Design Technologies I
2004-present
Coordinator: Shotton
Founded on integrated design principles, the course stresses the understanding of performance criteria combined with the innovative use of materials and assemblies to minimize resource use. In its earliest incarnation the projects were linked to studio design work, which was analyzed and developed using performance measurement tools such as the LT Method and Ecotect. Further development resulted in research projects, which included built trials and tests, based on the examination of the properties of materials, embodied energy and CO2 profiles, and their innovative use relative to performance criteria.
The work of the students, and the staff, progressed each year, driven by discoveries of previous years until by 2009 the work had become focused exclusively on the nature of concrete in environmental terms. First, in the academic year 2009-10 was a study of the performance of monolithic concrete walls relative to thermal performance criteria, and concrete mixes, developed by each student team. This work was tested through the construction and thermal testing of each wall. Based on this evidence, and adjusting for unwieldy work loads, the following year, 2010-11 the course was adjusted to focus more specifically on the concrete mix, the embodied energy characteristics and specific performance characteristics defined by each student team. These were once again tested, for both thermal and strength characteristics as well as performance tests peculiar to each group, but through more manageable test sample sizes.
Given this evolution in the nature of the course, this teaching project has now been separated as a special topics lecture on Concrete, and the course returned to the study of integrated design in buildings through case studies.
The work of the students, and the staff, progressed each year, driven by discoveries of previous years until by 2009 the work had become focused exclusively on the nature of concrete in environmental terms. First, in the academic year 2009-10 was a study of the performance of monolithic concrete walls relative to thermal performance criteria, and concrete mixes, developed by each student team. This work was tested through the construction and thermal testing of each wall. Based on this evidence, and adjusting for unwieldy work loads, the following year, 2010-11 the course was adjusted to focus more specifically on the concrete mix, the embodied energy characteristics and specific performance characteristics defined by each student team. These were once again tested, for both thermal and strength characteristics as well as performance tests peculiar to each group, but through more manageable test sample sizes.
Given this evolution in the nature of the course, this teaching project has now been separated as a special topics lecture on Concrete, and the course returned to the study of integrated design in buildings through case studies.
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