readings, discussions, hands-on exercises, and projects. It also explores new questions, critical perspectives, theoretical insights, potentials, and its ability (or inability) in analyzing, describing, and expressing what humans see, do, and experience. This course is ideal for graduate and undergraduate students interested in computational practices. No background in computing or computer programming is assumed and is not a requirement. Students with varied interests are welcome.

48-507 Carnival Pavilion: Fall and Spring
No course description provided.

48-508 Thesis Pre-Production: Fall and Spring
Coming Soon.

48-510 Advanced Synthesis Options Studio IV: Spring: 18 units
The vertically-integrated advanced studios encourage interdisciplinary collaboration from arts, technology, research and design. They range from large scale urban and ecological projects, to detailed investigations of materials, and fabrication strategies.
Prerequisites: 48-400 Min. grade C or 48-410 Min. grade C

48-516 NOMAS Competition: All Semesters
The focus of this course is on preparing an entry to the 2024 Barbara G. Laurie NOMA Student Design Competition entitled The Highway to Healing - The Transformation of the West Baltimore I-40 Corridor. It includes the repurposing of an abandoned highway that bisects an urban community with a new transit hub, housing and commercial development.

48-519 Architecture Design Studio: Thesis II/ Independent Project: Spring
Thesis is a year-long, independently defined research and design project that takes the place of upper level option studios. Thesis is an opportunity to develop skills, thoughts, and habits essential for future success, including mental discipline; independence of mind and judgment; working with advisors; the capacity to focus and pursue a subject in depth and over an extended time; the ability to design and execute a complex project; the skills of analysis, synthesis, and clear writing; and the self-confidence that grows from mastering a difficult challenge. Thesis topics and research agendas are generated by the student, but must be determined in collaboration with an advising team, and approved by a Thesis Coordinator. The School seeks to encourage an expansive range of rigorous and provocative inquiry as a culminating experience for the B.Arch education, including work that speculates, invents, or improves on existing ideas, practices, or systems through research and design; work that challenges the boundaries of the discipline and the profession, and moves beyond mere practice or solution-based work; worj that engages with open-ended and generalizable ideas, as much as with specific situations; work that projects or imagines a better future and an improved world; work that leads to the new knowledge, ideas, understanding, or paradigms. Acceptance into Thesis is dependent on passing the 48-497 ?Thesis Prep? course or its pre-approved equivalent, and submitting a rigorous thesis proposal to the Thesis Coordinator in late August, before the begin of classes.

Course Website: http://soa.cmu.edu

48-524 Building Performance Modeling: Fall: 9 units
"You can't hammer a nail over the Internet" Matthew B. Crawford, Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into the Value of Work The Design/ Build ASO Studio is part of a year-long, interdisciplinary, design-build project to provide a diverse group of students with the opportunity to work with their eyes, hands, and brains to transform an idea from a virtual world into the physical world. The elective is an opportunity for any student to join the spring "build" activity for 9 units. In this semester, we will again work campus constituents to improve the quality of life on campus through engaging design intervention(s). The project is fully funded, and the expectation is that the project will be turned over to the campus community by the last day of classes in the spring semester. During the fall, the Building Integration Option Studio (BIOS) students envisioned a farmer's market for Hazelwood Green creating design proposals at three scales-XL-M-XS. These design proposals for "XS" components will be a potential launching point for the spring build experience. These designs are just that-launching points-they have not been considered in the context of the Carnegie Mellon campus, so design will be a critical component of the early spring.
Prerequisite: 48-305 Min. grade C

Course Website: https://omerkaraguzelphd.wixsite.com/praxismodeling

48-525 Thesis Seminar: All Semesters: 9 units
This seminar prepares undergraduate students planning to work on a thesis project in the following semester. Thesis work requires individual effort to identify a valid area of concern, understand the disciplinary discourse around a chosen topic and its cultural and social context, determine which are the appropriate means and methods to implement the project, and establish the criteria by which to evaluate the work. Students enter this course with an initial thesis statement, a body of background research and a set of questions that can be interrogated by engaging in research and discussion. The seminar help them refine the scope of the thesis argument, define appropriate research methods and sharpen communication about thesis work in all of its phases. In addition, it facilitates group conversation and exchange of ideas, providing dialogue, feedback, and continued motivation.

