IAD Program of Study

This course is an introduction to composition and color theory. Students will learn and apply the elements and principles of art and design in a variety of assignments through a variety of traditional and digital tools and media. All assignments will focus on how ideation techniques are fundamental to creative problem solving. Students will gain a clear understanding of how 2D elements and compositional theory are employed to create clear and effective visual communication, aid personal expression, and help comprise a personal aesthetic. Students will learn to identify how 2D fundamentals are employed in contemporary, professional, and historical work.

In Digital 2D, students are introduced to image/content creation, manipulation, editing, and management through Adobe Suite programs. Students will learn proper file management and workflow techniques, along with proper digital documentation and presentation of work. Students will also employ digital terminology across a wide range of disciplines and practices while also recognizing the cultural implications of digital creation, appropriation, and distribution. By the end of the course, students will have built a solid foundation of digital knowledge and skills that will benefit them as visual creators and communicators.

Introduction to Advanced Study offers a unique and broad-based exposure in advanced-level art and design disciplines offered at MIAD. The philosophy behind Introduction to Advanced Study is to invite students to explore problem solving and ways of working within the majors. Students will be actively engaged in making as a mode of inquiry and will gain experience in both the conceptual basis for the disciplines as well as the practical processes of the disciplines studied. Faculty will offer a variety of course structures and themes.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): FYE100, FYE110 & FYE130

Research, Process and Connection is a theme-based introductory course in which students conduct research and engage in a creative process that leads to a body of visual work. Each section of RPC is devoted to a particular idea, process, or approach. Students will develop concepts, translate ideas, and apply methods as they make their work. Students will explore their work and thinking within a historical, cultural, and personal context. This will be reinforced through critical dialogue during stages of ideation, production, completion, and evaluation.
At the end of the semester, students are required to present their final research in a digital presentation. These presentations should demonstrate visual evidence of work completed throughout the semester as well as the ability to analyze their progress and learning in a public format.

IA+D Design I: Residential Design is the first design studio in the six semester design studio sequence within the IA+D Area. This course addresses the most fundamental and therefore most significant building type: the home. And while at first pass, the course might appear to be only about residential design, the student will be asked to consider the proposition put forth by Gaston Bachelard, in his the Poetics of Space, that “all really inhabited space bears within it the essence of the notion of home.” Because our ability to inhabit the world can be looked upon as an extension of our capacity to inhabit the home, in considering Bachelard’s proposition this course thereby establishes a foundation for all subsequent design studios.

This course will introduce and endeavor to address a wide variety of subject areas that are germane to the study of architecture + interior design. We will begin by identifying a series of underlying assumption that serve as a point of departure for this and other sophomore level IA+D courses. These assumptions are:
1. that “design” in general, including for our purposes architecture, interior architecture, and interior design, are as fundamental to our world (perhaps even more so) as “art”;
2. that the process and products of design and art share much in common;
3. that understood properly, design is simply another name for “forethought” – that is, thinking ahead;
4. that all incoming students already possesses a lifetime’s worth of experience upon which to draw and build;
and
5. that the visual language of design often reveals its meaning to us directly and immediately.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): F113/F115

IA+D Drawing I is an in‐depth exploration into two and three dimensional architectural representation. This course seeks to teach aspiring architectural designers how to create compelling imagery through the use of hand sketching, drafting, diagramming and digital modeling. This course will serve as a comprehensive introduction into the broad range of drawing types that have been traditionally employed by architectural designers.
Students will learn to represent the mind’s eye through traditional orthographic drawings and hand drafting techniques. Throughout the semester, students will gain an understanding of the role both hand drafting and digital drawing plays in the profession of architecture and design. By the end of the semester, students will be proficient in concept development, traditional hand drafting, SketchUp’s digital modeling capabilities, and in creating and giving a project presentation both tangibly and digitally.

IA+D Drawing I will give students a rich palette of representational possibilities, techniques, means and methods to facilitate meaningful architectural design and creative self-expression.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): F113/F115

IA+D Systems I: Concepts of Design initiates the content driven systems sequence within the curriculum of the Interior Architecture and Design Program. The systems sequence is designed to introduce and deliver critical content to IA+D students – through application in the design studio sequence. In time, this content will help to give form to the designs that are conceived and developed by the students.

