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Architecture, Interior Architecture, & Designed Objects

Graduate Curriculum & Courses

Master of Architecture

SAIC offers a National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) accredited Master of Architecture (MArch) degree: a full, 3-year MArch and a 2-year, accelerated MArch track for students with an undergraduate, pre-professional bachelor's in architecture or architectural technology.

  • Program Requirements and Specifications

    • Completion schedule: Students have a maximum of six years to complete the degree. This includes time off for leaves of absence.
    • Transfer credit: Generally transfer credits are not accepted. All requests for transfer credits are reviewed individually by the director of the department at the time of admission and are subject to approval at that time. No transfer credit will be permitted after a student is admitted.
    • Full-Time Status Minimum Requirement: 12 credit hours
    TermCredit Hours
    First Year Fall15
    • AIA 5110 Arch/Inarch: Grad Studio 1 (6)
    • AIA 5113 Arch/Inarch: Construction Systems (3)
    • AIA 5002 Descriptive Techniques (3)
    • ARTHI 5102 Global History of Architecture (3)
    		 
    First Year Spring15
    • AIA 5120 Arch/Inarch: Grad Studio 2 (6)
    • AIA 5123 Arch/Inarch: Structures 1 (3)
    • ARTHI 5122 Critical Terms in Modern Architecture (3)
    • Elective (3)
    		 
    Second Year Fall15
    • AIA 6110 Architecture: Grad Studio 3 (6)
    • AIA 6112 Resilient Systems (3)
    • Art History Elective (3)
    • Elective (3)
    		 
    Second Year Spring15
    • AIA 6120 Architecture: Grad Studio 4 (6)
    • AIA 6123 Codes, Specs, Joints (3)
    • AIA 6221 Structures 2
    • Elective (3)
    		 
    Third Year Fall15
    • AIA 6210 Architecture: Grad Studio 5 (6)
    • AIA 6212 Arch/Inarch: Choreographed Systems (3)
    • AIA 6213 Arch/Inarch: Thesis Strategies (3)
    • Elective (3)
    		 
    Third Year Spring15
    • AIA 6220 Arch/Inarch: Grad Studio 6 - Thesis (6)
    • AIA 6222 Arch/Inarch: Sustaining Practice Economies (3)
    • AIA 6015 Professional Contexts (3)
    • Elective (3)
    		 
    Participation and in interdisciplinary critique in the final year of study 
    Participation in Design Show 
    Total Credit Hours90

  • Program Requirements and Specifications

    • Completion schedule: Students have a maximum of four years to complete the degree. This includes time off for leaves of absence.
    • Transfer credit: Generally transfer credits are not accepted. All requests for transfer credits are reviewed individually by the director of the department at the time of admission and are subject to approval at that time. No transfer credit will be permitted after a student is admitted.
    • Full-Time Status Minimum Requirement: 12 credit hours
    TermCredit Hours
    First Year Fall15
    • AIA 6110 Architecture: Grad Studio 3 (6)
    • AIA 6112 Resilient Systems (3)
    • AIA 5002 Descriptive Techniques (3)
    • ARTHI 5122 Critical Terms in Modern Architecture (3)
    		 
    First Year Spring15
    • AIA 6120 Architecture: Grad Studio 4 (6)
    • AIA 6123 Codes, Specs, Joints (3)
    • AIA 6221 Arch/Inarch: Structures 2 (3)
    • Art History Elective (3)
    		 
    Second Year Fall15
    • AIA 6120 Architecture: Grad Studio 5 (6)
    • AIA 6212 Arch/Inarch: Choreographed Systems (3)
    • AIA 6213 Arch/Inarch: Thesis Strategies (3)
    • Elective (3)
    		 
    Second Year Spring15
    • AIA 6220 Arch/Inarch: Graduate Studio 6 - Thesis (9)
    • AIA 6222 Arch/Inarch: Practice Economies (3)
    • Elective (3)
    		 
    Participation and in interdisciplinary critique in the final year of study 
    Participation in Design Show 
    Total Credit Hours60

Master of Architecture with a Track in Interior Architecture

SAIC offers two Master of Architecture (MArch) with a Track in Interior Architecture degrees. Both are professional degrees accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB). Unique among architecture graduate degrees, SAIC’s two MArch with a track in interior architecture options recognize and underscore the significance of architectural design where form, structure and enclosure are considered in proximity to materials, objects, human needs, and experience. Housed within an interdisciplinary educational community, the degrees provide a provocative and intellectually stimulating context for exploring the social, cultural, and technological implications architectural spaces designed from the inside out.

Interior Architecture is a growing professional field where architects have an increasing impact. In the MArch programs, we teach through hands-on inquiry, experimentation and exploration to develop the skills and critical knowledge necessary for the development of new spatial ideas and invention in the field of interior architecture.

The curriculum is centered on the series of project-based studios supported by courses in building structures, building technology, professional practice, and electives in architectural history and theory. MArch students are encouraged to develop and expand their practice by taking courses in other departments across SAIC, as well as by applying to AIADO’s External Partnership courses. In their final year, students complete a rigorous comprehensive design studio and pursue a self-directed design thesis under the supervision of faculty in the department.

  • The 3 year, 90-credit option is a carefully choreographed studio sequence, offering students the skills and sensibilities required of the contemporary interior architect, while grounding them in the histories and theories that are specific to the design of interior spaces. Each semester includes a conceptual cluster of classes with a 6-credit design studio, a 3-credit technical support studio, and 3-credit seminars.

    Degree Requirements and Specifications

    • Completion schedule: Students have a maximum of six years to complete the degree. This includes time off for leaves of absence.
    • Transfer credits: Normally transfer credits are not accepted. All requests for transfer credits are reviewed individually by the director of the department at the time of admission and are subject to approval at that time. No transfer credit will be permitted after a student is admitted.
    • Full-Time Status Minimum Requirement: 12 credit hours
    TermCredit Hours
    First Year Fall15
    • AIA 5110 Arch/Inarch: Grad Studio 1 (6)
    • AIA 5113 Arch/Inarch: Construction Systems (3)
    • AIA 5002 Descriptive Techniques (3)
    • ARTHI 5102 Global History of Architecture (3)
    		 
    First Year Spring15
    • AIA 5120 Arch/Inarch: Grad Studio 2 (6)
    • AIA 5123 Arch/Inarch: Structures 1 (3)
    • ARTHI 5122 Critical Terms in Modern Architecture (3)
    • Elective (3)
    		 
    Second Year Fall15
    • AIA 6110 Interior Arch: Grad Studio 3 (6)
    • AIA 6112 Resilient Systems (3)
    • Art History Elective (3)
    • Elective (3)
    		 
    Second Year Spring15
    • AIA 6120 Interior Arch: Grad Studio 4 (6)
    • AIA 6123 Codes, Specs, Joints (3)
    • AIA 6221 Structures 2
    • Elective (3)
    		 
    Third Year Fall15
    • AIA 6210 Interior Arch: Grad Studio 5 (6)
    • AIA 6212 Arch/Inarch: Choreographed Systems (3)
    • AIA 6213 Arch/Inarch: Thesis Strategies (3)
    • Elective (3)
    		 
    Third Year Spring15
    • AIA 6220 Arch/Inarch: Grad Studio 6 - Thesis (6)
    • AIA 6222 Arch/Inarch: Sustaining Practice Economies (3)
    • AIA 6015 Professional Contexts (3)
    • Elective (3)
    		 
    Participation and in interdisciplinary critique in the final year of study
    Participation in Design Show 
    Total Credit Hours90


     

  • Students with undergraduate pre-professional bachelor's degrees in architectural studies, architectural technology, or interior design may be accepted into the two-year, 60-credit accelerated program. Students admitted into the Option 2 program may also be lacking one or two specific topical architectural classes, and if so will be required to take those classes at SAIC.