Course Website: https://soa.cmu.edu/courses

48-527 5th-Year/Senior Seminar: Intermittent: 3 units
Seminar for students graduating from the Bachelor of Architecture and Bachelor of Arts in Architecture programs.

Course Website: http://soa.cmu.edu

48-528 IDeATe: Responsive Mobile Environments: Intermittent: 9 units
As part of this project-based course, we'll get hands-on with emerging technologies, concepts and applications in the Internet of Things through a critical lens. We'll prototype everyday intelligences and design smart and connected devices that examine and speculate on the strange, supernatural, and mystic qualities of the smart home. The first half of the semester will introduce students to building connected devices and intelligent spaces through technical development workshops, readings, applied explorations, and guest lectures. The second half of the semester will be organized as an applied collaborative project.

Course Website: http://daraghbyrne.me/teaching/responsive-mobile-environments/

48-530 Human-Machine Virtuosity: Spring: 12 units
Human dexterous skill embodies a wealth of physical understanding which complements computer-based design and machine fabrication. This project-oriented course explores the duality between hand and machine through the practical development of innovative design and fabrication systems. These systems fluidly combine the expressivity and intuition of physical tools with the scalability and precision of the digital realm. Students will develop novel hybrid design and production workflows combining analog and digital processes to support the design and fabrication of their chosen projects. Specific skills covered include 3D modeling (CAD), 3D scanning, algorithmic geometric modeling, digital and robotic fabrication (additive and subtractive manufacturing), motion capture and computer based sensing, and human-robot interaction design. Areas of interest include architecture, art, and product design.

48-531 Fabricating Customization: Prototype: Intermittent: 9 units
Architects have long flirted with production and manufacturing. This has been pursued to yield greater affordability, customization, and expression, and as of late, more carbon-aware material selection and manufacturing. This course builds upon this rich history and foregrounds architectural component customization to explore prototyping and customization within the context of contemporary practice. It introduces students to a range of prototyping and design for manufacturing frameworks. Through case studies and lectures, the course offers students an overview of existing and emerging modes of collaboration between designer and manufacturer in service to the production of a customized building component. The course places great emphasis upon the reciprocity of design and prototyping, challenging students to leverage physical artifacts as tools for thinking and testing. Throughout the semester, students will utilize additive and subtractive fabrication techniques to iterate the design of architectural components. Through this process, students will build proficiency in prototyping to design, test, and refine components of limited scope and scale.

Course Website: https://soa.cmu.edu/courses

48-541 The Cut, The Beach and Beyond: All Semesters
The Cut, the Beach and amp; Beyond will be a FALL design elective with a SPRING build option studio working with Campus Design and amp; Facility Development, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and campus constituents to improve the quality of life through design intervention(s) on campus.

48-543 Color Constructs: All Semesters: 9 units
In this course you will study and experiment with the relationships and perception of space and form through two- and three-dimensional optical experiments using color. Lectures, discussions, and field trips will delve into color theory particularly focused on the work of artist, designer, and educator Joseph Albers, look at culturally defined use of color, and its experience. In keeping with Albers definition of color theory as a hands-on experiential and experimental process of creating relationships through perception students will work on skills needed to craft compelling images using linear, planar and volumetric assemblies in digital and analog media. Initial weekly exercises will cover principles of color relativity, intensity, temperature, etc., and consider various principles of graphic perception including but not limited to vibrating and vanishing boundaries, figure ground reversals, and the illusion of transparency. Through this process you will gain an understanding of the use of color in the graphic representation of designs, patterns, diagrams and architectural representations that will inform the use of color in transforming the perception of space. The final assignment will be a three-dimensional color structure.

