Approved by: Graduate Council
Implementation Date: Spring 2015
Note: Deletions are strikethroughs. Insertions are underlined.
Catalog Copy
[The School of Architecture proposes the following changes for Courses in Architecture (ARCH) as written in the current Catalog]:
Studio Courses
ARCH 6100. Design Studio: Basics. (3) Cross-listed as MUDD 5101. Prerequisite: B.A., B.S. or equivalent college degree. This introductory graduate course in architecture is intended for students newly admitted to the School of Architecture's 3+ year professional program. This five-week, intensive studio-based course includes an introduction to freehand drawing, 2-D composition, 3-D modeling, and visual theory. In addition, the course offers an introduction to a variety of related topics (history, urbanism, structure, lighting, materials, etc.) that serve as critical departure points for understanding and making architectural and urban projects. (Summer)
ARCH 6101. Design Studio: Fundamentals. (6) Corequisite: ARCH 5602 6602. This introductory architectural design studio focuses on fundamental concepts of architecture as well as the acquisition and practice of a wide range of technical and graphic skills and media. It is intended to complement the reading and writing engaged in ARCH 5601 and to serve as an arena to explore and test the issues encountered in that course through the act of making. (Fall)
ARCH 6102. Design Studio: Fundamentals. (6) Prerequisite: ARCH 6101. Corequisite: ARCH 6603. This introductory architectural design studio focuses on the development of site, space, and design process issues as well as the continued acquisition and practice of a variety of technical and graphic skills. Exploration into the creative and appropriate use of a variety of media is addressed. (Spring)
ARCH 7101. Design Studio: Topical. (6) Prerequisite: ARCH 6102 or equivalent MII Standing. Focuses on issues relevant to current architectural practice and/or exploration of architectural theory. Students choose from among several sections of this studio, each of which addresses a different set of issues. The issues addressed as well as the pedagogical approach of these studios are defined by the faculty teaching them. All students must take a minimum of one Topical Design Studio within their area of Concentration. (Fall)
ARCH 7102. Design Studio: Comprehensive. (6) Prerequisite: ARCH 7101. Focuses on a site-specific project emphasizing technological and systemic issues that lead toward a comprehensive building design. (Spring)
ARCH 7103. Design Studio: Topical. (6) Prerequisite: ARCH 7102. Focuses on issues relevant to current architectural practice and/or exploration of architectural theory. Students choose from among several sections of this studio, each of which addresses a different set of issues. The issues addressed as well as the pedagogical approach of these studios are defined by the faculty teaching them. All students must take a minimum of one Topical Design Studio within their area of Concentration. Course may be repeated with permission. (Fall)
ARCH 7104. Final Project/Thesis Studio. (6) Prerequisite: ARCH 7103. Offers support and structure for students undertaking their individualized project in the MArch program. Focuses upon an individually defined architectural design project, or upon an individually defined research project (see Requisite & Capstone Experiences for more details). The faculty member teaching ARCH 7104 coordinates the activities of the students and their advisory committees. (Spring)
Core Courses
ARCH 5201. Architectural History I: Prehistory-1750. (3) Global survey of architecture and urbanism from prehistory to 1750. Explores key examples of buildings and cities as well as the theoretical, environmental, political, economic, technological, and cultural context in which they were built. Provides a general knowledge of the formal, spatial and ornamental characteristics that distinguish the built environment of distinct historic and traditional building cultures. (Fall)
ARCH 5202. Architectural History II: 1750-Present. (3) Prerequisite: ARCH 5201 or permission of instructor. Global survey of architecture and urbanism from 1750 to the present. Explores key architectural and urban ideas, designers, buildings, and urban projects as well as how they were shaped by their environmental, political, economic, technological, and cultural context. (Spring)
ARCH 5203. Architectural History III: Survey of Contemporary Theory (1950-Present). (3) Prerequisite: ARCH 5202 or permission of instructor MII Standing. Survey of architecture theory from 1950 to the present. Focuses on the key ideas, texts, debates, and discourse that have informed architectural practice in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. (Fall)
ARCH 5206. Professional Practice. (3) An introduction to the objectives of the practice of architecture, its responsibilities and procedures, and emerging alternative forms of practice and as they pertain to the role of the architect. (Spring)
ARCH 5301. Materials and Assembly Principles. (3) Introduces the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of architectural materials, systems, and processes. Students will be introduced to the physical properties of materials relevant to their application in construction, assembly, and detail systems. Topics will include masonry, concrete, wood, steel, glass, cladding, and roofing and flooring materials and their assemblies. (Fall)
ARCH 5302. Environmental Systems Principles. (3) Prerequisite: ARCH 5301 or permission of instructor. Introduces qualitative and quantitative analytical methods commonly used to assess the impact of environmental forces on occupant thermal and luminous comfort, energy performance, and regional sustainability. Students will be introduced to the interplay between climatic events, patterns of building use, and the architectural variables that inform the appropriate application of building systems technology. Topics include building envelope performance, and the introduction of passive and mechanical systems for heating, cooling, illuminating, and ventilating buildings. (Spring)