    Degree Requirements and Specifications

    • Completion schedule: Students have a maximum of four years to complete the degree. This includes time off for leaves of absence.
    • Transfer credits: Normally transfer credits are not accepted. All requests for transfer credits are reviewed individually by the director of the department at the time of admission and are subject to approval at that time. No transfer credit will be permitted after a student is admitted.
    • Full-Time Status Minimum Requirement: 12 credit hours
    TermCredit Hours
    First Year Fall15
    • AIA 6110 Interior Arch: Grad Studio 3 (6)
    • AIA 6112 Resilient Systems (3)
    • AIA 5002 Descriptive Techniques (3)
    • ARTHI 5122 Critical Terms in Modern Architecture (3)
    		 
    First Year Spring15
    • AIA 6120 Interior Arch: Grad Studio 4 (6)
    • AIA 6123 Codes, Specs, Joints (3)
    • AIA 6221 Arch/Inarch: Structures 2 (3)
    • Art History Elective (3)
    		 
    Second Year Fall15
    • AIA 6120 Interior Arch: Grad Studio 5 (6)
    • AIA 6212 Arch/Inarch: Choreographed Systems (3)
    • AIA 6213 Arch/Inarch: Thesis Strategies (3)
    • Elective (3)
    		 
    Second Year Spring15
    • AIA 6220 Arch/Inarch: Graduate Studio 6: Thesis (9)
    • AIA 6222 Arch/Inarch: Practice Economies (3)
    • Elective (3)
    		 
    Participation and in interdisciplinary critique in the final year of study 
    Participation in Design Show 
    Total Credit Hours60

Master of Design in Designed Objects

The Master of Design in Designed Objects (MDDO) is a two-year, 66 credit hour program with a carefully sequenced course-based curriculum, built for students who seek immersion in the critical and technical skills specific to the extended practice of object design.

  • Degree Requirements and Specifications

    • Completion schedule: Students have a maximum of four years to complete the degree. This includes time off for leaves of absence.
    • Transfer credit: Generally transfer credits are not accepted. All requests for transfer credits are reviewed individually by the chair of the department at the time of admission and are subject to approval at that time. No transfer credit will be permitted after a student is admitted.
    • Full-Time Status Minimum Requirement: 12 credit hours
    TermCredit Hours
    First Summer Intensive 6  
    • DESOB 5050 Refresh: Summer Intensive (6)
    		 
    First Year Fall15  
    • DESOB 5150 Studio 1: Reset (3)
    • DESOB 5152 Research Methods Lab (3)
    • DESOB 5164 Material Intelligence Studio Seminar (3)
    • ARTHI 5120 Survey of Modern and Contemporary Arch. and Design (3)
    • Elective (3)
    		 
    First Year Spring  15  
    • DESOB 5160 Studio 2: Discover (6)
    • DESOB 5162 Prototyping Methods Lab (3)
    • ARTHI 5105 Theories of Things: Art / Design / Objects (3)
    • Elective (3)
    		 
    Second Year Fall 15  
    • DESOB 6150 Thesis Studio 1: Initiate (6)
    • DESOB 6154 Material Futures Studio Seminar (3)
    • ARTHI 6120 Critical Issues in Designed Objects (3)
    • Elective (3)
    		 
    Second Year Spring 15  
    • DESOB 6160 Thesis Studio 2: Manifest (6)
    • DESOB 6162 Positioning Methods Lab (3)
    • Elective (3)
    • Elective (3)
    		 
    Participation in four graduate critiques, including departmental critiques and interdisciplinary critique in the final year of study 
    Participation in Design Show 
    Total Credit Hours66

MFA in Studio

The MFA in Studio Program offers an expansive educational model in which designers engage history, critical thinking, and work across disciplines.

  • The Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program is designed to offer maximum flexibility in addressing the needs of each individual student. Following admission through a department, students design their two-year plan of study based on optimizing the offerings and opportunities available throughout SAIC. 

    Degree Requirements and Specifications

    • Completion schedule: You have a maximum of four years to complete your MFA in Studio degree. This includes time off for leaves of absence. Students will have access to studios for four semesters only.
    • Transfer credits: You must complete a minimum of 45 credit hours in residence at SAIC. You can request up to 15 transfer credits at the time of application for admission, which are subject to approval at that time. No transfer credits are permitted after a student is admitted.
    • Art History requirement: MFA students are required to take ARTHII 5002 Graduate Survey of Modern and Contemporary Art OR ARTHI 5120 Survey of Modern and Contemporary Architecture and Design. Art History courses must be at the 4000-level and above.
    • Undergraduate studio courses: Graduate students are permitted no more than one undergraduate studio course (3000-level and above) per semester without permission of the Dean of Graduate Studies. Courses at the 1000 and 2000-level are allowed only with permission.
    • Full-time status minimum requirement: 12 credit hours is required to maintain full-time status as a graduate student.
    AreaCredit Hours

    Studio

    • Graduate Projects 6009 (21)
    • Exhibition 6009 (3)

    24

     

    Seminar

    • Graduate Level Seminars
    		12

    Art History

    • ARTHI 5002 OR ARTHI 5120 (3)
    • Art History Courses, 4000-level or above (9)
    		12

    Electives

    Any course in any area at 3000-level or above 

    Participation in four graduate critiques

    Participation in ONE of the following as appropriate to artistic practice: 

    • Graduate Exhibition
    • AIADO or Fashion Exhibition
    • Graduate Performance Event
    • Graduate Screenings

    Students who wish to use an alternative venue or presentation outside of these options must receive permission from the dean of graduate studies. 

    		12
    Total Credit Hours60

  • The Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program is designed to offer maximum flexibility in addressing the needs of each individual student. Following admission through a department, students design their two-year plan of study based on optimizing the offerings and opportunities available throughout SAIC. 

    Degree Requirements and Specifications

    • Completion schedule: You have a maximum of four years to complete your MFA in Studio degree. This includes time off for leaves of absence. Students will have access to studios for four semesters only.
    • Transfer credits: You must complete a minimum of 45 credit hours in residence at SAIC. You can request up to 15 transfer credits at the time of application for admission, which are subject to approval at that time. No transfer credits are permitted after a student is admitted.
    • Art History requirement: MFA students are required to take ARTHII 5002 Graduate Survey of Modern and Contemporary Art OR ARTHI 5120 Survey of Modern and Contemporary Architecture and Design. Art History courses must be at the 4000-level and above.
    • Undergraduate studio courses: Graduate students are permitted no more than one undergraduate studio course (3000-level and above) per semester without permission of the Dean of Graduate Studies. Courses at the 1000 and 2000-level are allowed only with permission.
    • Full-time status minimum requirement: 12 credit hours is required to maintain full-time status as a graduate student.
    AreaCredit Hours

    Studio

    • Graduate Projects 6009 (21)
    • Exhibition 6009 (3)

    24

     

    Seminar

    • Graduate Level Seminars
    		12

    Art History

    • ARTHI 5002 OR ARTHI 5120 (3)
    • Art History Courses, 4000-level or above (9)
    		12

    Electives

    Any course in any area at 3000-level or above 

    Participation in four graduate critiques

    Participation in ONE of the following as appropriate to artistic practice: 

    • Graduate Exhibition
    • AIADO or Fashion Exhibition
    • Graduate Performance Event
    • Graduate Screenings

    Students who wish to use an alternative venue or presentation outside of these options must receive permission from the dean of graduate studies. 