Course Website: http://soa.cmu.edu

48-545 Design Fabrication: Spring: 9 units
This course investigates the creative repurposing and reconfiguration of found and discarded timber cut-offs (design) as material stock for digitally fabricated laminate wood structures (fabrication). Leveraging computational design tools—AI, parametric design software, and more—students will explore novel economic models that are smaller, more sustainable, and circular. Working individually to design, iterate, and test solutions and collectively to prototype full-scale mock-ups, students will combine emerging technologies with historic precedents. Specifically, the course references late second-millennium AD English wood construction, where a dwindling timber supply—decimated by deforestation—led to the construction of castles from scrap wood. The course balances scientific rigor with artistic experimentation, asking students to prototype new material and structural techniques. This hands-on class will equip students with practical skills and a deeper understanding of resourceful, sustainable design within today's technological landscape."

Course Website: http://soa.cmu.edu

48-550 Issues of Practice: Fall: 9 units
Issues of Practice is a required course taught in the fifth year. It consists of three modules: Personal Promotion, Emerging Professional's Companion, and Excursions. The Personal Promotion module provides the students with a framework to create a resume, cover letter, and portfolio. The EPC (Emerging Professional's Companion) provides concentrated study in different aspects of professional practice. The Excursions require students to see how architecture relates to the wider world with architecturally related events that can include volunteer opportunities, lectures, mentorship, or teaching.
Prerequisite: 48-305

48-551 Lab for Cybernetics: Engaging Wicked Challenges: Spring: 9 units
The Laboratory for Cybernetics supports students engaging with wicked challenges grounded in a thesis topic or personal project, by offering concepts and materials, models and methods, networks and collaboration. Cybernetics uniquely approaches systems in terms of purpose—the purpose attributed to the system and the purpose of those who articulate the system's purpose (see https://tinyurl.com/L4C-Award). Thus, Cybernetics demands explanations for system behaviors as well as responsibility for our own behaviors and the interventions we design. The course project is a design brief that is entered into an competition for a $5K toward for implementation. The primary award criterion is to increase the total number of choices. The brief must articulate how the design increases the potential for human agency beyond existing approaches while affording an experience that is deeply resonant with the values and intentions of the persons engaged with it. See tinyurl.com/Lab4C-Spring25 for more details.

48-554 Entangled: Remaking Nature from the Picturesque to the Hypernatural: All Semesters: 9 units
This seminar questions how we perceive, represent, and reconstruct our world in relation to evolving concepts of "nature" and their manifestation in architecture, art, and landscape. It is focused on the intellectual trajectories that define ecology and environment to arrive at the paradigm shift theoretician Donna Haraway has termed natureculture. We will first familiarize ourselves with historical ways of seeing "nature" and how this has formed the landscapes of the Anthropocene. This will help us put a critical lens on land, environmental and ecological art, ecoventions, architectural living systems, biomimicry, biophilia, and projective ecologies while we consider the influence of gardens, responsive landscapes, hyper-natures, and artificial ecologies in changing the way we design and build. We look for not only relevance but joy and beauty in practices that highlight the relation between desire, responsibility, more-than-human wellbeing, and ecological justice. This may help us build notions of care and stewardship and an understanding traditional and emergent cultural constructs that can define an eco-centric practice which shapes building futures. The course surveys texts from a range of topics including ecological aesthetics, architecture, art, landscape urbanism, and ecologically focused philosophy and theory. It includes weekly readings, discussions, presentations, and visual or written deliverables. Open to graduate and undergraduate students in Architecture and allied fields.

48-555 Introduction to Architectural Robotics: Fall: 9 units
This course provides an introduction to industrial robotics and automated fabrication within the field of Architecture. A series of lectures will cover the basic components, as well as their work flows, needed to design flexible automation - while work sessions will develop skills in hands-on programming, RAPID, work flow simulation, fixtures, and sensors. We will also issue competency-building projects within the lab environment in order to provide students with hands-on experience using the equipment. Upon covering the fundamental software and hardware content, an end-of-semester project will challenge you to apply your newfound knowledge to solve a final prompt. This is a portal course to all sanctioned coursework using the School of Architecture's Robotic Fabrication Lab. Upon successful completion, students will be eligible and prepared to enroll in advanced robotic fabrication courses.

