Architecture Course Descriptions
Design Studio
Design Studio is both a course and a place. The Design Studio course will meet each afternoon. Students will work one-on-one with their design critic to develop innovative and creative proposals for design problems. You will explore human, architectural and urban problem solving through independent and collaborative projects. Students will create drawings, models and presentations of their proposals, which will be discussed in individual and group settings. The Design Studio is where it all happens. Each student will have his/her own desk, drafting board, stool and model table in the studio. You can expect the Design Studio, course and place, to be the richest setting for your ideas to come to life.
Drawing
This course introduces freehand and mechanical drawing of spatial environments — interior and exterior, architecture, still life and the human figure. A wide range of media will be explored including pencil, ink and charcoal. You will learn the basic principles of constructing two- and three-dimensional drawings such as plan, section and perspective as well as a variety of sketching and freehand drawing techniques.
Digital Media
Digital Media will work both independent of and integral to the Design Studio. Digital Media intends to familiarize students with the use of software applications currently employed in architecture and design practice. Students will learn the basic skills needed to create, manipulate and explore digital images, drawings and three-dimensional environments and will be expected to use them as a means to design.
Topics in Architecture
Architectural History, Issues of Professional Practice and Structures and Technology are areas of study central to architectural education and practice. Topics in Architecture will cover each of these three areas as two-week sessions and will be integral to the mission and curriculum of the Design Studio. Students will acquire knowledge and techniques in each area vital to the development of their design and critical thinking skills. Topics in Architecture courses are taught by professors with expertise in each field — history, practice and technology.
Field Trips
Essential to understanding architecture is experiencing architecture. Every Friday, students will explore Pittsburgh and the region. Field trips will include tours of significant historic and contemporary buildings. Students have traveled to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater and the environmentally progressive Pittsburgh Convention Center, designed by Rafael Vinoly. You will explore vibrant historic neighborhoods, visit city museums including the world-renowned Carnegie Museum of Art, the Andy Warhol Museum and the Mattress Factory, and tour a few of the many outstanding architecture firms located in Pittsburgh.