The course will serve as both an introduction to and a broad survey of the four interrelated and interconnected industries: architecture, interior design, furniture design, and building construction that combine to give form to the discipline of ‘interior architecture’. In this way this course will serve to acclimate the incoming student to the world of built form by introducing a range of issues that draw a direct between the user and the designed object. are fundamental to an understanding on the industry. In the process, the course will also serve to assign meaning and seek to give voice to each incoming student’s life experiences as these relate to the inhabitation of built form.

Credits: 1.5
Prerequisite(s): F113/F115

A studio elective is any studio course (art or design major course) within MIAD’s entire Program of Study, as long as it not a requirement of the student’s major, and as long as the student meets the prerequisite(s). In addition to required courses from all eleven majors, each semester MIAD offers various special electives with a range of topics.

IA+D Design II: Work Space / Office Design is the second design studio in the six semester design studio sequence within the IA+D Area. This course will address a variety of different work settings and work environments at varying scales of focus and development. Whenever possible the students will undertake a small scale ‘real’ project, that is a project that has a potential to be built.

This course will introduce and endeavor to address a wide variety of subject areas that are germane to the study of architecture + interior design. We will begin by identifying a series of underlying assumption that serve as a point of departure for this and other sophomore level IA+D courses. These assumptions are:
1. that “design”, including architecture, interior architecture, and interior design, are as fundamental to
our world as “art”;
2. that the process and products of design and art share much in common;
3. that understood properly, design is simply another name for “forethought” – that is, thinking ahead;
4. that all incoming students already possesses a lifetime’s worth of experience upon which to draw and
build; and
5. that the visual language of design often reveals its meaning to us directly and immediately.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): IAD220

This course is a follow-up to the Interior Architecture and Design Computer Drawing I course. Students will further develop their understanding and ability relative to the programs introduced in the earlier course and at the same time gain familiarity with additional programs.

The Computer Drawing II course will explore the use of the computer as a tool in producing a set of contract documents. Students will be asked to produce a built drawing of an existing building, and to assemble a set of contract documents of a design. We will build off of digital modeling techniques using SketchUp and introduce rendering and composite image-making using digital and analog media including Photoshop, Illustrator and Kerkythea among others.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): IAD222

This course has two simultaneous and congruent goals:
1. To study the relationship of color and materials on the interior environment &
2. Learn how to investigate and procure physical materials and samples & keep them organized and
accessible as well as develop relationships in the field.

Credits: 1.5
Prerequisite(s): IAD224

A studio elective is any studio course (art or design major course) within MIAD’s entire Program of Study, as long as it not a requirement of the student’s major, and as long as the student meets the prerequisite(s). In addition to required courses from all eleven majors, each semester MIAD offers various special electives with a range of topics.

Primarily an object-driven course, History of Modern and Contemporary Art provides and in-depth study of modern and contemporary art makers and movements in the context of the critical, cultural and social issues surrounding them. Through intensive reading, writing, research, and oral assignments, students have the opportunity to study key figures, movements and theories. The course begins with a review of major trends in art since the end of the 19th century and follows with a closer examination of art from the 1960s through the present day.

In ARTH212 students will have the opportunity to examine the major aesthetic, philosophical, cultural and critical movements of the recent past and study closely the work of important figures in modern and contemporary art. The course begins with a review of later 19th century art and early 20th century European art and culture as an introduction to American art of the 1960s and 70s; the second half of the course centers on contemporary art from an international perspective. An important aspect of the course is the emerging importance of criticism and critical theory. Students will examine closely major critical and theoretical texts of this period.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): ARTH151 or equivalent

Critical and Creative Forms is an intermediate-level writing course that focuses on writing as a creative and critical form. Students will explore the formal qualities of a variety of “texts,” including visual and online texts, and expand their experience of writing analytically and creatively. It is an intensification of the processes introduced in WRTG120 with further emphasis on visual as well as verbal rhetorics and critical thinking.

In WRTG200, students will develop their ability to read and assess communication in various forms and genres, to write analytical and critical essays, to perform increasingly sophisticated research, and to experiment with communicative form themselves. WRTG200 focuses on the theme of “environments,” examining the idea or condition of “environment” through a variety of possible progressive lenses, including ecological, natural, cultural, sacred or built environments.