48-557 Formless as an Operation: All Semesters: 9 units
This seminar focuses on the formless as an operation relative to social constructs, parametrics and aesthetics. Geometry is often thought of as a rational or a structure that secures and grounds things, however the structures of the built environment is an unfolding and indeterminate product. Social constructs can be defined as formless or the informe, as coined by George Bataille; an operational existence. In expanding the one's idea of operating, the use of formless allows us to consider the indeterminate. The indeterminate for our purpose in exploring context relative to spatial and cultural traditions. Within social and political space, traditions become spatial operators. How can we spatialize and draw traditions, rituals, and narratives? We will investigate the means and methods of representation relative to the formless and the built environment. Participants in the seminar develop an archive, original visualizations that utilizes multiple mediums and platforms, and culminate in a final project a part of an exhibition.

Course Website: http://soa.cmu.edu

48-558 Reality Computing: Fall: 12 units
Reality computing encompasses a constellation of technologies focused around capturing reality (laser scanning, photogrammetry), working with spatial data (CAD, physical modeling, simulation), and using data to interact with and influence the physical world (augmented reality / virtual reality, 3d printing, robotics). This semester the studio will focus on utilizing these technologies to capture places and objects to digitally recreate them for archives, artifacts, and interactive experiences. We will explore and analyze how to optimize these creations for real-time rendering and analyze how these platforms bridge the divide between "virtual" and "real."

48-560 Design & Redesign of Capital Cities: Fall: 9 units
This architectural and urban design history course examines the cultural histories of the design and redesign of world cities. The scale of urban interventions we will look at varies greatly, from the macro-scale of designing totally new capitals to the micro-scale of altering small nodes within a city. We explore the relationship between form and culture by considering political, social, economic, and aesthetic forces that have shaped the public realm of urban as well as suburban spaces. We focus on recognizing and understanding the rationale behind the design, re-design, and use of culturally important urban spaces during their own time, making periodic forays into the issues that influence those spaces today. Non-majors are welcome.

Course Website: https://soa.cmu.edu/courses

48-561 Professional Development: Fall: 3 units
This course is designed to focus on professional and personal development for a career within the discipline of architecture. The goal of the course is to make students more marketable, preparing them to become valuable professionals within a global economy. Emphasis is placed on building a personal career portfolio, which includes a resume, LinkedIn profile and techniques to prepare for internship and employment interviews. The course will also discuss a variety of issues within the modern workplace such as networking, business etiquette and inclusive workplace initiatives. Students will gain an understanding and the importance of the path to licensure and Architectural Experience Program (AXP).

48-564 Furniture Design & Construction: Spring: 9 units
This course is for students who already have a basic knowledge of hand tools and machines, and standard fabrication methods. Wood is the primary material, although other supplemental materials are permitted. One functional project will be built during the semester. Because all the equipment in the shop is traditional analog, the fabrication will remain analog. All operations will be done with hand tools or machines operated and controlled by hand. The emphasis of the design phases will also be non-digital. However recognizing the versatility of CAD, students will be permitted to advance and refine their ideas using their computer. One full scale orthographic drawing by hand will still be required, including plan, elevations, sections, and dimensions on 1/8" ply or mdf.
Prerequisites: 48-105 and (48-470 or 48-473)

48-568 Advanced CAD, BIM, and 3D Visualization: Fall
This course is designed to introduce a student to 3D software tools (3 units each), including Autodesk AutoCAD 3D, Revit Architecture, and/or 3D Studio MAX. Using building information and parametric modeling, materials, lighting, rendering, and animation students will create integrated CAD or BIM projects, 3D video animations, and realistic renderings. Students can choose to learn one, two, or all three applications. Course objectives are to develop an understanding of how to properly set up and manipulate 3D projects integrating software applications, replicating real world projects in leading architectural, lighting, design, construction, and engineering firms; learn how to create detailed 3D CAD models using surfaces and solids; learn about BIM parametric modeling using Revit Architecture; and learn how to apply materials, lighting, and rendering using AutoCAD, Revit, and 3D Studio Max. At the conclusion of this course, students will have 3D projects for one or more applications and animations if using 3DS Max. Students should have some familiarity with basic AutoCAD 2D commands. Those who don't have AutoCAD 2D knowledge can contact the professor to arrange for on-line tutorials that need to be completed before classes begin. The course will be primarily taught asynchronously via video lectures and other materials. Some live remote meetings will be held for topic previews and project reviews. In person and remote office hours will be held weekly.