    		12
    Total Credit Hours60

  • The Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program is designed to offer maximum flexibility in addressing the needs of each individual student. Following admission through a department, students design their two-year plan of study based on optimizing the offerings and opportunities available throughout SAIC. 

    Degree Requirements and Specifications

    • Completion schedule: You have a maximum of four years to complete your MFA in Studio degree. This includes time off for leaves of absence. Students will have access to studios for four semesters only.
    • Transfer credits: You must complete a minimum of 45 credit hours in residence at SAIC. You can request up to 15 transfer credits at the time of application for admission, which are subject to approval at that time. No transfer credits are permitted after a student is admitted.
    • Art History requirement: MFA students are required to take ARTHII 5002 Graduate Survey of Modern and Contemporary Art OR ARTHI 5120 Survey of Modern and Contemporary Architecture and Design. Art History courses must be at the 4000-level and above.
    • Undergraduate studio courses: Graduate students are permitted no more than one undergraduate studio course (3000-level and above) per semester without permission of the Dean of Graduate Studies. Courses at the 1000 and 2000-level are allowed only with permission.
    • Full-time status minimum requirement: 12 credit hours is required to maintain full-time status as a graduate student.
    AreaCredit Hours

    Studio

    • Graduate Projects 6009 (21)
    • Exhibition 6009 (3)

    24

     

    Seminar

    • Graduate Level Seminars
    		12

    Art History

    • ARTHI 5002 OR ARTHI 5120 (3)
    • Art History Courses, 4000-level or above (9)
    		12

    Electives

    Any course in any area at 3000-level or above 

    Participation in four graduate critiques

    Participation in ONE of the following as appropriate to artistic practice: 

    • Graduate Exhibition
    • AIADO or Fashion Exhibition
    • Graduate Performance Event
    • Graduate Screenings

    Students who wish to use an alternative venue or presentation outside of these options must receive permission from the dean of graduate studies. 

    		12
    Total Credit Hours60

  • The Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program is designed to offer maximum flexibility in addressing the needs of each individual student. Following admission through a department, students design their two-year plan of study based on optimizing the offerings and opportunities available throughout SAIC. 

    Graduate Projects 6009

    Graduate Projects 6009 advising, an ongoing individual dialogue with a wide range of faculty advisors, is at the heart of the MFA program at SAIC, encouraging interdisciplinary study across the curriculum. Standard enrollment consists of two Graduate Projects 6009 advisors, one graduate-level seminar, and an art history course each semester. The remainder of credits required for the full-time 15-credit hour load may include academic or studio electives. All MFA students must register for a minimum of one and no more than two Graduate Projects 6009 sections each semester. Students may request permission from the Graduate Program Advisor to take a third Graduate Projects 6009 section after priority registration.

    In their final year, students must take one Exhibition 6009 section. The advising and grade for this course will be tied to the final exhibition. When taking undergraduate studio coursework, the student is responsible for understanding the faculty member’s expectations about completion of assignments, attendance, and any other criteria for earning credit. MFA students interested in completing a written thesis must take a research course and Research 6009 section and obtain approval from the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies.

    Graduate Critiques

    As one of the principle means of assessment each semester, you will be required to participate in Critique Week, a week-long schedule of critiques during which classes are suspended.

    Fall semester critiques are organized by department with panels representing the discipline. This provides you with an opportunity to understand the department’s expectations, have your work reviewed from a disciplinary point of view, and to reiterate the expectations for graduate study.

    Spring semester critiques are interdisciplinary, with panel members and students from across SAIC disciplines. Interdisciplinary critiques allow for a broad range of responses to your work, and are intended to assess the success of your work for a more general, albeit highly informed audience. Critique panels include faculty, visiting artists, and fellow graduate students.

    Graduate Exhibition or Equivalent

    At the conclusion of your studies, you will present work in the SAIC Graduate Thesis Exhibition, other end-of-year events at SAIC, or the Gene Siskel Film Center—or arrange with the graduate dean or division chair for an alternative thesis of equal professional quality. Each year more than 200 graduate students exhibit work, screen videos and films, and present time-based works, writings, and performance to a collective audience of 30,000 people.

    Students wishing to install work around prevalent themes, strategies or stylistic affinities can participate in a juried and curated section of the SAIC Graduate Thesis Exhibition. A faculty and staff committee conducts extensive studio visits and as a collaborative project with student participants, organizes and installs the show in designated space at the exhibition.

    Undergraduate Courses

    MFA students are advised to understand the expectations of their faculty when enrolled in undergraduate studio classes. Although graduate students are an asset to the group dynamic, faculty requirements for graduate students in undergraduate classes are variable. The student is responsible for understanding the faculty member's expectations about completion of assignments, attendance, and any other criteria for earning credit. To assure that graduate students are working at degree level, they are permitted no more than one undergraduate studio course (3000 level and above) per semester without permission of the dean of graduate studies. Courses at the 1000 and 2000 level are allowed only with permission.

Course Listing

Title Catalog Instructor Schedule

Description

Introduces the meaning and making of architecture and interior architecture through individual and group design projects. Students learn design processes by experimenting with materials and exploring architectural and interior architecture representation, and measure the implications of their work on broader cultural contexts. Students work on design projects using the latest software and digital tools, and develop techniques for integrating analog and digital design and fabrication processes. Students research historic precedents and contemporary culture and design to inform their work. This course requires students to have a laptop that meets SAIC's minimum hardware specs and runs the AIADO template.

Class Number

1020

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Location

Sullivan Center 1241

Description

This course introduces students to the creative scope of the Designed Objects program, and the ideas, skills, and methods used in the process of designing objects. Students will learn about the design of objects by studying their form, function, assembly, materiality, use, value and significance (both subjective and objective). Emphasizing thinking through making; students students build their visual vocabulary and develop an understanding of the design process. The goal of this class is to help students imagine the possibilities of the object design field and identify their aptitude for becoming an object designer.

The course will explore the intentionality of object design, exploring the works of a ranging from James Dyson to Ron Arad to Zaha Hadid. Readings and screenings will vary but typically include Mu-Ming Tsai's Design Thinking and Gary Hustwit's Objectified.

Students should expect to produce a body of work consisting of several minor exploratory projects and two fully fleshed out finished Objects (mid-term and final).

This course requires students to have a laptop that meets SAIC's minimum hardware specs and runs the AIADO template.

