Course DescriptionThe course describes a new, visually impactful, university campus building that succeeds in dialoguing with its setting in a variety of ways. In depth information is provided on construction techniques that make use of high-performance, state-of-the-art materials to create an extremely flexible architecture that blends seamlessly with its surrounds. Course material includes an introductory text, an interview with Kazuyo Sejima, a wealth of images and technical and construction-detail drawings with explanatory legends. On completing the course, you will be able to explain the importance of rigorous project planning that includes careful materials selection, with special focus on materials that may be used in combination with concrete
Learning Objectives – after reading the article and studying the drawings, you will be able to:
- Describe how the architectural forms achieve restraint and discretion without becoming formal, and so deliver user-friendly spaces whose flowing lines encourage social exchange.
- Analyze the technologies and materials employed for structural frame and infills, with particular focus on how they contribute to occupant comfort, ensure continuity between external and interior environments and contribute to reducing the building’s energy consumption.
- Identify how the building’s architectural form gives rise to interior spatial distribution and circulation routes that are particularly appropriate to the building’s function.
- Illustrate, on the basis of the construction-detail drawing, how the technologies and materials contribute to a building whose striking form nonetheless blends with the surrounding landscape.