ARCH 5303. Structural Principles. (3) Prerequisite: ARCH 5301 or permission of instructor. Introduces issues relevant to the fundamentals of structures including statics, strength, and stability of materials. Students will be introduced to structural concepts, systems, and the tracing of structural loads through basic principles, physical modeling, and theoretical and analytical methods. Topics will include interrelationship between strain, stress, and stability, as well as the implications of tension, compression, shear, torsion, and bending. (Fall)
ARCH 5304. Structural Systems. (3) Prerequisite: ARCH 5303. Introduces specific structural applications of wood, steel, concrete, and masonry systems commonly used in small-scale commercial/institutional buildings. Students will be introduced to the design of beams, columns, walls, joinery, and connections appropriate to each material type through theoretical, analytical, and computer simulation methods. (Spring)
ARCH 5305. Building Systems Integration. (3) Prerequisites: ARCH 5304 or MII Standing. Introduces a set of advanced issues related to the comprehensive, systemic integration of building technology systems commonly used in large-scale buildings through case study, analytical, and simulation methods. Topics address the resolution of building structure, materials, environmental systems, mechanical systems, electrical systems, life safety, building water supply and waste, and conveying systems in building design. (Fall)
ARCH 5604 Computational Methods. (3) Prerequisite: ARCH 6603 or MII Standing. Corequisite: ARCH 7101 or permission of instructor. Introduces students to the fundamental concepts of computation through explorations with basic scripting and parametric tools. The goal is to understand the potential of computation and the role it can play as part of one's design process, not as a collection of specific tools, but as a way of thinking about design. (Fall)
ARCH 5605. Computational Practice. (3) Prerequisite: ARCH 5604 or permission of instructor. Capstone course for digital media and computational studies in the School of Architecture. The goal of this seminar course is to provide students with experience using advanced digital tools and methods, including digital fabrication, parametrics, Building Information Modeling/Management (BIM), scripting, and performance analysis in preparation for professional practice and/or advanced graduate research. (Spring)
ARCH 6306/6307. Technology Topic. (3) Prerequisite: ARCH 5305 or permission of instructor. No Prerequisites. Focuses on the study of topical areas of technology in architecture. Provide an in-depth extension of the five required technology courses. The course may be selected from a number of designated technology courses that examine specific issues contributing to architecture as a process of investigation, innovation, analysis and/or research. May be repeated for credit as course topics change. (Fall, Spring)
ARCH 6601. Ideas in Architecture. (3) Corequisite: ARCH 6100. This seminar class concentrates on fundamental concepts, issues, and working knowledge specific to design in architecture. It is intended to complement the design problems encountered in ARCH 6100 (studio) and to serve as a critical platform to raise issues that are not always evident in studio making alone. Primary topics addressed include order, form and space, site, type, and architectural meaning. (Summer)
ARCH 6602. Representation I: Fundamentals. (3) Prerequisite: ARCH 6100. Corequisite: ARCH 6101 or permission of instructor. A fundamental visual and architectural skills course that includes lessons in: visual composition, 2D design and communication, 3D physical models, graphic and photographic image manipulation, and craft in design. Also includes readings and criticism, which address the artistic and architectural correlation of these skills. (Fall)
ARCH 6603. Representation II: Digital Fundamentals. (3) Prerequisite: ARCH 6602. Corequisite: ARCH 6102. Introduces students to architectural drafting (2D) and modeling (3D) using digital tools and processes. The expected outcome of this course is a student who is skillful, adaptable, and critical in the use of digital media. (Spring)
ARCH 7201. Design Methodologies. (3) Focuses on examination of analytic and synthetic models including information processing, programming, and implementation activities used to structure the architect's design process, conjectural models, and methods specific to the architect's creative skills. (Spring)
ARCH 7202. Final Project/Thesis Document. (3) Prerequistie: ARCH 7201. Provides structure for the formation and exploration of the ideas and issues relevant to the project in the MArch program. This project is to be undertaken individually by students in their final year of study. This course results in the documentation of relevant research in preparation for the execution of the project, which is carried out in ARCH 7104. (Fall)
Concentration Electives
Concentration Electives are those non-studio courses that fulfill the requirement for coursework within a student’s chosen area of Concentration. Possible areas of Concentration are (1) Architectural Design, Theory, & Practice, (2) Urbanism, and (3) Architectural Technology. Three non-studio courses in the student’s chosen area of Concentration are required to complete the curriculum. (See current School of Architecture Prospectus for a complete listing of courses.) Additional urbanism concentration course are listed under the Master of Urban Design course descriptions under MUDD 6204/6205 and MUDD 6050. ARCH 6050 is a repeatable course that may be taken by graduate students in the School of Architecture and may be repeated for credit as topics change.
