Students explore whether rooftop gardens are a viable option for combating the …
Students explore whether rooftop gardens are a viable option for combating the urban heat island effect. Can rooftop gardens reduce the temperature inside and outside houses? Teams each design and construct two model buildings using foam core board, one with a "green roof" and the other with a black tar paper roof. They measure and graph the ambient and inside building temperatures while under heat lamps and fans. Then students analyze the data and determine whether the rooftop gardens are beneficial to the inhabitants.
This art history video discussion looks at Saint Peter's Basilica and the …
This art history video discussion looks at Saint Peter's Basilica and the numerous architects (see below) who contributed to Saint Peter's Basilica (Basilica Sancti Petri in Latin), begun 1506 completed 1626, Vatican City. Architectural contributors include: Donato Bramante who's design won Julius II's competition; Antonio da Sangallo, a student of Bramante, designed the Pauline Chapel; Fra Giocondo strengthened the foundation; Raphael worked with Fra Giocondo, his redesigned building plan was not executed; Michelangelo designed the dome, crossing, and exterior excluding the nave and facade; Giacomo della Porta, designed the cupola; Carlo Maderno, extended Michelangelo's plan adding a nave and grand facade; Gian Lorenzo Bernini added the piazza, the Cathedra Petri, and the Baldacchino.
General study of modern architecture as a response to important technological, cultural, …
General study of modern architecture as a response to important technological, cultural, environmental, aesthetic, and theoretical challenges after the European Enlightenment. Focus on the theoretical, historiographic, and design approaches to architectural problems encountered in the age of industrial and post-industrial expansion across the globe, with specific attention to the dominance of European modernism in setting the agenda for the discourse of a global modernity at large. Explores modern architectural history through thematic exposition rather than as simple chronological succession of ideas.
This course is a broad introduction to a host of sensor technologies, …
This course is a broad introduction to a host of sensor technologies, illustrated by applications drawn from human-computer interfaces and ubiquitous computing. After extensively reviewing electronics for sensor signal conditioning, the lectures cover the principles and operation of a variety of sensor architectures and modalities, including pressure, strain, displacement, proximity, thermal, electric and magnetic field, optical, acoustic, RF, inertial, and bioelectric. Simple sensor processing algorithms and wired and wireless network standards are also discussed. Students are required to complete written assignments, a set of laboratories, and a final project.
This unit describes a general approach to guiding students to complete service-based …
This unit describes a general approach to guiding students to complete service-based engineering design projects, with specific examples provided in detail as associated activities. With your class, brainstorm ideas for engineering designs that benefit your community or a specific person in your community. Then, guided by the steps of the engineering design process, have students research to understand background science and math, meet their client to understand the problem, and create, test and improve prototype devices. Note that service-based projects often take more time to prepare, especially if you arrange for a real client. However, the authors notice that students of both genders and all ethnicities tend to respond with more enthusiasm and interest to altruistic projects.
Students are introduced to the concepts of graywater and water reuse within …
Students are introduced to the concepts of graywater and water reuse within households. They calculate the amount of used water a family generates in one day and use a model of home plumbing to find out how much graywater is produced in homes every day. They graph their results and discuss energy efficiency implications. Students are then challenged to find ways to reduce water use within the home.
Students learn about how engineers design and build shake tables to test …
Students learn about how engineers design and build shake tables to test the ability of buildings to withstand the various types of seismic waves generated by earthquakes. Just like engineers, students design and build shake tables to test their own model buildings made of toothpicks and mini marshmallows. Once students are satisfied with the performance of their buildings, they put them through a one-minute simulated earthquake challenge.
Students learn about the major factors that comprise the design and construction …
Students learn about the major factors that comprise the design and construction cost of a modern bridge. Before a bridge design is completed, engineers provide overall cost estimates for construction of the bridge. Students learn about the components that go into estimating the total cost, including expenses for site investigation, design, materials, equipment, labor and construction oversight, as well as the trade-off between a design and its cost.
Skyscrapers are one of the most glorified products of Civil Engineering and …
Skyscrapers are one of the most glorified products of Civil Engineering and contain an interesting history of progress and development. In this lesson, the students will learn about the history of the world's tallest free standing structures and the basic design principles behind their success. Students will build their own newspaper skyscrapers with limited materials and time, trying to achieve a maximum height and the ability to withstand a "hurricane wind" force. Discussion will concentrate on materials, forces that a skyscraper needs to withstand, and basic structural design.
Students explore building a pyramid, learning about the simple machine called an …
Students explore building a pyramid, learning about the simple machine called an inclined plane. They also learn about another simple machine, the screw, and how it is used as a lifting or fastening device. During a hands-on activity, students see how the angle of inclination and pull force can make it easier (or harder) to pull an object up an inclined plane.