Class Number

1264

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Product Design

Location

Sullivan Center 1256

Description

Introduces the meaning and making of architecture and interior architecture through individual and group design projects. Students learn design processes by experimenting with materials and exploring architectural and interior architecture representation, and measure the implications of their work on broader cultural contexts. Students work on design projects using the latest software and digital tools, and develop techniques for integrating analog and digital design and fabrication processes. Students research historic precedents and contemporary culture and design to inform their work. This course requires students to have a laptop that meets SAIC's minimum hardware specs and runs the AIADO template.

Class Number

1029

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Location

Sullivan Center 1407

Description

This course introduces students to the creative scope of the Designed Objects program, and the ideas, skills, and methods used in the process of designing objects. Students will learn about the design of objects by studying their form, function, assembly, materiality, use, value and significance (both subjective and objective). Emphasizing thinking through making; students students build their visual vocabulary and develop an understanding of the design process. The goal of this class is to help students imagine the possibilities of the object design field and identify their aptitude for becoming an object designer.

The course will explore the intentionality of object design, exploring the works of a ranging from James Dyson to Ron Arad to Zaha Hadid. Readings and screenings will vary but typically include Mu-Ming Tsai's Design Thinking and Gary Hustwit's Objectified.

Students should expect to produce a body of work consisting of several minor exploratory projects and two fully fleshed out finished Objects (mid-term and final).

This course requires students to have a laptop that meets SAIC's minimum hardware specs and runs the AIADO template.

Class Number

1265

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Product Design

Location

Sullivan Center 1231

Description

This course is a comprehensive introduction to two-dimensional architectural and interior architectural representation. Students learn hand-drawing and digital techniques to produce orthographic, axonometric, isometric, and perspectival projections in individual and group projects. Students move between two- and three-dimensional representation, developing robust skills for design drawing.

Typically the course will review the work of architects and designers throughout the history of architecture representation. Readings will vary and focus will be concentrated on understanding and putting into practice the mechanisms of drawing.

Course work consists of building techniques and practice of drawing. Classes will develop incremental skills through assignments and projects that culminate into complex drawings and representations. This course requires students to have a laptop that meets SAIC's minimum hardware specs and runs the AIADO template.

Class Number

1021

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Digital Communication

Location

Sullivan Center 1407

Description

This course is a comprehensive introduction to two-dimensional architectural and interior architectural representation. Students learn hand-drawing and digital techniques to produce orthographic, axonometric, isometric, and perspectival projections in individual and group projects. Students move between two- and three-dimensional representation, developing robust skills for design drawing.

Typically the course will review the work of architects and designers throughout the history of architecture representation. Readings will vary and focus will be concentrated on understanding and putting into practice the mechanisms of drawing.

Course work consists of building techniques and practice of drawing. Classes will develop incremental skills through assignments and projects that culminate into complex drawings and representations. This course requires students to have a laptop that meets SAIC's minimum hardware specs and runs the AIADO template.

Class Number

1022

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Digital Communication

Location

Sullivan Center 1240

Description

Comprehensive introduction to three-dimensional architectural and interior architectural representation and fabrication. Through individual and group projects, students learn hand-modeling and digital fabrication techniques, and become super-users of the School?s shops and Advanced Output Center. Students work on design projects using the latest software and digital tools, and develop techniques for integrating analog and digital design and fabrication processes. Students move between two- and three-dimensional representation in the development of robust skills for design communication. This course requires students to have a laptop that meets SAIC's minimum hardware specs and runs the AIADO template.

Class Number

1015

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Digital Communication, Digital Imaging

Location

Sullivan Center 1226

Description

ARCH/INARC Studio 2 is a two-day core design studio that expands the architecture and interior architecture design skills and research capabilities explored in Studio 1. Design projects of increasing complexity and scale are generated, critiqued and refined.

Research includes contemporary architecture, site research, urban context, and critical design issues of theory and construction.

Students utilize hand sketching, digital visualization, photography, and physical modeling to present design project work with expanding sophistication. This course requires students to have a laptop that meets SAIC's minimum hardware specs and runs the AIADO software template.

Prerequisites

Pre:ARCH/INARC 2001

Class Number

1023

Credits

6

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Location

Sullivan Center 1406B

Description

ARCH/INARC Studio 2 is a two-day core design studio that expands the architecture and interior architecture design skills and research capabilities explored in Studio 1. Design projects of increasing complexity and scale are generated, critiqued and refined.

Research includes contemporary architecture, site research, urban context, and critical design issues of theory and construction.

Students utilize hand sketching, digital visualization, photography, and physical modeling to present design project work with expanding sophistication. This course requires students to have a laptop that meets SAIC's minimum hardware specs and runs the AIADO software template.

Prerequisites

Pre:ARCH/INARC 2001

Class Number

1024

Credits

6

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Location

Sullivan Center 1406A

Description

Light is a miraculous condition both conceptually and physically in the fact that it is a medium which can not be touched or held, etc. Light in combination with space creates containers for the production of what can only be described as auras. The ephemeral conditions which light produces actually changes and alters the spaces we inhabit daily.

The course Light & Space is designed to develop and expand both artistic and architectural sensibilities for students in the exploration of natural and artificial light as a medium. This one day a week studio is structured around a series of lectures about the comparison between Architects and Artists through exercises involving both physical and digital models within the city of Chicago.

The exercises will introduce students on how to construct and assemble spaces in order to control light and the effects it has on inhabitants of architectural surroundings. The instructors of Light & Space present a series of case study comparisons between architects and artists as a means to open the possibilities for extreme experimentation within the studio setting. Students final project of the semester is the curation of the collection of imagery designed and rendered via all exercises, but open ended for each individual student?s interpretation and personal expression of social, political, and gender issues, etc.

This course requires students to have a laptop that meets SAIC's minimum hardware specs and runs the AIADO template.

Class Number

1025

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Location

Sullivan Center 1255

Description

This course will provide the student with the skills to create design concept sketches (ideation/thinking) that will communicate with the viewer and visualize the design concept as a design object using sketch renderings to define and communicate the object's form and function. Instructions will focus on freehand marker sketching for ideation/thumbnails, shading, form development and rendering, followed by orthographic projection (measured technical drawing) and two-point perspective. Each of these skills will be demonstrated in class and on a one to one basis during the semester

In each class I will share design drawings from my collection that show a history of sketching styles for presentations using Prismacolor Pencils and NuPastels to markers, along with marker drawings for clients that I and other designers have created in product, packaging and display projects. These presentations will also be used to lecture on the history of design drawing styles and techniques.

Students will be given three design projects in which they will go through the design process of starting with ideation sketches, followed by design selection, renderings and an orthographic drawing of the final design. The first project focuses on the development of forms, the next two projects have an emphasis on ideas and drawing skills.

This course requires students to have a laptop that meets SAIC's minimum hardware specs and runs the AIADO template.