Architectural Electives are available in a wide variety of topical subjects, and are listed under the general course number 6050. These courses complement the core courses and studios and allow students to pursue their specific interests. Some subjects include: Computation, Theory, Representation, Making, Urbanism, Technology, Current elective offerings can be viewed on Banner or the School of Architecture Website. Recent offerings have included:
COMPUTATION AND THEORY
Digital Theory
Digital Methods I
Digital Methods II
Digital Fabrication I
Digital Fabrication II
Building Information Modeling
Modern Perception: Linear Perspective and Motional Pictures
An Architecture of Questionable Effects
Representation: Exploits of the Architectural Image
URBANISM
Introduction to Urban Design
Community Planning Workshop
Shaping the American City
Strategies for the Public Realm
Dilemmas of Modern City Planning
Post-CIAM Discourse on Urbanism
Real Estate Development Students: Introduction to Real Estate Development
Public Space in Cities
Urban Form, Context and Economics
The Changing Urban Landscape: The Development of Uptown Charlotte, 1875-Present
Planning, Law, and Urban Design
ARCHITECTURAL TECHNOLOGY
Site Sustainability and Planning
Sustainability and Climate Responsive Architecture
Building Shapes and Skins for Daylighting
Parametric Methods: Notes on Sustainable Design Decision Making
Bio-Climatology and Cross Cultural Assessments of Traditional Built Form
Architectural Luminous Environment
Sustainable Design: Ecology, Technology & Building
Trend or Truth: Sustainability in Architecture
GENERAL ARCHITECTURE ELECTIVES
Objects and Analysis
Architecture/Culture/Discourse
Methods and Meaning
Watercolor and Representation
Furniture Making
Architectural Design, Theory, & Practice
ARCH 6050. Digital Theory Architectural Elective. (3) An introduction in the fundamentals of digital design & representation techniques, within the context of theoretical works since the industrial revolution. The course will develop a set of aesthetic, performative, and method based criteria for understanding digital work. This framework will serve as a starting point for students to assess a developing set of digital design values. Architectural Electives are available in a wide variety of subjects, and are listed under the general course number 6050. Some subjects include: Computation, Theory, Representation, Making, Urbanism, Technology, Current elective offerings can be viewed on Banner or the School of Architecture Website. May be repeated for credit with change of topic.
ARCH 6050. Digital Methods 1. (3) Cross-Listed as ARCH 6306/6307. Course focusing on modeling, shading and rendering using Maya 3D software. The class will explore other relevant representation tools, and the proper methods for achieving seamless integration between such tools.
ARCH 6050. Digital Methods 2. (3) Cross-Listed as ARCH 6306/6307. This course explores the generative and parametric methods as they impact the practice of architecture. A comprehensive use of various software packages will exploit the computer’s ability to cross-reference geometric relationships, data sets, and parametric variables.
ARCH 6050. Digital Fabrication 1. (3) Cross-Listed as ARCH 6306/6307. This course employs ideas from industrial, mechanical, and technical construction as precedent for digital spaces and programs. The course will analyze contemporary projects to understand related programs, constructed spaces, and conceptual ideas. Using parametric design techniques, spaces and designs will be computer-generated using dynamic systems and modifiers.
ARCH 6050. Digital Fabrication 2. (3) Cross-Listed as ARCH 6306/6307. A continuation of “Digital Fabrication 1,” utilizing more advanced hardware and software fabrication techniques.
ARCH 6050. Modern Perception: Linear Perspective and Motion Pictures. (3) This seminar examines how techniques of spatial representation interact with architectural and urban ideas. The extent to which ideas of perception create, as opposed to reflect, cultural change is debatable. Both linear perspective and cinema are paradigms of spatial perception that coincide with broader revolutions in art and culture. These two practices will serve as case studies through which to explore the complex relationship between art, architecture, and vision.
ARCH 6050. ArtXArch: Art, Architecture and the Built Environment. (3) This course will visit and animate familiar and uncanny examples of the built environment, using as its reference the relationship between architecture’s tenets and contemporary visual artists’ motives across the fields of architecture, art, media, and politics. It examines how artists both borrow from and move beyond architecture by building an aesthetic and critical case for the necessary and culturally redemptive practice of art within architectural contexts.
ARCH 6050. An Architecture of Questionable Effects. (3) Discusses the promise and problems of architecture understood as a set of perceptual effects. This position of interpreting buildings is rooted in the discipline’s connection to the visual arts – for example: the discovery of perspective and its influence on painting, the invention of photography and the moving image, or the use of electronic media for creating aesthetic complexity in the building arts.