Smarthistory, the art history provider of the Khan Academy, provides comprehensive essays …
Smarthistory, the art history provider of the Khan Academy, provides comprehensive essays and videos covering art historical topics from prehistoric through contemporary times. Thematic approaches and current ethical issues related to art and archeology are also covered and explored. Downloadable PDF documents are available for specific geographic regions. This site is geared towards the introductory learner and is appropriate for AP high school students, college students, and the general public. New material and formats, including a globally-oriented digital textbook, are being added to the site.
Students explore why different types of sneakers are used in a variety …
Students explore why different types of sneakers are used in a variety of common sports, and how engineers analyze design needs in sneakers and many other everyday items. The goal is for students to understand the basics of engineering associated with the design of athletic shoes. The design of footware based on how it will be used involves bioengineering. Students analyze the foot movements in a variety of sports, develop design criteria for a specific sport, and make recommendations for requirements for the sneakers used in that sport.
This course explores how social theories of urban life can be related …
This course explores how social theories of urban life can be related to the city's architecture and spaces. It is grounded in classic or foundational writings about the city addressing such topics as the public realm and public space, impersonality, crowds and density, surveillance and civility, imprinting time on space, spatial justice, and the segregation of difference. The aim of the course is to generate new ideas about the city by connecting the social and the physical, using Boston as a visual laboratory. Students are required to present a term paper mediating what is read with what has been observed.
Students continue their pyramid building journey, acting as engineers to determine the …
Students continue their pyramid building journey, acting as engineers to determine the appropriate wedge tool to best extract rock from a quarry and cut into pyramid blocks. Using sample materials (wax, soap, clay, foam) representing rock types that might be found in a quarry, they test a variety of wedges made from different materials and with different degrees of sharpness to determine which is most effective at cutting each type of material.
This workshop explores how designers might become as sensitive to space as …
This workshop explores how designers might become as sensitive to space as they are to objects. Through a number of projects and precedent studies, architectural design is studied in relation to the Space Between. The design process is studied in reverse, considering space first and objects second. This is not to imply that objects are not important, but rather that space is equally important.
Students are given the following engineering challenge: "The invasion has taken place …
Students are given the following engineering challenge: "The invasion has taken place and we need to find a new home. To ensure your survival beyond Earth's occupation you must design a shelter that can be built on another planet." Then students research the characteristics of a planet of their choosing. They design shelter that enables them to survive on a new planet, and explain it in words to the rest of the class. This is a great activity to add to a unit on the solar system.
Space System Architecture and Design incorporates lectures, readings and discussion on topics …
Space System Architecture and Design incorporates lectures, readings and discussion on topics in the architecting of space systems. The class reviews existing space system architectures and the classical methods of designing them. Sessions focus on multi-attribute utility theory as a new design paradigm for space systems, when combined with integrated concurrent engineering and efficient searches of large architectural tradspaces. Designing for flexibility and uncertainty is considered, as are policy and product development issues.
In 16.89/ESD.352 the students will first be asked to understand the key …
In 16.89/ESD.352 the students will first be asked to understand the key challenges in designing ground and space telescopes, the stakeholder structure and value flows, and the particular pros and cons of the proposed project. The first half of the class will concentrate on performing a thorough architectural analysis of the key astrophysical, engineering, human, budgetary and broader policy issues that are involved in this decision. This will require the students to carry out a qualitative and quantitative conceptual study during the first half of the semester and recommend a small set of promising architectures for further study at the Preliminary Design Review (PDR).Both lunar surface telescopes as well as orbital locations should be considered. The second half of the class will then pick 1-2 of the top-rated architectures for a lunar telescope facility and develop the concept in more detail and present the detailed design at the Critical Design Review (CDR). This should not only sketch out the science program, telescope architecture and design, but also the stakeholder relationships, a rough estimate of budget and timeline, and also clarify the role that human explorers could or should play during both deployment and servicing/operations of such a facility (if any).
This class focuses on representation tools used by architects during the design …
This class focuses on representation tools used by architects during the design process and attempts to discuss the relationship they develop with the object of design. Representation plays a key role in architectural design, not only as a medium of conveying and narrating a determined meaning or a preconceived idea, but also as a code of creating new meaning, while the medium seeks to establish a relationship with itself. In this sense, mediums of representation, as external parameters to the design process, are not neutral tools of translating an idea into its concrete form. They are neither authentic means of creativity, nor vapid carriers of an idea. Therefore, an important aspect in issues of meaning is how the architect manipulates the play of translating a concept to its concrete version, through the use of a medium of representation. The course is a continuation of the equivalent course taught in the fall semester and specifically focuses on digital media. The course is intended to establish a reciprocal relationship with the design studio, feeding from and contributing to its content.
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