Class Number

1274

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Product Design

Location

Sullivan Center 1406A

Description

Architectural preservation, art conservation, archiving and collecting, even environmental protection: all these practices share a desire to preserve things of value, but how do we decide what's valuable? Using the laws, policies, and practices of architectural preservation as a starting point this studio will ask and propose answers to the question: what's worth preserving? Students will explore how preservation practice overlaps and complements the work of different museums, archives, and collections that define value and how they protect it; and propose strategies for assembling and maintaining their own collections in whatever media they choose. Course readings will focus on the history and contemporary practice of preservation, conservation, and collecting; and visits to preservation organizations in the city of Chicago will introduce students to a range of current preservation projects. Course work will include weekly readings, discussions, field trips and tours. Students will work individually throughout the course to research how different institutions assemble and protect their collections, identify a subject of personal interest for preservation, and propose a preservation strategy for it in any medium of their choice.

Class Number

2359

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Community & Social Engagement, Public Space, Site, Landscape, Art/Design and Politics

Location

Sullivan Center 1231

Description

This core skills studio teaches how to generate impactful visual materials to effectively communicate interactions with objects, digital interfaces and within virtual spaces.

Students will learn professional communication tools for prototyping screen-based interfaces, vector illustration, typographic and visual composition, and data visualization.

As well as aiding design development, the tools covered will enable the successful communication of storyboarded scenarios, design research, and finished proposals for physical and screen-based presentation.

This course requires students to have a laptop that meets SAIC's minimum hardware specs and runs the AIADO template.

Class Number

1280

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Digital Communication

Location

Sullivan Center 1241

Description

As the beginning course in the Designed Objects department, students will have an opportunity to explore different methods of working in order to begin establishing a practice that works best for them. Students will be building a strong foundation of skills and techniques needed to navigate an informed design process and successfully complete a design brief. In this hands-on class, students will learn how to find inspiration for an idea, develop that idea into a concept, and use that concept to design and fabricate a high-level, final prototype. Basic research theories and methods are introduced which are then applied towards studio projects. Fabrication and prototyping techniques are also incorporated in order to test out ideas and discover new ones. Students advance through definition, research, ideation, sketching, and modeling phases toward two? and three?dimensional representations (digital and physical) of their work that are orally defended during group critique.

Readings and lecture content will vary and will focus on examples of historically relevant and contemporary designers, artists, studios, and design movements; as well as design practices that highlight different motivations of the designer.

In addition to the two main projects that focus on different methods of approaching design? where students will be producing high-level prototypes, this workshop-style class consists of one-day projects and exercises designed to introduce techniques and skills such as technical drawing and sketching, form-finding, prototyping, and inspiration research, among others.

This course requires students to have a laptop that meets SAIC's minimum hardware specs and runs the AIADO template.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Sophomore-level or above.

Class Number

1267

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Product Design

Location

Sullivan Center 1406A

Description

As the beginning course in the Designed Objects department, students will have an opportunity to explore different methods of working in order to begin establishing a practice that works best for them. Students will be building a strong foundation of skills and techniques needed to navigate an informed design process and successfully complete a design brief. In this hands-on class, students will learn how to find inspiration for an idea, develop that idea into a concept, and use that concept to design and fabricate a high-level, final prototype. Basic research theories and methods are introduced which are then applied towards studio projects. Fabrication and prototyping techniques are also incorporated in order to test out ideas and discover new ones. Students advance through definition, research, ideation, sketching, and modeling phases toward two? and three?dimensional representations (digital and physical) of their work that are orally defended during group critique.

Readings and lecture content will vary and will focus on examples of historically relevant and contemporary designers, artists, studios, and design movements; as well as design practices that highlight different motivations of the designer.

In addition to the two main projects that focus on different methods of approaching design? where students will be producing high-level prototypes, this workshop-style class consists of one-day projects and exercises designed to introduce techniques and skills such as technical drawing and sketching, form-finding, prototyping, and inspiration research, among others.

This course requires students to have a laptop that meets SAIC's minimum hardware specs and runs the AIADO template.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Sophomore-level or above.

Class Number

1278

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Product Design

Location

Sullivan Center 1255

Description

As products incorporate increasingly complex displays, functionality, and intelligence, their usability can become a challenge. This studio-seminar explores methods for designing intuitive and effective interfaces that enhance both the usability and overall experience of a device. Through presentations, discussions, and hands-on exercises, students will analyze existing interfaces and devices, identifying strengths and weaknesses in their design. The course emphasizes the integration of user interface (UI) and industrial design (ID) to create seamless, visually cohesive, and functionally intuitive products. Students will engage in critical evaluation of real-world examples and apply digital media tools to prototype the interface and interaction components of their own design projects. Key topics include understanding user behavior, mapping device functionality, designing appropriate two-way communication, and developing graphic elements that support usability. By the end of the course, students will have a deeper understanding of interface design as a critical factor in product development, enabling them to craft more user-centered, visually compelling, and engaging product experiences.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Sophomore-level or above.

Class Number

2237

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Digital Communication, Product Design

Location

Sullivan Center 1255

Description

We will work with the processes by which product designers develop compelling objects that communicate ideas, values, functions and purpose. Projects are designed to study the language of form through an analysis of user interaction, the implications of material choice, finishes, and craftsmanship on the success of a product concept, and how these choices support and promote function, desirability and perceived value. There is also an emphasis on expanding student material exploration and making techniques for optimal results, and the value of iterative prototyping in a successful design process.

The course will address universal product design issues and methods, starting with defining and understanding the project, considering form and function, appropriate material selection, construction techniques, finishes, iteration, and well-crafted final products. We will cover concepts such as semiotics, ergonomics, families of objects, multi-functional products, and emphasize clear communication of finished design ideas through schematics, and graphic representation using descriptive photography.

Relevant contemporary design examples are provided as reference for each project, and students will spend additional time researching contemporary designers such as Front Design, Raw Edges, Nendo and Ron Arad. Students will be introduced to high-end professional design sources in a business setting through a field trip to the Merchandise Mart.

The course is built around 3 main projects, each with instructional presentations, Design research assignments, ideation and sketching, group discussions, and iterative prototyping, resulting in the creation of a final product and printed graphic document, all presented and discussed in a group critique.

This course requires students to have a laptop that meets SAIC's minimum hardware specs and runs the AIADO template.

Prerequisites

Pre: DES OB 1006 or 2020

Class Number

1268

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Product Design

Location

Sullivan Center 1241

Description

This furniture studio will critically engage the chair as an archetype. Chairs have long been a fascination of designers as they require a developed understanding of structure, material, and form. Importantly, chairs represent the cultural mores of the time in which they are produced and are inextricably linked to larger systems of power, technology, and economy. This course will explore the chair as a fluid, dynamic furniture category that is in a reciprocal relationship with culture, technology, and politics and will emphasize a hands-on approach to design and production.

Readings from art and design historians and critics including Galen Cranz, David Getsy, Richard Sennett, Glenn Adamson, and Alice Rawsthorn will be integral to an expansive conversation about the chair. Class readings and discussions will also help contextualize different approaches to construction and fabrication at different scales of production. A wide range of both contemporary and historical design precedents will be explored ranging from traditional Shaker Furniture to Wendell Castle, Faye Toogood, Max Lamb, Egg Collective, Jasper Morrison, and Scott Burton.

By the end of this course, students should expect to have completed technical drawings and a series of detailed scale models.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Sophomore-level or above.