ARCH 6050. Representation: Exploits of the Architectural Image. (3) Offers an exploration of design themes in the two-dimensional, image-based world of the architect. It defines contemporary architectural representations and surveys ideas that center on drawing in architectural practice.
Urbanism
ARCH 6050. Introduction to Urban Design. (3) Cross-listed within MUDD 6050 Topics in Urban Design. Course covering how cities, suburbs, and metropolitan areas develop and change. Topics range from grand ideas proposed by individuals to smaller more incremental processes carried out through collaborating parties.
ARCH 6050. Community Planning Workshop. (3) Cross-listed as MUDD 5601. This course serves to acquaint students with contemporary theory and practice in planning and urban design; to give students experience in applying planning and urban design theory and methods to actual problems; to provide students with experience in compiling and analyzing community scale data, working with citizens, professional planners and designers, and elected officials, to provide students with experience in the preparation of oral reports and technical documents; and to examine what it means for the planner and urban designer to demonstrate ethical responsibility to the public interest, to clients and employers, and to colleagues and oneself.
ARCH 6050. Shaping The American City. (3) Cross-listed as MUDD 6050. Throughout the Twentieth Century urban politics, policies, and programs have shaped the space of the American City, including the architecture of urban settlement patterns, public space, transportation, and housing. An understanding of the political/social/historical/spatial foundations of urban policies in relation to the American City is critical in understanding the development of our current urban patterns, the spatial distribution of people and resources, and the future production of architecture and design in urban settings. Issues will be framed in the interstices of the space/knowledge/power triad. (On demand)
ARCH 6050. Strategies for the Public Realm. (3) Cross-listed as MUDD 6050. Contemporary theories and practices in urban design underscore the connection between the citizen and the public realm and between the physical and social attributes of the city. Urban design is not so much an aesthetic as it is a strategy for change, transformation, dialogue, and interaction. Urban design is the link between architecture and urbanism, tying together the city’s disparate parts and celebrating the complexity and connectedness of space. (On demand)
ARCH 6050. Dilemmas of Modern City Planning. (3) Cross-listed as MUDD 6050. The patterns of man’s settlement are predicated upon particular paradigms of urbanism, as well as more pragmatic concerns of politics, economics and geography. An examination of these influences and their interconnections provides the necessary theoretical and historical background from which to propose improvements to the contemporary landscapes of our cities. (Spring)
ARCH 6050. Post-CIAM Discourse on Urbanism. (3) Cross-listed with as MUDD 6204/6205 6050 and ARCH 5204/5205. This seminar examines the evolution of postwar urbanism as a particular synthesis of cultural criticism, shift of direction in practice, and various architectural experimentations. They represented innovative responses to the changed sociopolitical and cultural conditions from different perspectives. The central focus of investigation will be the essential theories of urbanism and experimental design practice from the mid 1950s to the early 1970s.
ARCH 6050. Real Estate Development Studies: Introduction to Real Estate Development. (3) Cross-listed as MUDD 6050. The production of buildings requires both architectural and economic skill. Likewise, the production of our landscape is both a private and public endeavor. To balance these skills and endeavors requires an understanding of basic facts. This course focuses on an introduction to the real estate development process. Course material, lectures and case studies focus on the identification and evaluation of critical assumptions and issues related to market and site feasibility, financial feasibility, planning, acquisition, construction, and operation of economically viable commercial real estate projects. (Fall)
ARCH 6050. Public Space in Cities. (3) Cross-listed as MUDD 6050. The public realm has historically constituted a set of real places possessing physical form and has been the setting for civic and communal life. This traditional role of public space is brought into question by the advent of cyberspace, with unknown consequences for city form. This course focuses on the origins and transformations of public space within American culture, and to understand principles of urban design as they have related to the creation of public space during different historical periods. Course material will also focus on the historical connection between the public realm and democratic principles, and the threats to the continued existence of truly public space in American cities.
ARCH 6050. Urban Form, Context and Economics. (3) Cross-listed as MUDD 6050. Urban development and redevelopment can be considered typologically in two main categories: large “catalyst” projects (performing arts centers, entertainment complexes, and other large, mixed-use projects); and smaller, incremental interventions in the urban setting that lack glamour but contribute much needed depth and complexity to the urban environment. This course focuses on how and why urban projects are formulated by public and private interests. It engages the conceptual origins, design development and production of urban projects large and small, in an effort to understand the relationship between development economics, social factors, program development, design concepts and urban contexts.
ARCH 6050. The Changing Urban Landscape: The Development of Uptown Charlotte, 1875-Present. (3) Cross-listed as MUDD 6050 and ARCH 5204/5205. The design and evolution of cities is a reflection of evolving attitudes about gender, race, crime and socioeconomic conditions as well as governmental interventions and the efforts of private enterprise. Charlotte’s Center City is a unique result of those many influences and serves as an excellent laboratory for gaining an understanding of the forces that shape the making of the places we live. Specific topics will include the development of First Ward from a public housing ghetto to a mixed income neighborhood, the demise of the Brooklyn neighborhood in Second Ward, professional sports in Uptown Charlotte, the development of Fourth Ward, the civic patron/ corporate factor, transportation in Uptown Charlotte and finally, the 2010 and 2020 plans for Uptown.