WRTG200 emphasizes writing-in-process and students are challenged to take progressively more individual responsibility for all phases of the process, from journaling to the composing of final manuscripts. Students will be expected to identify, research and articulate points of view with increasing sophistication and ease in order to engage in critical conversations. Students participate in writing workshops, writing groups, small group discussions and collaborative writing as well as complete individual writing assignments. Throughout, students will be required to demonstrate evolving critical judgment and self- reflection. Self-directed research and working proficiently with primary and secondary sources is also emphasized through assignments highlighting the research process and the creation of an annotated bibliography.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): WRTG120 or WRTG111

The Introduction to Natural Sciences is based upon first hand investigations and discoveries in the field of Natural Sciences. In this course students will deepen their understanding of the nature of the scientific method, its theoretical challenges, and pursue a series of empirical applications in the lab and in the field. This practical knowledge will be broadened through intensive reading, discussions, critiques, and oral assignments. This is an intensive, practical approach that uses the scientific method as a tool for investigation, problem solving and critical thinking. This course is challenging and demanding, but rewarding. Excellence in analytical and critical thinking skills are of utmost importance.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): none

IAD III: Retail/Exhibit Design will serve as an introduction to design within the scope of commercial-retail space and showroom planning. Students will study and learn from published materials and visits to local examples of the particular type of project that they will be called upon to design. The course is designed to build your knowledge of retail design through projects that embrace unique and different strategies for approaching design within a consumer-based business. To the extent possible, we will establish and work within a specified set of circumstances. You will be dealing with learning about real world conditions directly through discussions with your instructors as well as others who routinely confront such issues. The projects, themselves, may not all have the potential to be built but the location of the projects, the clients, or the clientele will all be as real as circumstances permit.

In recent years junior level IA+D students enrolled in this course have undertaken sponsored projects with external clients such as the Harley-Davidson Motor Company and Kohler Company. These relationships have been instrumental in our ability to place graduating students in design positions at these companies. This semester we are in the process of once again exploring relationships with both Harley-Davidson and Interior Systems Incorporated to undertake sponsored projects. Additional information regarding the specifics of these projects will be forthcoming.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): IAD221

This course serves as a follow-up to the earlier Interior Architecture and Design Computer Drawing courses. Students are asked to further develop their understanding and ability relative to the programs introduced in earlier courses and, at the same time, to develop proficiency in newly introduced software and modeling, rendering, and post-production techniques. Predominantly, this course seeks to provide students with the necessary skill set to work in a professional design firm in a digital manner.

This course will explore the use of the computer as a tool in producing high-quality presentation materials, including floor plans, elevations, 3D models, and Renderings. This course will focus on learning three dimensional drawing, by studying both traditional and digital illustration techniques, using computer software, hand drawings, and other tools. Students will become proficient in modeling and rendering techniques using the following programs: Google Sketchup, Autodesk Revit, and Autocad. In addition, students will interface with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, for support and conversion purposes. An important aspect of this class is the one-on-one instruction to be given to students as they continue to develop computer modeling and design skills.

This course is organized into two parts. In the first part (Weeks 1-7) we will review Google Sketchup modeling techniques and introduce Autodesk Revit. This includes Revit interfaces, walls, components, 3D views and cameras, sheets, lighting and renderings. The second and final phase (Weeks 7-15) will emphasize more advanced Revit techniques, Photoshop post production and file transfer between programs. This includes but is not limited to shared files, links, existing materials, entourage, textures and file output.

Credits: 1.5
Prerequisite(s): IAD223

This course introduces students to architectural lighting. A practical guide through the basics of lighting language including the what’s, why’s, how’s, of lighting techniques, terms and definitions, illustration, inspiration, physiology, health, luminaire performance, selection and specification gives students the basis of correct thinking about lighting and how it plays an essential role in the development of technical communication of ideas in architecture at a professional level.

This course will explore the students to every classical lighting technique and enable them to become keen critics of lighting in existing spaces with a knowledge of language descriptors enabling them to correctly identify the good, bad, and ugly and misuse of lighting and lighting technology in architectural spaces. The ability to be an effective critic using language prepares students for an eventual “seat at the table” allowing them to progress professionally much faster than those without the ability to communicate lighting ideas as a design team collaborator.

Credits: 1.5
Prerequisite(s): IAD225

A studio elective is any studio course (art or design major course) within MIAD’s entire Program of Study, as long as it not a requirement of the student’s major, and as long as the student meets the prerequisite(s). In addition to required courses from all eleven majors, each semester MIAD offers various special electives with a range of topics.