Class Number

1273

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Product Design, Furniture Design

Location

Sullivan Center 1242

Description

This course is designed to be a fast-paced first step into the field of 3D CAD modeling, an arena where designers give shape to our daily experience of the world. If this is your first exposure to virtual 3D form development, you will find a flexible interface that facilitates a rapid learning curve from simple to complex. For those with prior CAD experience desiring a more intuitive, less restrictive creative experience, this course will provide the means to turn what you see in your mind and your sketches into exciting visual and precise physically accurate representations of your vision. Throughout the semester we will discuss historical and current events in product, fashion and architectural design. Typically, these shared conversations lead to discoveries that participants dig into and apply to assignments. A list of influential artists, designers and architects is provided along with suggested books and online references that enrich and add diversity and range to our discourse. Initially, the class works through a series of exercises and tutorials designed to bring familiarity and confidence to their experience with Rhino. Students will investigate methods for surfacing, modifying, rendering, and presenting ideas and concepts they create. As each tool and process becomes more familiar, new methods and strategies are introduced, and students are taught how to apply them to create accurate representative models of objects they design. In addition to gaining hands-on skills, we will explore form creation and the physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and cultural factors that play into the development of a successful new product.

Class Number

1269

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Digital Communication, Product Design

Location

Sullivan Center 1406A

Description

This course introduces students to SolidWorks, a powerful parametric software package used by product designers to model, indicate specifications, and visualize their design intent. Students will learn the software in the context of design by using it as a tool to develop form and scale, convey design intent with 3D renders, create specification drawings for manufacturing, and interface with 3d printers, CNC machines, and laser cutters for quick iterative prototyping.

This course will focus on a series of tutorials followed by hands-on design projects that will provide intensive training in 3D modeling, 3D printing, and photo-realistic 3D rendering.This will allow the students to make judgements on which 3D tools to use at what stage to develop the most efficient models. The tools will be explained through examples and demonstrations, which will allow the students to practice the tools during class.

Students are expected to complete 4 projects. The projects will include learning 2D sketch tools and creating relations through existing logos, modeling existing products with multiple components, developing an original design based on an existing brand or artist, and collaborating within a group on a system of objects.

Class Number

1272

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Product Design

Location

Sullivan Center 1226

Description

What are the concerns that drive one's creative practice? How does one set the terms for its future development? Sophomore Seminar offers strategies for students to explore, reflect upon, and connect common themes and interests in the development of an emerging creative practice that will serve as the basis of their ongoing studies at SAIC and beyond. Students will examine historical and contemporary influences and contextualize their work in relation to the diverse art-worlds of the 21st Century. Readings, screenings, and field trips will vary each semester. Presentations by visiting artists and guest speakers will provide the opportunity for students to hear unique perspectives on sustaining a creative practice. One-on-one meetings with faculty will provide students with individualized mentorship throughout the semester. During interdisciplinary critiques, students will explore a variety of formats and tools to analyze work and provide peer feedback. The class mid-term project asks students to imagine a plan for their creative life and devise a self-directed course of study for their time at school. The course concludes with an assignment asking students to develop and document a project or body of work demonstrating how the interplay of ideas, technical skills, and formal concerns evolve through iteration, experimentation and revision.

Prerequisite: Must be a sophomore to enroll.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Must be a sophomore to enroll.

Class Number

1768

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Location

Sullivan Center 1255

Description

What are the concerns that drive one's creative practice? How does one set the terms for its future development? Sophomore Seminar offers strategies for students to explore, reflect upon, and connect common themes and interests in the development of an emerging creative practice that will serve as the basis of their ongoing studies at SAIC and beyond. Students will examine historical and contemporary influences and contextualize their work in relation to the diverse art-worlds of the 21st Century. Readings, screenings, and field trips will vary each semester. Presentations by visiting artists and guest speakers will provide the opportunity for students to hear unique perspectives on sustaining a creative practice. One-on-one meetings with faculty will provide students with individualized mentorship throughout the semester. During interdisciplinary critiques, students will explore a variety of formats and tools to analyze work and provide peer feedback. The class mid-term project asks students to imagine a plan for their creative life and devise a self-directed course of study for their time at school. The course concludes with an assignment asking students to develop and document a project or body of work demonstrating how the interplay of ideas, technical skills, and formal concerns evolve through iteration, experimentation and revision.

Prerequisite: Must be a sophomore to enroll.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Must be a sophomore to enroll.

Class Number

1769

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Location

Sullivan Center 1240

Description

What are the concerns that drive one's creative practice? How does one set the terms for its future development? Sophomore Seminar offers strategies for students to explore, reflect upon, and connect common themes and interests in the development of an emerging creative practice that will serve as the basis of their ongoing studies at SAIC and beyond. Students will examine historical and contemporary influences and contextualize their work in relation to the diverse art-worlds of the 21st Century. Readings, screenings, and field trips will vary each semester. Presentations by visiting artists and guest speakers will provide the opportunity for students to hear unique perspectives on sustaining a creative practice. One-on-one meetings with faculty will provide students with individualized mentorship throughout the semester. During interdisciplinary critiques, students will explore a variety of formats and tools to analyze work and provide peer feedback. The class mid-term project asks students to imagine a plan for their creative life and devise a self-directed course of study for their time at school. The course concludes with an assignment asking students to develop and document a project or body of work demonstrating how the interplay of ideas, technical skills, and formal concerns evolve through iteration, experimentation and revision.

Prerequisite: Must be a sophomore to enroll.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Must be a sophomore to enroll.

Class Number

1770

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Location

Sullivan Center 1240

Description

What are the concerns that drive one's creative practice? How does one set the terms for its future development? Sophomore Seminar offers strategies for students to explore, reflect upon, and connect common themes and interests in the development of an emerging creative practice that will serve as the basis of their ongoing studies at SAIC and beyond. Students will examine historical and contemporary influences and contextualize their work in relation to the diverse art-worlds of the 21st Century. Readings, screenings, and field trips will vary each semester. Presentations by visiting artists and guest speakers will provide the opportunity for students to hear unique perspectives on sustaining a creative practice. One-on-one meetings with faculty will provide students with individualized mentorship throughout the semester. During interdisciplinary critiques, students will explore a variety of formats and tools to analyze work and provide peer feedback. The class mid-term project asks students to imagine a plan for their creative life and devise a self-directed course of study for their time at school. The course concludes with an assignment asking students to develop and document a project or body of work demonstrating how the interplay of ideas, technical skills, and formal concerns evolve through iteration, experimentation and revision.

Prerequisite: Must be a sophomore to enroll.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Must be a sophomore to enroll.

Class Number

2356

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Location

Sullivan Center 1231

Description

This interdisciplinary studio class investigates the intersection of printmedia, artists? multiples and packaging as an entry point into making and thinking about multiples as a format for studio production. The history of artists? multiples (loosely defined as small-scale editioned or multiply produced three-dimensional works) includes many examples that use, or appropriate, printed elements and packaging in some way. This history, along with our daily experience of packaging (the many boxes, folders, labels, pamphlets, flyers and cartons found in nearly every aspect of contemporary life) offers a wealth of connections to consider and work from.

Students will be introduced to a range of printing and paper construction techniques within the Printmedia studio. These include plate-based lithography (with hand-drawn, digital and photo options) and pattern layout for packaging along with other selected tools and techniques. In addition, students will have the opportunity to use SAIC labs such as the Service Bureau and digital fabrication centers. Examples, short readings, and a visit to the Joan Flasch or other related collections will support project development and discussion.