Architectural Technology
ARCH 6050. Site Sustainability and Planning. (3) Cross-Listed as ARCH 6306/6307. A project-based seminar that introduces concepts and methods for developing ecologically based site plans within the context of economic and social issues. Students work in teams to generate redevelopment plans for local sites in Charlotte, North Carolina.
ARCH 6050. Sustainability and Climate Responsive Architecture. (3) Cross-Listed as ARCH 6306/6307. Introduces the technical and practical issues of climate responsive architecture by providing an overview of passive control systems. The class provides a survey of solar, wind and other environmental opportunities as means for understanding passive techniques for building.
ARCH 6050. Building Shapes and Skins for Daylighting. (3) Cross-Listed as ARCH 6306/6307. A case study course that evaluates building form and enclosure lighting data from an existing building. Computer simulated parametric analysis are then generated to study alternative design scenarios. The course utilizes Spot and UNC Charlotte-Light simulation tools, including Eco-tech, DaySim and Radiance.
ARCH 6050. Parametric Methods: Notes on Sustainable Design Decision Making. (3) Cross-Listed as ARCH 6306/6307. A formal design decision- making process is developed in this course through the elaboration of the systemic principles that describe the role of architecture to reconcile the pertinent utilization of mechanical, electrical and material system choices. Issues of the implicit role of the architect to understand the application of appropriate building systems technology, public policy decisions and economic solutions that provide for the sustained delivery of human, environmental and physical performance are brought to bear through a variety of methods.
ARCH 6050. Bio-climatology & Cross Cultural Assessments of Traditional Built Form. (3) Cross-Listed as ARCH 6306/6307. Through this course a conceptual framework of social and technical determinism is developed from a single disciplinary point of view based on the traditions of building design science and environmental technology informed through social science theory. Topical field assessments will be developed through a research-based introduction of the Human Relations Area Files to address the cultural/societal and technical realms that describe traditional built form. The issues that have influenced and are currently impacting human settlement, building, and tectonic design are explored through the use of the Mahoney Tables to weave the relevant connections to built formal response and the interpretation of climatically responsive architectural principles of design sustainability.
ARCH 6050. Architectural Luminous Environment. (3) Cross-Listed as ARCH 6306/6307. The architectural luminous environment is introduced in this course as a continuum of technical/material innovation from 1850 to the present. Issues of daylighting and electric lighting are explored as an integrated systems approach to evaluate current sustainable design practices that relate to energy utilization and appropriate resource allocation. Case study research methods of assessment, computational analysis, physical modeling and economic evaluation will be introduced.
ARCH 6050. Sustainable Design: Ecology, Technology and Building. (3) Cross-Listed as ARCH 6306/6307. Sustainable design is the term most commonly used when describing building carried out according to sound ecological and environmental perspectives. Utilizing a lecture/seminar/case study format the course content will survey the principles of environmentally sensitive design, review case studies of "green building" applications, and explore various concepts for integrating sustainable planning and building principles into the form making process of architectural design. The process includes an analysis of bioclimatic comfort, climate responsive design, integration of passive heating and cooling systems, and the basis for specifying sustainable building materials. The intention of the course is to develop a general understanding of the fundamental principles underlying sustainable design and the impact on the building design process and built form.
ARCH 6050. Building Information Modeling (BIM). (3) Cross-Listed as ARCH 6306/6307. Course addressing issues and opportunities afforded by Building Information Modeling (BIM) programs. It includes: (1) an introduction to definitions, principles and strategies, (2) an understanding of how BIM allows an integrated design process that encourages creative and appropriate solutions, and (3) to engage BIM software use via the modeling of a building example.
ARCH 6890. Directed Independent Study. (1-3) Prerequisite: permission of the Graduate Coordinator and the graduate faculty member advising the study. This course enables directed individual study and in-depth analysis of a special area related to the interests of the student and the expertise of the advising faculty member. May count towards completion of Concentration requirements if appropriate. May be repeated for credit as topics change.