Architecture History & Analysis is a course where students learn about architecture and interior design through extended site visits to iconic local and regional buildings. Field work includes lessons in how to see, measure, draw and diagram architectural spaces at a variety of scales while learning about materials, construction methods and architectural history.

This hands-on course will introduce students to the fundamentals of architecture and interior design through direct personal experience, on-site dialogue and careful observation. Each week students will visit iconic buildings and interiors in and around Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin where they will document key spaces through measured drawings and diagrams. They will learn the fundamentals of architectural terminology and interior design principles by directly experiencing, analyzing, interpreting and recording significant spaces, features, components, materials, systems and contexts. The analytical tools, diagramming skills and spatial understanding acquired in this course will directly benefit the students’ ability to conceptualize and develop more complex programs and unique structures during senior thesis the following year. While it’s primarily a course about field work and coming into contact with real materials and structures, it is also an introduction to the history and theory of American architecture from the 17th century to the present, and therefore, a good compliment to Built America and other MIAD art and architectural history courses.

Credits:
Prerequisite(s): IAD227

The Collaborative Design-Build Studio is a comprehensive interior design studio in which students are granted the opportunity to work on a community-based project with local design professionals under the guidance and direction of IA+D faculty. The students work alongside practicing designers through all phases of the design process, schematic to construction documents, and then a group of select students are offered internships during the summer to participate in bidding and construction observation. IA+D faculty take on the role of facilitators ensuring that effective communication takes place between the team of design professionals and the team of student designers, and also providing the students with readings and exercises to guide them through the design process. Further, the design-build framework creates an opportunity for the students to learn about basic construction methods and to review code compliance and ADA requirements with the professional team. This comprehensive, real-world scenario prepares the Junior IA+D student for the challenges of summer internships/employment and the interdisciplinary nature of professional practice.

This course serves as a follow-up to the Interior Architecture and Design Computer Drawing III course. Students will be instructed in the use of Autodesk 3dsmax Design for computer based rendering in both Architecture and Interior Design projects.

The course will explore the use of the computer as a tool in producing high-quality 3D models and renderings of building projects. Students will be asked to produce three dimensional computer models and images. This course will focus on learning three dimensional modeling and illustration techniques, using Autodesk 3DSMAX software and other tools. Daily lectures and labs will work in conjunction with lab assignments and reading assignments each week. Students will also interface with Revit, AutoCAD, SketchUp, 3DSMAX, and Photoshop for support and conversion purposes.

This course is organized into three parts. In the first part (Weeks 1 – 4) will introduce the interface and tools. The second phase (Weeks 5 – 9) will cover rendering techniques using lighting and textures. The third phase (Weeks 10 – 16) will include advanced rendering, and the development and production of the final class project.

Credits: 1.5
Prerequisite(s): IAD322

Wall Types and Building Systems introduces students to the standard components, materials and wall types of architecture and interior design. Students investigate a range of building systems including various foundation types, floor systems, interior and exterior wall types, roof systems and basic mechanical and electrical systems. As part of their course assignments, they analyze existing architectural details, create diagrams and draw examples on site, thereby learning about methods of construction and how chosen details relate to larger systems within the given building. Students then use this knowledge to design and detail architectural components of their own making, that are related to projects they have designed in the IA+D studio courses.

A studio elective is any studio course (art or design major course) within MIAD’s entire Program of Study, as long as it not a requirement of the student’s major, and as long as the student meets the prerequisite(s). In addition to required courses from all eleven majors, each semester MIAD offers various special electives with a range of topics.

Contemporary History and Theory looks behind the curtain of professional design practice. During field trips to local design firms, and in dialogue with select architects and designers, the students investigate how creative firms do their work today, what methods drive their design processes, what concepts and themes are revealed by their architectural works and interior designs, and how those concepts and themes reflect broader cultural conditions. Select readings and lectures are accompanied by fieldtrips to iconic local buildings of the 20th and 21st century located in the Milwaukee and Chicago areas. Special attention is given to the dialectical pairs operative within much of the discourse of 20th century architecture and interior design: for example, Neo-Classical vs. International Style; Machine Age vs. Organic; Modern vs. Post-Modern. Discussion groups analyze these “isms” of design history, and relate them to themes, “styles” and methodologies within current professional practice.