Students can expect to complete three to five projects and participate in two critiques.

Class Number

1286

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Product Design

Location

280 Building Rm 221

Description

Light is a material that can be shaped to express ideas, create experiences and increase the communicative potential of objects and spaces. Through a combination of lectures, demos, fields trips and most of all, hands-on lab work, students develop a degree of self sufficiency in the design, construction and prototyping of illuminated objects, physical graphics and environmental lighting. Students learn basic electronic and electrical circuit design, lamp specification and experiment with illumination technologies including incandescent, LED and cold cathode (neon).

Class Number

1284

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Art and Science, Public Space, Site, Landscape

Location

MacLean B1-16

Description

This digital-analog studio affords modeling and prototyping for furniture and other objects at environmental scale. Students construct prototype objects for living while learning a diverse range of technical and process options for making at scale in materials including wood, metals, plastics, fabrics and foams. Focus on fluid improvisation in prototyping designs both by hand and using CNC and other integrated fabrications technologies.

The course explores the systems work of Enzo Mari and Gerrit Rietveld to understand simple construction and scaffold mechanisms for creating quick prototypes. We watch an array of craft and wood engineering videos to understand manufacturing and fabrication techniques, and how prototyping takes place in furniture businesses.

There are three major assignments, each yielding a unique piece of furniture. Naturally, the scope and scale of the projects increase as the semester moves forward. Additionally the course includes two day-long charettes to deliver specific skills and two field trips, to a furniture manufacturer and to a furniture show room.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Sophomore-level or above.

Class Number

1282

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Furniture Design

Location

Sullivan Center 1242

Description

This two-day core undergraduate design studio focuses on the role of the designer in public life, and the role architecture plays in shaping public life. Students address the legal, ethical, cultural, and political concerns that shape architecture practice through the development of a design project. Students use rigorous representation techniques, achieving a professional level of presentation. Students are expected to complete a professional portfolio and resume, along with their design work.

This studio examines issues of program, structure, and building skin to identify how public architecture represents itself as a cultural and political artifact. Rather than understanding architecture as autonomous from its social, cultural, and political environment, the studio posits that architecture must be integrated into the world, be informed by and transforming the social and technical systems that enable our built environments.

Students will review and study design approaches to expand their understanding of possibilities about new spatial dynamics informed by emerging social relationships, hybrid conditions and the social shaping of technology.

Readings, textual and visual case studies and site visits will vary, but always provide the background and theoretical grounding for the site and project analysis and final project development and portfolio presentation.

Project work is a cumulative archive of the process of problem analysis and design exploration that are translations of observations, facts and ideas ? all being made visible through diagrams, drawings and models. Parts of the semesters work will be conducted in groups, in group discussions and workshops and/or site visits; and which will all contribute to individual project work and portfolio development to be presented in a final critique.

This course requires students to have a laptop that meets SAIC's minimum hardware specs and runs the AIADO template.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Sophomore seminar course

Class Number

1026

Credits

6

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Location

Sullivan Center 1256

Description

In this class you will engage in a wide variety of professional practice activities to help prepare you for life after SAIC. In this course, each student will focus on advancing the design (layout, graphics, narratives, flow) of their portfolio so that it best conveys their individual design skills, experience and interests. Students will produce materials appropriate for delivery of their work across multiple formats (print, digital, web, etc), will learn how to edit/ arrange their materials to suit the specific context of application, and will create consistent design elements that can be shared across the full range of professional materials from portfolio, website, business cards, and other promotional materials. The course emphasizes hands-on, real- world professional activities and opportunities for emerging designers.

More information about Professional Practice and the Academic Spine curriculum can be found on the SAIC website: http://www.saic.edu/academics/departments/academicspine/

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Sophomore seminar course

Class Number

1593

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Location

Sullivan Center 1226

Description

Runway Meets Runway is an excursion into the intersection of fashion and object design via the accessories and technologies that we wear, carry on and carry with. Working equally in the Fashion Department and AIADO, the students use investigation, iteration and innovation to design and fabricate a collection of accessory designs using analog and digital tools from worlds of both fashion and of product design. This Junior Seminar course includes visits to studios of professional designers to supplement individual developments of objects, lines and looks. Students will develop a web presence appropriate to their emerging practice.
Sample Class Activities: Built around the idea that culture is something we carry, carry on, carry with, and carry out, the students will conceive a 'galactic proposal', design and produce the objects, then integrate them into a social media campaign that introduces them as young independent designers to the outside world. Emphasis is placed on developing a professional mindset and mission to all aspects of their work. Students are introduced to this though guest professionals in design, fashion, materials experts, and social media gurus. The class is built around making a signature collection through studio work. The class will also explore- Strategies for developing a collection, Basics of a signature brand Understanding market categories, Positioning and differentiation through presentation, Material/ technique demonstrations (both analog and digital), Vendor field trips, Roles of Intellectual Property, Transforming a personal social media identity into a professional presence, Branding objects, How to meet impossible deadlines, Studio photography on a shoestring budget -through demos, field trips, invited guests, intense studio nights, and the knowledge and expertise of faculty with deep experience developing individual design practices.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Sophomore seminar course

Class Number

1585

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Product Design

Location

Sullivan Center 1406A

Description

In this course, students will be introduced to techniques by which they can design environments (spaces, performances, exhibits, architecture, interiors, landscapes) with strong potential 101 narrative, storytelling, memories Borrowing from the theater, to animation, puppetry, stop motion or urban spectacle, the course will teach ways in which lighting, movements, interactivity, space hierarchy can make nonfigurative concepts accessible to wide audiences, A digital approach will be merged with analog fabrication and scaled prototyping of props and physical environments.

Chicago will serve as text book, Field trips to performances , outdoor spectacles, screenings , exhibition will be the teaching tools to understand light, scale, interaction between participants Readings and videos by Peter Brook, Jeremy Till, Olafur Eliason, Patrick Bouchain will set the stage for conversations about minimalism, technology, and the importance of details when telling a story through space.

Four short design assignments. inspired by the readings and field trips, will teach students the basics of orthographic projection, scale, additive and subtractive color mixing, materials, computer assisted design, and encourage them to apply their own making and designing skills to creating environments that resonate wilh a strong voice.

Class Number

1016

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Community & Social Engagement, Art and Science, Exhibition and Curatorial Studies

Location

Sullivan Center 1407

Description

This studio course challenges students to rethink conventional ideas of 'the future' using design, gaming strategies, and visualization methods to create compelling alternatives. Through live-action role play (LARP) and guided reflection, students collaboratively design an emergent world over the course of a semester. Each session introduces new challenges, pushing students to respond to evolving scenarios while considering their ethical implications. The class combines LARP tools, game strategy, design principles, scenario planning, and speculative design to explore speculative ideas and create immersive, thought-provoking futures. The course structure is episodic, encouraging creative problem-solving and ethical engagement throughout.
Some of the artists/ designers/ futurists / studios we will study in this course include artist, researcher, game designer Carina Erdmann, artist and designer Ash Eliza Smith who employs storytelling, worldbuilding, and speculative design to craft new realities. Chris Woebken and Elliott Montgomery's Extrapolation Factory explores experiential futures through workshops and object visualizations. Stuart Candy, a futurist, also contributes to the field. We will review and discuss works such as *War Game*, a future-set simulation; Alternate Reality Games at UChicago with Fourcast Lab; and *Papers*, a playful LARP that explores corporate culture.
Course work will include weekly practical and research based assignments: students will develop visualizations of spaces, objects, or graphics that bring to life their proposals related to scenarios for the game scenario and gather knowledge of a range of new technologies and the future scenarios they imply.

