Trouble viewing? Open in web browser.

Journalist Resources Stanford News Stanford Experts Contact Us
Stanford University homepage

News Service

November 7, 2005

Architectural design major builds excitement among 'fuzzies' and 'techies' alike

By Dawn Levy

Architecture is a discipline where the analytical "left brain" and the creative "right brain" must collaborate. Stanford now offers an undergraduate major in architectural design, hosted in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department (CEE). It merges engineering courses that teach the latest technological advances with hands-on architectural design exercises that let students spread their creative wings in a brand-new studio in the Terman Engineering Center.

"Developing both right- and left-brain activities is of inestimable value to any individual, but for future engineers or architects it will undoubtedly influence the form and structure of our built environment," said Patti J. Walters, director of the Architectural Design Program and a CEE lecturer. "The Architectural Design Program aims to foster development of a person who is highly developed in their technical capability and equally facile in a visually creative sense."

Why link art with science? "It was already happening," said Walters. "Students interested in architecture were already seeing the importance of the links." The undergraduate who signed up for a "fuzzy" design class was also signing up for a "techie" structural engineering class.

Architecture has become increasingly technical over the years, said Greg Deierlein, associate chair of CEE and director of the John A. Blume Earthquake Engineering Center. It evolved over centuries from a craft of sorts where everything could be done by one person to a discipline that choreographs a team of specialists including structural designers, information systems experts and builders of mechanical and electrical systems.

Coupling artistic and scientific literacy is nothing new for Stanford. The Architectural Design Program is modeled in part after the Product Design Program, which married art with mechanical engineering in 1958 and is now led by David Kelley, the Donald W. Whittier Professor of Mechanical Engineering.

Kelley serves on the Architectural Design Program's advisory council, which includes other prominent designers and educators in architecture and engineering: Craig Hartman (Skidmore, Owings and Merrill), Kevin Hart (Hart Architecture), Eric Elsesser (Forell/Elsesser Engineers Inc.), W. Mike Martin (Department of Architecture, University of California-Berkeley) and David Meckel (California College of the Arts).

"Combining technical excellence with visionary architectural design is our underlying rationale for merging engineering and architecture," Walters said. "Meanwhile, we are bound to expand career opportunities for our students."

The inherent synergy between civil engineering and architecture gives added vigor to the architectural design major, Deierlein said, noting the excellence of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. What's more, the Center for Integrated Facility Engineering (CIFE) teaches students virtual design of architectural and engineering construction projects while the Design and Construction Integration Program helps them appreciate and synthesize the diverse activities required for a successful building project. A lot of architecture is now done by large construction firms, and Stanford's Construction Engineering and Management Program is renowned for preparing industry leaders who implement "best practices."

Wedding engineering with art likely will spawn bold new forms, akin to architect Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain, which looks like it's melting and toppling.

Said Deierlein: "You need computer-aided tools to draw and analyze many of the new forms. There are not many right angles. The geometry is complicated, which poses many challenges in design, fabrication and construction. Information technology weighs heavily in this."

Home sweet home

Architectural studies at Stanford once had homes in the departments of Art (1950s through 1970), Civil Engineering (1970-1972) and Mechanical Engineering (1974-1977). They also lived in the Urban Studies Program for more than 20 years before making their way into the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department in time for that department's recent emphasis on environmental sustainability. Thinking critically and formally about issues that support sustainable building design is an essential focal point for civil engineering, Deierlein said.

Thirteen students are now enrolled in the Architectural Design Program, which was launched in the fall of 2004. The major confers a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering with a specialization in architectural design. An architectural design minor is available for students from departments other than CEE.

The new major provides undergraduates with all the prerequisites to pursue graduate work in architecture. "But we don't necessarily see everyone going on to graduate architecture school," Walters said, noting that students who choose to pursue a career in architecture need to complete three years of graduate study in a school of architecture.

The program's strong math and science requirements prepare undergraduates well for graduate work in other fields too, such as engineering and business. Retaining the spirit of a broad-based liberal arts education, the major is a good choice for students who want to explore a general interest in architecture while taking courses that provide technical fundamentals in building design and construction. Courses also may benefit civil engineering majors who want to develop a "concentration" in architecture.

"I am a big liberal arts advocate, so for every civil engineer to be able to take courses in literature and history is important," Deierlein said. "But I also think [the converse is true] for literature and history students. They live in a world that's full of architecture, buildings and technology. Fuzzies should also take courses that enable them to 'read' technology the way techies read great literature."

A curriculum for environmental sustainability

Curriculum in the new major clusters around three themes—sustainability, representation and process. Its key theme, sustainability, became even more relevant last December when California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order known as the Green Building Initiative to encourage energy efficiency and environmentally sustainable management of buildings. Stanford's sustainability courses address energy systems, water conservation, indoor air quality and ecologically sound building materials. For example, Sarah Billington, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, has encouraged students to explore structural and nonstructural materials made from renewable resources. And the emphasis on "green architecture" is apparent in the proposed "Green Dorm" project, which is in nascent stages but has engaged students in the building design process.