The course will include targeted research into the contemporary issues that are especially relevant to the selection of a senior thesis topic and that provide a solid foundation for thesis research and analysis.

In The Creative Professional in Context, students explore the process of constructing a professional, public identity through written and verbal communication about their work in Fine Art and/or Design. They refine their skills in writing, speaking, and listening, and use writing as a means to examine the conceptual, critical, philosophical, and historical foundations of their emerging creative work within the broader contexts of their chosen fields and of visual culture broadly conceived.

In this course students learn to use writing as a means of effectively communicating ideas and information about their emerging professional identities. To these ends, students will write, edit and revise often; engage in self-directed research; analyze different rhetorical situations within the professional sphere; and refine their professional selves through both oral and written assignments. Instructors in WRTG300 employ frequent use of writing workshops and writing groups as well as individual writing assignments. Because the course is conducted in seminar fashion, students are expected to assume considerable responsibility for course materials and processes.

WRTG300 emphasizes the composition of polished, substantive written work, including description of studio work and processes, critical analysis of art/design texts, reflective writing, and communication with colleagues and peers. Assignments foster the development of a professional identity by engaging students in critical reading and discussion of key texts in visual culture and their major field, and identifying personal, cultural, and professional influences and connections that impact the student’s work. The course work will culminate in the creation of a substantive document representing a professional self, conceived in relation to these critical contexts.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): WRTG200

Service Learning is an interdisciplinary course with a service-learning component and is designed as the synthesis of a student’s four-year humanities and social science experience. In HUMT380 students will study a topic in-depth (i.e., cities, families, borders, aging, food) and be presented with many opportunities for interdisciplinary investigation. Through intensive reading, writing, research and oral assignments, students will analyze an issue in order to evaluate how social groups function and work towards resolution. Topics will be dealt with through scholarly and community investigations that may include sociology, psychology, anthropology, economics, political science, and history.

In HUMT380 students will have the opportunity to examine a social issue in depth, from a variety of perspectives. The coursework will focus on the historical and philosophical background of a given topic, as well as helping students to learn how to assess a variety of approaches to social systems through an examination of the nature of service in the community.

In the study of the social sciences, we examine patterns in our personal lives, the communities we live in, and a larger global context in order to see how they are connected. Through the in-depth study of a particular topic (i.e., food, cities, family, rivers, borders, aging), students will be able to analyze an issue in order to evaluate how social groups understand and work towards resolution. HUMT380 includes a service- learning component that is connected to the topic being studied. This will take place in the larger community, and it will allow students to examine the information they are learning through thinking and acting in a multicultural context.

Credits: 3
Prerequisite(s): HS121 and WRTG200 + Junior Standing

IA+D Thesis is a design-intensive course of study with an emphasis on research, personal inquiry and creative expression. The course permits each student to choose a specific topic or building type based on their personal area of interest. The objective is to define and elaborate on a specific problem or concept within that area of interest by developing a series of drawings, diagrams, models and computer renderings which ultimately manifest a clear design solution or part. This process is by nature rigorous and demanding with significant episodes of self-discovery. The resulting work, and the Spring Gallery Night Exhibition, are intended to serve as the artistic culmination of the graduating senior’s three year Interior Architecture and Design experience.

The IA+D Green Studio is a real world, client sponsored project executed as a team with outside professionals and consultants. The objective of the green studio is to design, document and present a community-based project. As such, students are expected to maintain a high level of engagement, team integrity and professionalism. The course focuses on green design, and therefore emphasizes collaboration over individual expression, constructive dialogue with the client/community over personal inspiration, and the “Three E’s” of Ecology, Efficiency and social Equity over personal expression and/or ambition.

Ultimately, these two working methods, personal expression and team collaboration, are designed to co- exist and interrelate providing the student with a strong foundation for long-term personal development and a real world introduction to professional practice.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): IAD321

Advanced 3D Rendering serves as a follow-up to the earlier Interior Architecture and Design Computer Drawing courses. Students are asked to further develop their understanding and ability relative to the programs introduced in earlier courses and, at the same time, to develop proficiency in newly introduced software and modeling, rendering, and post-production techniques – all in support of their senior year thesis presentations.

