Regenerative Architecture Lab

The fourth semester in the studio sequence is the Integrative Design Studio in which course work focuses attention on building systems and how they inform and support architectural concepts and form. Building upon skills of analysis, design process, and conceptual thinking developed in previous semesters, this studio asks students to consider how constraints of building services, structure, program, and life safety further reinforce and motivate architectural design. In addressing sustainability goals, tectonic resolution, and building systems requirements, a fundamental pedagogical objective of this studio is to convey design intent through the act of architectural resolution. Doing so positions material and performative systems as sites of conceptual motivation from which spatial innovation may occur while developing core competencies in building integration and design synthesis.

In the Integrative Design Studio, the requirements of building systems are seen to both support and inform architectural concepts and form. One of the key design experiences during the semester is the interaction of these concepts with building systems. Questions of energy, thermal comfort, sustainability, structure, material, and life safety are being addressed and integrated.