Qualifying Design Laboratory
ARCH 1115 – ARCH 1116
I - Catalogue Description – ARCH 1115
An immersive, interactive course focused on inquiry, experimentation, discovery, and
synthesis. Employs a series of iterative drawing and modeling exercises, at a
beginnner’s level, in two and three dimensions across multiple scales. Develops selfreliance and self-critique, which opens intellectual horizons. Challenges expand and
deepen aesthetic judgment and critical understanding. Develops fundamental thinking
and making skills that advance their abilities to solve problems by exploring strategies
towards viable consequences. (1H, 6L, 3C)
ARCH 1115 restricted to students trnsferring into the School of Architecture + Design
and changing their major to architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, or
industrial design.
I - Catalogue Description – ARCH 1116
An immersive, interactive course focused on inquiry, experimentation, discovery, and
synthesis. Employs a series of iterative drawing and modeling exercises, at an
intermediate level, in two and three dimensions across multiple scales. Develops selfreliance and self-critique, which opens intellectual horizons. Challenges expand and
deepen aesthetic judgment and critical understanding. Advances foundational thinking
and making skills that develop their abilities to solve problems by exploring strategies
towards viable consequences.
ARCH 1115 restricted to students trnsferring into the School of Architecture + Design
and changing their major to architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, or
industrial design. Pre: 1115, (1H, 6L, 3C)
Course Number:
1115 – 1116
ADP TITLE:
Qualifying Design Laboratory
II - Learning Objectives - ARCH 1115
ARCH 1115 learning objectives are same as ARCH 1116; however the level of
difficulty and expectation of breadth and depth increases in the second summer
session.
Having successfully completed this course the student will be able to:
 contribute to the intellectual life of the school;
 create the necessary environment for intellectual growth;
 formulate searching questions and participate in student and school discussions;
 demonstrate the ability to sustain self-directed investigations through an ongoing
dialogue with the work;
 identify the nature of architectonic form through various means, including drawing,
sketching, modeling, photography, writing, and oration;
Approved 03.29.2013



demonstrate an attention to detail and precision, using various materials, methods,
and tools;
identify relationships that the design disciplines share with other arts and sciences;
and
relate design to cultural values, scientific innovations, and contemporary
technological developments.
II - Learning Objectives - ARCH 1116
Having successfully completed this course the student will be able to:
 contribute to the intellectual life of the school;
 create the necessary environment for intellectual growth;
 formulate searching questions and participate in student and school discussions;
 demonstrate the ability to sustain self-directed investigations through an ongoing
dialogue with the work;
 identify the nature of architectonic form through various means, including drawing,
sketching, modeling, photography, writing, and oration;
 demonstrate an attention to detail and precision, using various materials, methods,
and tools;
 identify relationships that the design disciplines share with other arts and sciences;
and
 relate design to cultural values, scientific innovations, and contemporary
technological developments.
III – Justification
This two-summer-session-course-sequence provides a compreshensive overview of
basic design concepts, as well as the means to systematically explore those ideas
through visual, physical, and verbal modes of communication. ARCH 1115 teaches
foundational course content at the basic level and therefore is a prerequesite for ARCH
1116, which has more advanced foundtaional course content. Both are a prerequisite
for transferring into the School of Architecture + Design, and changing a student’s
major to architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, or industrial design.
IV – Prerequisites and Co-requisites
ARCH 1115 is a prerequesite for ARCH 1116. ARCH 1115 is introductory level; ARCH
1116 intermediate level.
Approved 03.29.2013
V – Texts and Special Teaching Aids
Required Texts:
No suitable single textbook exists for a course of this type. Readings will be assigned
from books, professional journals, essays, published papers, and monographs as
deemed necessary by the faculty.
Recommended Texts:
 Albers, Josef, INTERACTION OF COLOR. Revised Edition, New Haven, Yale
University Press, 1975.
 Eames, Charles and Ray, and Morrison, Philip and Phyllis, POWERS OF TEN:
About Relative Size of Things in the Universe. Revised Edition, New York,
Scientific American Books, 1982.
 Klee, Paul, PEDAGOGICAL SKETCHBOOK. London, Faber & Faber, 1968.
 Massimo Vignelli, THE VIGNELLI CANON. Baden, Switzerland, Lars Muller
Publishers and the author, 2010.
Resources:
 Images, films, videos, DVD’s, and drawings from the Art & Architecture Library, and
from individual faculty collections;
 Support facilities within the School including pottery, screen-printing, and
printmaking studios, FAB LAB, loom-weaving, and photo print rooms;
 Digital output room equipped with scanners, printers, and plotters for the production
of graphics;
 Equipment for short-term loan to facilitate documentation of work and presentations,
including digital cameras, monitors, and projectors;
 Wood and metal shops, including rapid prototyping technology supervised by
technicians; and
 Exhibition space in Cowgill Hall lobby.
VI – Syllabus - ARCH 1115
ARCH 1115 syllabus is same as 1116; however the metric for evaluation of student
performance increases for ARCH 1116.
1. FUNDAMENTAL DESIGN CONCEPTS
 Exercises in relationships of parts to whole and
ordering systems, relationships between elements in
space, understanding of scale, color, and proportion.
(10%)
 Exercises focused on enhancing visual sensitivity
and perceptual skills. (10%)
 Exercises in drawing, sketching, modeling,
photography, writing, and oration. (10%)
Percent of Course
40%
Approved 03.29.2013

Experiments with materials, traditional tools and
emerging technologies with attention to detail and
precision. (10%)
2. DESIGN PROCESS
 Setting limits. Defining the range and scope of
investigations. (10%)
 Assertion of interest. (10%)
 Self-motivated and self-directed investigations.
(10%)
 Self and peer assessment. (10%)
40%
3. DIALOGUE AND DISCUSSION
 Participation in design lab and school discussions.
(20%)
20%
____
100%
VI – Syllabus - ARCH 1116
1. FUNDAMENTAL DESIGN CONCEPTS
 Exercises in relationships of parts to whole and
ordering systems, relationships between elements in
space, understanding of scale, color, and proportion.
(10%)
 Exercises focused on enhancing visual sensitivity
and perceptual skills. (10%)
 Exercises in drawing, sketching, modeling,
photography, writing, and oration. (10%)
 Experiments with materials, traditional tools and
emerging technologies with attention to detail and
precision. (10%)
Percent of Course
40%
2. DESIGN PROCESS
 Setting limits. Defining the range and scope of
investigations. (10%)
 Assertion of interest. (10%)
 Self-motivated and self-directed investigations.
(10%)
 Self and peer assessment. (10%)
40%
3. DIALOGUE AND DISCUSSION
 Participation in design lab and school discussions.
(20%)
20%
____
100%
Approved 03.29.2013