Course Reflection

I found this course to be an important step in my development as an architecture student. Up to this point, my vocabulary has been very limited, making conversation during studio desk critiques difficult. As I have learned new terms and their application, my critiques have been much more rich. My design has also benefited from being exposed to the wide variety of structural forms and their behavior.

In looking at historic structures, I have been able to further defend my design choices. I struggled with choosing an appropriate material for my final project and was going back and forth between a concrete frame and a steel framing system, clad in brick. The overall concept of my design hinged on a light, unobtrusive system so that the public areas walled in glass could appear as transparent as possible in contrast with a heavy material for private spaces. The steel frame allowed this happen much more gracefully than a concrete frame would have.

Modeling was especially valuable this year. In creating models that not only looked like specific elements and systems, but also acted like them, I was able to have a greater understanding of the material. In addition to physical modeling, the basic skills of load tracing and identifying structural loads brought valuable conversation to the studio work.

As someone who struggled with physics, the vector based force representations and problems were difficult to me, but I found that I was able to fully understand it come the end of the semester and that understanding only enhanced what I knew about beams and how they’re fixed.

Overall, this course acted as good introduction into the structural side of design, beginning to temper our expectations of forms, while also opening up new possibilities as we were exposed to the variety of structural achievements and advancements.