The curricular theme of representation builds the skills for students to create compelling visual presentations of their designs. Students become experienced with freehand drawing, an efficient way to share ideas, as well as with engineering drawing. They learn to build three-dimensional models—by hand as well as with computers—that allow them to rapidly evaluate the impacts of design decisions. The skills they develop help them generate a visual portfolio demonstrating the breadth of their creativity with drawings, designs, photography and more.

The third curricular theme, process, teaches the methodologies to design and construct innovative architectural forms and systems. "We investigate the thought process of a designer, the nature of their tasks, tools and methods," Walters explained. "There are various philosophies and techniques for generating and developing design ideas. There is much to be learned from investigating the work of previous designers and analyzing the basic motifs of their design concepts."

A star-studded cast of professors will teach courses in the new program. In spring 2006, Mike Martin, chair of the Architecture Department at UC-Berkeley, will guest-teach CEE 138, Design Theory and Process in Practice. Ruth Todd, associate university architect, and Catherine Blake, assistant director of campus planning and design, teach in the program. Other instructors include Brad Jacobson, who helped design the "green" building housing the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology on campus; John Barton, a Palo Alto architect who teaches fundamental design drawing courses; Glenn Katz, an architectural designer who has expertise in using computer-aided design tools; John Loomis, an architect who teaches a fundamental design course; and CIFE leaders Martin Fischer and John Kunz, renowned for modeling civil engineering projects in four dimensions (three of space and one of time) to allow visualization of construction processes. Newly hired is Assistant Professor John Haymaker, an architect with a doctorate in engineering, who in winter will teach CEE 111, 3-D Modeling Plus Analyses, a core course. In spring, he will add a new class, CEE 115, Goals and Methods for Sustainable Design of Buildings, which will prepare students to take the accreditation exam for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, a national rating system certifying buildings as "green."

In true Stanford fashion, collaborations are forming. Katz's students in CEE 132, Interplay of Architecture and Engineering, will build models to test in Assistant Professor Eduardo Miranda's earthquake simulator. Stanford alumnus Kent Mather, executive director of the Santa Clara Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, has helped establish a student chapter of the AIA at Stanford and opened an AIA scholarship to Stanford students.

The program has hosted several student events, including a talk by University Architect David Lenox, who came to Stanford in March and is planning a new architectural lecture series for the spring.

Loomis, an associate professor (consulting) in CEE and former chair of architecture at the California College of Arts and Crafts, delivered the program's first public lecture in May. His talk outlined the architectural achievements of the National Art School of Cuba, which after the revolution led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara represented an attempt to reinvent architecture, just as they hoped the revolution would reinvent society.

Altruism through architecture

This fall, thanks to funding from the dean's office in the School of Engineering, the Architectural Design Program got 700 square feet of new studio space. The studio, in Terman 101, features six computer stations, 14 modular workstations and custom storage units for student projects and studio equipment.

On Sept. 23, about 40 prospective majors met in the studio with Walters, Deierlein and CEE Chair Richard Luthy, the Silas H. Palmer Professor of Civil Engineering, to learn more about the program.

Sophomore Alex Gioe called the architectural design major "a good fit between my creative brain and my math/science brain." Undeclared sophomore Jen Tobias agreed. She aims to become an architect and felt studio classes would prepare her for a master's degree program. She loved her CEE 132 class, taught by Katz, which revealed the interplay between engineering and architecture.

When sophomore Emily Aune came to Stanford last year, she was undecided about her major. "I didn't know whether I wanted to be fuzzy or techie," she said. "I like math and product design, but building design seemed cooler and more important." She found her inspiration last spring in a popular course, CEE 130, Introduction to Architecture Studio, taught by Loomis.

Aspiring architect Lauren Schneider started off as a civil engineering major. "The tech courses were intimidating," she admitted. "The Urban Studies Program better fit my needs. But Urban Studies was too fuzzy for me. When they announced the architectural design major, it was perfect."

Schneider took a Sophomore College class, Green Buildings, taught by Gilbert Masters, an emeritus professor (teaching) of civil and environmental engineering. Field trips to explore buildings that "made economic and environmental sense" made a strong impression.

Last summer, Schneider, now an architectural design major, completed an internship with a nongovernmental organization called the Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society. Starting two days after the 2004 tsunami, the organization has been working in the Andaman Islands, 800 miles west of India, to help rebuild homes and infrastructure. Schneider took on a project to design a community center.

"It was completely my job," she said. "No one helped." She designed an open-air meeting space with a wood floor and a thatched roof. It turns out dreams come true quickly in the islands. Builders finished the community center last month.

Schneider's interest in being an agent of change is not unique. "You see an altruism among students in architectural design," Luthy said. "They want to save the world."

Editor Note:

Photos of students in the new architectural design studio and of a community center designed by a Stanford student for a tsunami-stricken village are available on the web at http://newsphotos.stanford.edu.

-30-

Contact

Dawn Levy, News Service: (650) 725-1944, dawnlevy@stanford.edu

Comment

Patti J. Walters, Civil and Environmental Engineering: (650) 736-8149, pwalters@stanford.edu

Related Information

 

Update your subscription

  • Email: news-service@stanford.edu
  • Phone: (650) 723-2558

More Stanford coverage

Facebook Twitter iTunes YouTube Futurity RSS

Journalist Resources Stanford News Stanford Experts Contact Us

© Stanford University. Stanford, California 94305. (650) 723-2300.