This course will explore the use of the computer as a tool in producing high-quality presentation materials, including hand drawings, 3D models, and Renderings. This course will focus on learning three dimensional drawing, by studying both traditional and digital illustration techniques, using computer software, hand drawings, and other tools. Students will become proficient in modeling and rendering techniques using the following programs: Google Sketchup, Autodesk Revit, and Rhinoceros. In addition, students will interface with Adobe Photoshop, AutoCad, and Adobe Illustrator, for support and conversion purposes. An important aspect of this class is the one-on-one instruction to be given to students as they continue to develop their thesis work and presentations – this allows learning to be focused on the individual’s needs.

Credits: 1.5
Prerequisite(s): IAD323

Codes and Contexts within the Built Environment is a senior level course in the IA+D Systems Sequence. This course is an independent, content driven course that serves as a supplement to the IA+D Senior Thesis. The senior IA+D student’s independently selected Senior Thesis will serve as a vehicle for many of the exercises assigned for this course. Primary areas of inquiry will include:

– review and application of building codes,and
– study and analysis of both the natural as well as the built context.

Codes and Contexts within the Built Environment will introduce the student to both the legal context (codes) and the physical context (both natural as well as built) within which architecture and interior design must develop. The legal context is described in part through restrictive building codes and zoning ordinances that address life safety and quality of life issues. The physical context for an architectural or interior design project addresses both environmental as well as cultural forces affecting the design. The legal, environmental, and cultural forces at play in any design scenario, while clearly limiting one’s design response, also serve to liberate a designer’s thinking by serving to provide a clear design direction.

Credits: 1.5
Prerequisite(s): IAD325

The IA+D Green Studio focuses on how to respond as a team to the real-world demands, requirements and contingencies of a client-sponsored, environmentally responsible project. The course methodology emphasizes the use of green materials and technologies from the start, requiring that students employ “whole systems thinking” and “design for climate” with appropriate solar orientation, passive energy strategies, natural ventilation, non-toxic materials, efficient fixtures and other green techniques in mind. While aesthetics are important, program development, spatial organization, construction methods, efficient energy systems and building envelope performance are the foremost emphasis of this studio. Understanding LEED guidelines, the Living Building Challenge and other green building standards is an integral part of the process.

The Interior Architecture and Design Thesis Presentation provides the student with an opportunity to develop, in final model and drawing form as well as full-scale mockups, the design of the public exhibition and presentation of his/her thesis project.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): IAD420

Architectural Graphics and E-Portfolio gives each student the opportunity to assemble his/her best work from school and professional practice into a compact, presentable format for review by prospective employers or graduate school admission committees.

The Interior Architecture and Design program requires graduating seniors to compile a comprehensive portfolio to serve as a record of their experience from the time that they enter into the IA+D Area, including appropriate documentation of their coursework at MIAD as well as work done in internship and other professionally-related experiences. This document will serve as a record of the student’s experiences, as evidence of understanding gained and ability displayed, and as such, as the most important tool in that student’s effort to attract the best possible position in a design office or entry into a graduate school of their choosing upon graduation from MIAD.

In addition, students will work with the software of their choosing to produce high-quality renderings for the Senior Thesis Show in April. This portion of the course is largely self-directed; each student is responsible for determining the best approach to rendering based on his or her individual project. Because each student’s project presents unique modeling and rendering challenges, students are responsible for coming to class ready to meet individually to discuss their progress as well as specific questions or issues regarding their project.

Credits: 1.5
Prerequisite(s): IAD422

Structures, Acoustics and Building Systems introduces students to the relationship between structure, sound, materiality and building systems. In the first half of the course, students learn how to draw structural axonometric diagrams, thereby examining the basic components of various structural systems. Readings and discussion topics include: soils; footings and foundations; building types and construction materials; live and dead loads; lateral forces; trusses and roof membranes; and connections/joints. Mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems are also reviewed, and students explore their interrelationship with building structure and interior design components. In the second half of the course, students examine basic acoustical concepts. Lectures highlight issues of sound isolation vs. sound transmission; analysis of various room shapes; appropriate application of wall types, interior cladding materials and ceiling treatments, among other topics. The main goal of the course is to help students become aware of the issues that architects and interior designers face when communicating their design intent with structural engineers, sound consultants and MEP contractors.