ARCH 7120. Graduate Summer International Study. (3) Cross-listed as MUDD 7120. Prerequisite: completion of first year of the MArch II Program (or equal). ARCH 7120 is an optional International Study course that MArch II students may engage in the summer prior to their final year. The premise of this course is to allow graduate students to engage a summer experience abroad to support their growing knowledge of architecture and architectural discourse. This experience is intended to inform and motivate possible interests that the students might pursue in their final year of study. (Summer)
ARCH 7950. Graduate Summer Directed Research Study. (3) Prerequisite: completion of first year of the MArch II Program (or equal). ARCH 7950 is an optional opportunity for research that MArch II students may engage in the summer prior to their final year. The premise of this course is to allow graduate students to engage research activities to support their growing knowledge of architecture and architectural discourse. This experience is intended to inform and motivate possible interests that the students might pursue in their final year of study. (Summer)
Architectural History Topics
Architectural History Topics offer a focused study of issues in specific areas of history. These courses complement the architectural history survey courses (ARCH 5201, ARCH 5202, ARCH 5303), and serve to inform and develop in-depth research, writing, and presentation skills. Entering MArch II students who have previously satisfying satisfied ARCH 5303 (in ARCH 4303, undergraduate History III at UNC Charlotte) will be required to take an Architectural History Topic to satisfy their degree requirement. -Recent History Topices have included:
Renewing the Modernist Debate: The Theory and Works of Adolf Loos
Histories of Latin American Architecture
Popular Modernism: Charlotte Architecture in the ‘50s and ‘60s
The Public Space of Cinema: Transformation of the City 1850-1940
History of the 19th & 20th Century City
Post-CIAM Discourse on Urbanism
Urban Design in Global Perspective
The Changing Urban Landscape: The Development of Uptown Charlotte, 1875-Present
Offices in the Sky: The History of the Skyscraper from 1870 to the Present
Architecture and National Identity
Layered Berlin
From Auschwitz to Zapruder: Mapping the Mid-Century
Urban Design of Capital Cities
These courses do not count towards completion of Concentration requirements unless cross-listed. (See current School of Architecture Prospectus for a complete listing of courses.)
- ARCH 5204/5205. Architectural History: Topics. (3) Architectural History: Topics are available in a wide variety of subjects, develop in-depth research, writing, and presentation skills, and are listed under the general course numbers ARCH 5204 and ARCH 5205.
Prerequisite: ARCH 5203 or permission of instructor. No Prerequisites. Study of topical areas of history and theory of architecture. These courses develop in-depth research, writing, and presentation skills.May be repeated for credit as topics vary. (Fall, Spring) ARCH 5204/5205. Renewing the Modernist Debate: The Theory and Works of Adolf Loos. (3) At the beginning of the 21st century, architecture finds itself in a state of uncertainty and change. Like 100 years before, architects are pursuing ways of reconfiguring the aesthetic, technical, and social demands of their profession in hopes of establishing legitimacy in their work. This class will investigate the buildings and ideas of the early 20th century architect, Adolf Loos (1870-1933), as a vehicle to come to grips with our own precepts about modern architectural theory and practice.
ARCH 5204/5205. Histories of Latin American Architecture. (3) Cross-listed as LTAM 6350. Surveys the ways by which Latin American architectures (both north and south of the US/Mexico border) have come to be seen within the western canon. In this sense, this course is not purely historical; rather, the class will explore Latin American architectures chronologically but from a post-colonial perspective rooted in the present.
ARCH 5204/5205. Popular Modernism: Charlotte Architecture in the ‘50s and ‘60s. (3) This course will investigate the influence of 1950s and 60s modern international architecture on Charlotte and the Piedmont region. The goals of the course are: (1) to probe deeper into why this type of architecture became popular in the region, in both its private and public iterations, and (2) to link this interest with similar developments in other American cities, and to discuss such developments within the context of international architecture of the same period.
ARCH 5204/5205 . The Public Space of Cinema: Transformation of the City 1850-1940. (3) (W) Cross-listed as ARCH 6050. Explores the effect of cinema on the physical and cultural landscape of European cities between the revolutions of 1848 and World War II. To provide a broader context, the course examines the rise and fall of the avant-garde in the European metropolis and ways in which revolutionary notions of artistic production affect the fabric of the city. Cinema is understood both as a medium through which to communicate radical architectural and urban ideas and as an architectural typology that overturns conventional notions of urban public space.
ARCH 5204/5205. City Design in the 20th CenturyHistory of the 20th Century City. (3) Cross-listed as MUDD 6215 6204. City design in the 20th century has been based on a series of intellectual ideas about what constitutes the “ideal city” on the one hand, and a series of more pragmatic notions about the construction of city space derived from political and/or economic power on the other. The legacy of these conflicting paradigms and intentions can been read in city development and in unbuilt projects across Europe and America. These buildings and projects provide signposts for future efforts of city building in the early years of the 21st century.
ARCH 5204/5205. Post-CIAM Discourse on Urbanism. (3) Cross-listed as MUDD 6215 6050 and ARCH 6050. This seminar examines the evolution of postwar urbanism as a particular synthesis of cultural criticism, shift of direction in practice, and various architectural experimentations. They represented innovative responses to the changed sociopolitical and cultural conditions from different perspectives. The central focus of investigation will be the essential theories of urbanism and experimental design practice from the mid 1950s to the early 1970s.