Course Website: https://soa.cmu.edu/courses

48-569 GIS/CAFM: Spring
A Geographic Information System (GIS) provides storage, retrieval, visualization, and analysis of geographically referenced data. GIS provides analytical tools to investigate spatial relationships, patterns, and processes of location-based data such as cultural, demographic, economic, environmental, health, physical, social, and other phenomena. GIS creates digital twins (virtual representations) of natural and built environments and integrates many types of digital models. GIS topics include geographic concepts (projections and map scales), map design, geodatabases (importing spatial and attribute data, geocodes, table joins, and data aggregation), spatial data processing, digitizing, data mining, multivariate cluster analysis, drive and walk time networking, raster GIS, spatial statistics (proximity and hot spot analysis), animation, and 3D GIS. CAFM (Computer Aided Facility Management) and IWMS (Integrated Work Management Systems) topics include space and asset management, building operations, environmental health and safety, and real property. The course includes in-person and asynchronous video lectures to learn important GIS concepts and a brief introduction to work management systems. Software tutorials cover leading GIS software from Esri Inc. Applications include ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Map Viewer, ArcGIS Story Maps, and Dashboards. Subject areas are related to architecture, engineering, construction management, building performance, environmental health, sustainability, public policy, urban design, and planning.
Prerequisite: 48-205
Course Website: http://soa.cmu.edu

48-576 Mapping Urbanism: Intermittent: 9 units
This seminar provides the critical tools necessary to examine the city as both a representation and a reality in flux. Through an interdisciplinary framework, students study urban history, theory, visual thinking and spatial mapping. Contemporary urban issues are introduced through weekly lectures, readings, and class discussions. Parallel to these urban explorations, students learn to employ a diverse set of representational techniques to create inventive mappings. Upper-level (300 and 400 level) undergraduate students and graduate students are encouraged to register.

48-587 Architecture Lighting Design: Intermittent: 9 units
Through hands-on exploration of light students will develop a design process for lighting public spaces. All classes will be held in a fully equipped light lab to give the students full access to experimenting with light in design applications. Understanding how light creates focus and mood will be explored in class lab exercises. Discussion topics will include the role of the architectural lighting designer in the collaboration process, establishing design goals and a lighting point of view, communicating design ideas, analyzing successful lighting design in case studies for interior and exterior applications, and becoming familiar with the technical tools of lighting design. The final design project will include lighting mock-ups of a building site.
Prerequisite: 48-105
Course Website: http://soa.cmu.edu

48-596 LEED Credential Prep: Green Building & Design: Summer: 6 units
This six-week summer course will cover the LEED BD+C rating system categories, including Location and Transportation, Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, and Indoor Environmental Quality. We will also discuss potential improvements to LEED standards. The course includes a comparative analysis of international green building rating systems (e.g., BREEAM, DGNB, CASBEE) and associated standards like WELL. Each category's content will be elaborated in detail, providing students with a foundational knowledge to better prepare for the LEED credential exam. In addition to scheduled quizzes, a question bank with 200 multiple-choice questions will be provided. A significant component of this course is a team project where students, in groups of three to five, will simulate the entire LEED certification process for a case study project. The final grade will be based on a combination of quizzes, attendance, and the course project report and presentation.

