Seminar: ‘Advanced Building Systems’

This required course, the last in the technology sequence, brings previous content to bear on the design of a simple building. Lectures focused on a large number of precedents, examining in detail the role construction and technology play in building morphology. However, the focus was on construction-based design exploration—the design and details of the frame and envelope of a building in all its aspects, including the structure, its enclosure, active and passive climate control, natural and artificial lighting, and mechanical and electrical services. Rather than follow the conventional methodology of a design development exercise in which a completed schematic design is “developed,” this course required a complete design from inception to realization, from concept to window detail. 

Working in teams of eight or nine, students developed a design for a medium-sized building with a fixed plan and site. Each group was offered a choice of programs and sites, but each building type had a pre-determined internal order. Choices included a community basketball court or swimming pool, a chamber music hall, or a robotics lab. The plan of each building was fixed, except for minor variations. The sites, all located in St. Louis, were small with tight boundaries, allowing for relatively few massing options. Thus, emphasis was given to the design of the envelope, the skin, the shelter, the frame that supports it, and the systems that sustain it. 

Detailed investigations were made and options were explored pertaining to the building envelope, structural configuration, structural joinery, fenestration, passive and active mechanical systems, glazing, and connection details. The process mandated that key constructional design decisions be made simultaneously and integrally with the other design decisions, rather than after the fact. The form of the building and the way it was built and environmentally supported evolved simultaneously.