ARCH 5204/5205. Planning, Law and Urban Design. (3) Cross-listed as MUDD 6215 5602. Examines the impact of planning law on the urban form of cities, both historically and in terms of contemporary professional practice. Surveys the impacts of planning regulations from Philip of Spain’s “Laws of the Indies” at the beginning of American colonization through the development of English common law property rights, their extension to America and the development of zoning and planning legislation during the 20th century. Special attention is paid to current applications of form-based zoning codes in Britain and America and their implications for urban design and the patterns of settlement.
ARCH 5204/5205. Urban Design in Global Perspective. (3) Cross-listed as MUDD 6215 6050. Examines the critical discourse in modern urban design and investigates complex nature of the practice by examining precedents in modern and contemporary time. Essential theories and principles of urban design will be discussed through analyses of projects in the United States and abroad. They will expose students to a series of important issues in urban design, such as downtown revitalization, waterfront redevelopment, high density residence, remedy of edge cities, and urban park. These case studies illuminate the impact of political systems, social conditions, and local cultures on urban forms. A relationship will be established between these large-scale urban projects and the evolution of cities in since the second half of the 20th century.
ARCH 5204/5205. The Changing Urban Landscape: The Development of Uptown Charlotte, 1875-Present. (3) Cross-listed as MUDD 6215 6050 and ARCH 6050. The design and evolution of cities is a reflection of evolving attitudes about gender, race, crime and socioeconomic conditions, and governmental interventions. Charlotte's center city is a unique result of those many influences and serves as an excellent laboratory for gaining an understanding of those attitudes. Specific topics will include the development of First Ward as a mixed income neighborhood, the demise of the Brooklyn neighborhood in Second Ward, professional sports in uptown Charlotte, the development of Fourth Ward, the civic patron/ corporate factor, transportation in Uptown Charlotte and finally, the 2010 and 2020 Plans for Uptown.
ARCH 5204/5205. Offices in the Sky: The History of the Skyscraper from 1870 to the Present. (3) This seminar explores the history of the skyscraper as a unique building type in a way that moves beyond equating “building type” and “formal typology” to examine how social, cultural, political, economic, and technical issues form critical aspects of the definition of “type.” This seminar also examines the transition/translation of the skyscraper as a uniquely American building type to a global or international building type.
ARCH 5204/5205. Architecture and National Identity. (3) Explores this reciprocal relationship between national identities and the built environment through a range of different architectural and urban scales and typologies. The focus is on how political and national identities are constructed and reinforced through architectural and urban form as well as how the built environment has been shaped by those identities.
ARCH 5204/5205. Layered Berlin. (3) Explores the mutual relationship between political history, broader cultural trends, and the architecture and spaces of the city of Berlin. Through the class, students will study how in the past two centuries, Berlin has served as the capital of a rapid succession of dramatically different political entities. The course will examine the ways in which Berlin has born witness to these changes and the city’s built and cultural history has reflected and responded to each period.
ARCH 5204/5205. From Auschwitz to Zapruder: Mapping the Mid-Century. (3) Examines pivotal cultural and architectural developments within the histories of the mid-20th century. From the origins of WWII to the events of Spring 1968, the course charts both the primary political, cultural, and architectural arcs of the period, and examine architectural case studies within these broader contexts.
ARCH 5204/5205. History of Urban Form before the 20th Century History of the 19th Century City. (3) Cross-listed as MUDD 6215 6205. Provides an overview of the history of urban form, design and planning from the earliest cities through the early twentieth century. Its focus is on the key ideas, designers, planners and urban projects as well as the material, environmental, social, cultural, political, economic, religious, theoretical and other forces that have shaped urban form.
ARCH 5204/5205. Urban Design of Capital Cities. (3) Cross-listed as MUDD 6215 6050. This seminar examines the relationship between politics, changing state contexts, national identities, and the urban design of capital cities. It explores the connections between urban and national identities and between a country’s values and/or system of government and planning and urban design decisions.
General Architectural Electives
Architectural Elective courses offer study of a wide range of topical areas in architecture. Students can choose from among many courses, each of which addresses a different topic. These courses complement the core courses and studios and allow students to pursue their specific interests. These courses do not count towards completion of Concentration requirements unless cross-listed. Cross-listed courses are marked with an asterisk. (See current School of Architecture Prospectus for a complete listing of courses.)
Design Computational Courses
Research degree coursework as required for the Master of Architecture and Master of Science in Computer Science or Information Technology Dual Degree.
ARCH 5606. Scripting. (3) Teaches students how to apply scripting as one might within a professional setting: understanding discipline-specific procedures and problems, planning and developing scripts, testing, debugging, and supporting scripts within a production environment. Students gain an understanding of how scripting can support professionals in their daily work by improving productivity and enabling innovation.