Faculty

JARED ABRAHAM, Associate Studio Professor

VICKY ACHNANI, Associate Studio Professor

NILOUFAR ALENJERY, Special Faculty

SAROSH ANKLESARIA, Assistant Teaching Professor

MARY-LOU ARSCOTT, Studio Professor & Associate Head

NINA BARBUTO, Adjunct Faculty

JOSHUA BARD, Associate Professor & Associate Head

WILLIAM BATES, Adjunct Faculty

HEATHER BIZON, Special Faculty

DARAGH BYRNE, Associate Teaching Track

DANIEL CARDOSO LLACH, Associate Professor

GLORIA CHANG, Special Faculty

XIN CHEN, Adjunct Instructor

JIMMI WEI-CHUN CHENG, Special Faculty

LORI CLAUS, Special Faculty

ERICA COCHRAN HAMEEN, Associate Professor & Director of DEI

DOUG COOPER, Andrew Mellon Professor

DANA CUPKOVA, Professor

GERARD DAMIANI, Associate Professor

STEFANI DANES, Adjunct Faculty

ASLI DARGA,, Adjunct Faculty

JEFFREY DAVIS, Adjunct Faculty

JEREMY FICCA, Associate Professor, Director dFAB

KRISTINA FISHER, Adjunct Faculty

LAURA GARAFALO, Associate Professor

SINAN GORAL, Adjunct Faculty

BRAD GROFF, Adjunct Faculty

STEFAN GRUBER, Associate Professor

KAI GUTSCHOW, Associate Professor & Associate Head

NAJEEB HAMEEN, Adjunct Faculty

TOM HARDY, Adjunct Faculty

VOLKER HARTKOPF, Professor Emeritus

HAL HAYES, Studio Professor

NEAL HITCH, Special Faculty

JOHN HOLMES, Shop Director

MATTHEW HUBER, Adjunct Faculty

THEODOSSIS ISSAIAS, Special Faculty

MARYAM KARIMI, Special Faculty

LYNN KAWARATANI, Liason Librarian to SoA

OMAR KHAN, Professor & Head

JEFF KING, Adjunct Faculty

JONATHAN KLINE, Studio Professor

RAMESH KRISHNAMURTI, Professor Emeritus

MATTHEW KRISSEL, Adjunct Faculty

KRISTEN KURLAND, Teaching Professor

JONGWAN KWON, Assistant Teaching Professor

KHEE POH LAM, Professor Emeritus

JOSHUA D. LEE, Assistant Professor

JUNEY LEE, Assistant Professor

STEPHEN R. LEE, Professor Emeritus

SUZI ZEKUN LI, Graduate Instructor

NICK LIADIS, Adjunct Faculty

VIVIAN LOFTNESS, University Professor, Paul Mellon Professor

JACKIE JOSEPH PAUL MCFARLAND, Special Faculty

CHRISTINE MONDOR, Special Faculty

YAEL NETSER, Graduate Instructor

MELANIE NGAMI, Adjunct Instructor

RICHARD NISA, Adjunct Faculty

VERNELLE NOEL, Assistant Professor

PAUL OSTERGAARD, Adjunct Faculty

YIQUN PAN, Special Faculty

PAUL PANGARO, Visiting Scholar in Computational Design

MISRI PATEL, Anne Kalla Visiting Professor

STEPHEN QUICK, Adjunct Faculty

NIDA REHMAN, Assistant Professor

AZADEH OMIDFAR SAWYER, Assistant Professor

NATHAN SAWYER, Special Faculty

CHARLIE SCHMIDT, Adjunct Instructor

DIANE SHAW, Associate Professor

TULIZA SINDI, Anne Kalla Visiting Professor

STEVEN SONTAG, Assistant Shop Director

BEA SPOLIDORO, Adjunct Faculty

ANDREW STONE, Thomas Visiting Professor

LOUIS SUAREZ, Adjunct Faculty

NAZIA TARRANUM, Adjunct Faculty

FRANCESCA TORELLO, Special Faculty

ALICIA VOLCY, Adjunct Faculty

GARRET WOOD-STERNBURGH, Adjunct Instructor

HEATHER WORKINGER MIDGLEY, Adjunct Faculty

TOMMY CHEEMOU YANG, Associate Studio Professor

Undergraduate Catalog