Details and Working Drawings has two interrelated goals: 1) an introduction to the standard construction document process and its graphic methods; and 2) an in-depth investigation of green design details and construction techniques as seen through the lens of the USGBC’s LEED rating system. Students learn the basic order, logic, graphic conventions and terminology that comprise a typical construction document set. They visit local buildings, examine different types of drawings related to different parts of the building and learn the conventions used by various teams (civil and structural engineers, MEP, landscape, etc.) involved in producing the typical drawing set. The process of LEED certification is used to build the students knowledge of sustainable site planning, green materials and construction techniques, energy efficient building systems and water use. Students learn how to draw various sections through the building envelope, how to design appropriate interior details, and how to navigate the basic LEED certification process.

Senior Writing Seminar is an intensive capstone writing course run as a seminar examining the making of meaning through narrative; specifically, exploring forms of Life Writing. Students will study the various forms of “life writing” including: autobiography, memoir, new journalism and creative nonfiction. Through weekly written explorations, students will explore and practice the different forms that the genre of “life writing” may take. Within the context of a growing public popularity of autobiographical writing and memoirs, students will explore possible social, political and rhetorical purposes for writing from life and will compose a final, capstone life writing project individually as means for practicing this form of writing.

WR 400 is a capstone writing course that introduces students to emerging hybrid and intermodal forms of personal writing and causes them to analyze the contexts within which it is occurring. Through formal and informal written exercises, students will explore the capacity of language to help shape and give meaning and form to personal experiences, influences, individuals, achievements or landscapes. This writing should provide a reflective springboard for looking backward or for facing the future and determining larger contexts and meanings for experiences. It should also cause students to continue to develop more sophisticated skills as writers.

The nature and form of the writing that students produce will be various –individual writers will complete intensely reflective responses to readings and to one another’s writing. In an effort to identify past memories and influences, material choices and intentions, important events and people, composing short and long pieces about those issues and individuals.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): WRTG300 & Senior standing

ARTH318 provides students the opportunity to give in-depth focus to a wide range of elective topics in Art History. Experience in the disciplines is broadened through intensive reading, writing, research and oral assignments. Among the topics which students may choose to study are courses such as: 19th Century American Masters; Early Chinese Art; Women, Art, and Society; The Bauhaus; The History of Industrial Design; and others.

ARTH318 is an advanced-level elective course in Art History. In ARTH318 students will undertake an in-depth and systematic investigation of one area of study in Art History. This topic may focus on the art of a geographic area or culture, a particular movement in the history of art, or on the life and work of one artist or group of artists. In each case, the course of study will include an extensive analysis of individual works of art, the cultures from which these emerged, and the critical discourse that helps us understand this art more clearly.

As an advanced-level course, ARTH318 is designed with the understanding that the coursework will feature interpretation, analysis and critical method rather than the mere assimilation and recall of factual material. Students will be presented with readings and lecture material from a variety of sources – and from a range of historic and critical literature on the topic under consideration. Each student will be expected to engage actively with course materials and methods.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): WRTG200 and ARTH212/213 or its equivalences

Topic in Cultural Studies offers students a range of topics in the interdisciplinary study of cultural phenomena in various societies. Courses may draw on or combine the methods and perspectives of an array of disciplines, including literary theory, media theory, film/video studies, cultural anthropology, history, philosophy, political economy, communication, sociology, social theory, psychology, museum studies, art history, and the history, philosophy or sociology of science. Experience in the topic is broadened through intensive reading, writing, research and oral assignments. As an advanced-level course, HUMT360 is designed with the understanding that the coursework will feature interpretation, analysis, and critical method rather than mere assimilation and recall of factual material. Each student will be expected to engage actively with course materials and methods and contribute regularly to class discussions and/or oral collaborative efforts—such as focus groups and panel discussions—that relate to course material.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): HUMT121 and WRTG200

Topic in Cultural Studies offers students a range of topics in the interdisciplinary study of cultural phenomena in various societies. Courses may draw on or combine the methods and perspectives of an array of disciplines, including literary theory, media theory, film/video studies, cultural anthropology, history, philosophy, political economy, communication, sociology, social theory, psychology, museum studies, art history, and the history, philosophy or sociology of science. Experience in the topic is broadened through intensive reading, writing, research and oral assignments. As an advanced-level course, HUMT360 is designed with the understanding that the coursework will feature interpretation, analysis, and critical method rather than mere assimilation and recall of factual material. Each student will be expected to engage actively with course materials and methods and contribute regularly to class discussions and/or oral collaborative efforts—such as focus groups and panel discussions—that relate to course material.

Credits: 3.0
Prerequisite(s): HUMT121 and WRTG200