ARCH 5607. Digital Fabrication. (3) An introduction to the use of parametric software and the use of digitally controlled fabrication. Emphasizes both the development of complex building components in modeling software and the construction of those components using laser cutter, CNC routers and plasma cutters, 3D printers, and other equipment. (Fall)
ARCH 5611. Research Methods I: Computational. (3) An overview of the fundamental concepts of design computation through explorations with methods such as parametric software and scripting. Students study these methods in the context of emerging areas of architectural technology research such as Building Information Modeling (BIM), digital fabrication, building performance optimization, and generative design, among others. (Fall)
ARCH 5612. Research Methods II. (3) Undertakes a historical survey of the dominant theoretical rubrics designers have used to integrate scientific concepts into architectural research since the Enlightenment. The course is divided into two parts. The first half exposes students to the range of conceptual strategies and techniques architects have used to translate scientific concepts into architectural form, from direct experimentation of structural principles to analogical and metaphorical models of procedural design strategies. The second half requires students to develop a working thesis statement of their independent research that places their work within one of the historical traditions reviewed in class.
ARCH 6050. Trend or Truth: Sustainability in Architecture. (3) This course is structured as an overview of sustainable design and how this subject is defined within the parameters of the built environment. It is designed to introduce students to a broad base of concepts, philosophies, and practices of sustainable design.
ARCH 6050. Objects and Analysis. (3) Prerequisite: ARCH 4050/6050 (Furniture Making) Furniture Making or ARCH 4050/6050 (Making Simple Tools) Making Simple Tools. This course is an examination of the identity of objects and furniture in relation to ritual and space. Through coursework students will develop a historical ground and analytical methods that will extend into the making of an object. This making will involve the exercise of fine craftsmanship in a combination of media.
ARCH 6050. Architecture/Culture/Discourse. (3) This course traces ideological movements that have informed the discipline of architecture both past and present. In this sense, this course provides a historical vantage point from which to view how theories of architecture and the city develop as inter-related ideas, practices, and traditions through the persistence of specific themes over time and space.
ARCH 6050. Methods and Meaning. (3) This course examines a range of architectural ideas with an emphasis on developments from the late 1960s to the present. Attention will be paid to the interrelation between theory and practice and how clusters of ideas formulate the discourse as trends both mainstream and marginal. Emphasis will be placed on texts and their interpretation alongside examples of work inspired by the same. This survey means to formulate a broad understanding of contemporary architectural culture.
ARCH 6050. Watercolor & Representation I. (3) The practice of watercolor can make many design notions clear for the maker as well as the observer. Introduces basic visual strategies utilizing tactics and techniques of watercolor. The class focus is on developing a practical vocabulary for skillful representation and emphasizes a working knowledge of watercolor painting and its application at all phases of design work. Students will develop skills presenting objects in space using watercolor and pencil.
ARCH 6050. Advanced Watercolor Representation. (3) This class emphasizes the development of working methods for thoughtful representation using watercolor for all phases of design work. Issues and skills addressed include analysis; representation of interior and exterior spaces and events; representation of urban context and site; and presentation of organizational strategies.
ARCH 6050. Furniture Making. (3) This is a laboratory course in the fundamentals of designing and building of furniture, primarily in wood. Included are the basics of materials selection, machine and hand tool use, joinery, and finishing. The crafting of furniture of student’s design is an integral part of the course.
ARCH 7210. Idea Seminar. (3) An introduction to the important issues that involve design within the fields of computing and architecture. Design has become increasingly important to computer scientists and at the same time computation has become important to designers. This course serves as a survey of these overlapping interests.
ARCH 7211. Studio Lab I. (4) Cross-listed as ITCS 6211 and ITIS 6211. The Studio/Lab sequence situates students with varying backgrounds in an educational environment that allows them to develop and test innovative computational design tools, applications and settings. Each semester is jointly taught by faculty from the School of Architecture and the College of Computing and Informatics, and is organized around a topic chosen by the participating faculty. Each focused topic requires expertise both in spatial design and computational design, and results in prototypes and evaluation.
ARCH 7212. Studio Lab II. (4) Cross-listed as ITCS 6212 and ITIS 6212. The Studio/Lab sequence situates students with varying backgrounds in an educational environment that allows them to develop and test innovative computational design tools, applications and settings. Each semester is jointly taught by faculty from the School of Architecture and the College of Computing and Informatics, and is organized around a topic chosen by the participating faculty. Each focused topic requires expertise both in spatial design and computational design, and results in prototypes and evaluation.
ARCH 7213. Thesis. (6) Cross-listed as ITCS 6991 and ITIS 6991. The Thesis is the culmination of the student’s work in the Dual Degree Program. It allows students to pursue focused research based upon their previous experiences and coursework. The intent is to demonstrate an understanding of an ongoing discourse, to form a clear hypothesis and to develop research methods suitable to implement and test the hypothesis.