Class Number

2180

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Product Design, Game Design

Location

MacLean 402

Description

This studio course challenges students to rethink conventional ideas of 'the future' using design, gaming strategies, and visualization methods to create compelling alternatives. Through live-action role play (LARP) and guided reflection, students collaboratively design an emergent world over the course of a semester. Each session introduces new challenges, pushing students to respond to evolving scenarios while considering their ethical implications. The class combines LARP tools, game strategy, design principles, scenario planning, and speculative design to explore speculative ideas and create immersive, thought-provoking futures. The course structure is episodic, encouraging creative problem-solving and ethical engagement throughout.
Some of the artists/ designers/ futurists / studios we will study in this course include artist, researcher, game designer Carina Erdmann, artist and designer Ash Eliza Smith who employs storytelling, worldbuilding, and speculative design to craft new realities. Chris Woebken and Elliott Montgomery's Extrapolation Factory explores experiential futures through workshops and object visualizations. Stuart Candy, a futurist, also contributes to the field. We will review and discuss works such as *War Game*, a future-set simulation; Alternate Reality Games at UChicago with Fourcast Lab; and *Papers*, a playful LARP that explores corporate culture.
Course work will include weekly practical and research based assignments: students will develop visualizations of spaces, objects, or graphics that bring to life their proposals related to scenarios for the game scenario and gather knowledge of a range of new technologies and the future scenarios they imply.

Class Number

2180

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Product Design, Game Design

Location

MacLean 402

Description

This course explores what it means to engage in dialogue with an AI prompting system, focusing on the design of multi-modal interfaces and their effects on both the quality of interaction and the creation of prototypes and artifacts. Students will experiment with different 'languages' for AI communication, such as voice (tone, cadence, emotion), bodily gestures, and environmental factors (light, sound, humidity), as ways to influence¿and be influenced by¿AI behaviors. Through a series of hands-on experiments, the course navigates the space between biological ('human') and cultural ('AI') processes, offering new perspectives on hybrid outcomes co-generated by these interactions. The aim is to foster a critical understanding of emerging AI systems, positioning students to engage with AI thoughtfully rather than as a mere technological tool.
The course builds on Cultural and Feminist Studies, as a way to depart from the dichotomy human/AI, and move towards their understanding as entities that collaborate and promt each other. References include Donna Haraway's Cyborg Manifesto, Langdon Winner's politics of artifacts, which addresses the ways in which technology embeds social and cultural values; Rosi Braidotti's work on Posthumanism. Theoretical foundations will be accompanied by the discussion of existing practices and past interactions, including the work of John Funge, Sherry Turkle, Meredith Broussard, and the study of other formats, linked to the design of bots for social media use.
Across the semester, there will be a range of assignment asking students to explore the impact of different non-normative `languages¿ -such as body, sight, the environment, on the crafting of new dialogic modes with AI.

Prerequisites

Open to Seniors & Grad Students

Class Number

2182

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Product Design, Community & Social Engagement, Art/Design and Politics

Location

MacLean 402

Description

This course explores what it means to engage in dialogue with an AI prompting system, focusing on the design of multi-modal interfaces and their effects on both the quality of interaction and the creation of prototypes and artifacts. Students will experiment with different 'languages' for AI communication, such as voice (tone, cadence, emotion), bodily gestures, and environmental factors (light, sound, humidity), as ways to influence¿and be influenced by¿AI behaviors. Through a series of hands-on experiments, the course navigates the space between biological ('human') and cultural ('AI') processes, offering new perspectives on hybrid outcomes co-generated by these interactions. The aim is to foster a critical understanding of emerging AI systems, positioning students to engage with AI thoughtfully rather than as a mere technological tool.
The course builds on Cultural and Feminist Studies, as a way to depart from the dichotomy human/AI, and move towards their understanding as entities that collaborate and promt each other. References include Donna Haraway's Cyborg Manifesto, Langdon Winner's politics of artifacts, which addresses the ways in which technology embeds social and cultural values; Rosi Braidotti's work on Posthumanism. Theoretical foundations will be accompanied by the discussion of existing practices and past interactions, including the work of John Funge, Sherry Turkle, Meredith Broussard, and the study of other formats, linked to the design of bots for social media use.
Across the semester, there will be a range of assignment asking students to explore the impact of different non-normative `languages¿ -such as body, sight, the environment, on the crafting of new dialogic modes with AI.

Prerequisites

Open to Seniors & Grad Students

Class Number

2182

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Product Design, Community & Social Engagement, Art/Design and Politics

Location

MacLean 402

Description

Within a structured studio environment, advanced-level students develop, refine, and execute an individual furniture concept. Students progress from the conceptual design stage, through design development to the actualization of a work that can be `tested? for public review. Students are challenged to develop concise and persuasive arguments regarding the motivation, development, execution, and dissemination of their design project. Through the articulation and advocacy of their design work, students define their role as a dynamic catalyst operating within real-world social-, political-, monetary-, and cultural-economies. Students are admitted via a portfolio application reviewed by the faculty.

Prerequisites

DESOB 4025

Class Number

1283

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Location

Sullivan Center 1242

Description

This seminar will explore definitions and characteristics of interiority, historically and theoretically. It is not a survey of interiors but an exploration of the condition of interiority, physically, experientially and culturally. Physically, interiority is the product of boundaries and the tension of boundaries defined; experientially we spend the majority of our lives 'inside'. Culturally and psychologically, it implies habitation, the way we exist within inhabited space, how we negotiate boundedness and openness and the relationship between ourselves and spaces. The seminar will examine these conditions, looking particularly at the challenges to the notion of the interior offered by new technologies. The course will be conducted as an open seminar with presentations by faculty and students, and will form a basis for the self-development of critical and analytical skills in terms of exploring interior spaces, both literally and metaphorically.

Class Number

1027

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Location

Sullivan Center 1407

Description

Industrial robots and digital fabrication processes are more accessible to artists and designers than ever before. Students will learn to create and simulate complex tool paths for programming a Kuka industrial robot using Rhino, Grasshopper, and Kuka PRC. In-class projects will include scaffolding exercises to develop skills with software and hardware with an eye towards learning skills appropriate for additive manufacturing processes. Readings will focus on the ?why? of using industrial robots in an art or design practice, featuring Joris Laarman, Madeline Gannon, Wendell Castle, Dirk Vander Kooij, and other contemporary creatives engaging in robotic fabrication. This course requires students to have a laptop that meets SAIC's minimum hardware specs and runs the AIADO template.

Class Number

1287

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Furniture Design

Location

280 Building Rm 127A

Description

In this course we focus on a participatory placemaking project in North Lawndale where community members and student artists gain skills in natural building techniques with cob, straw-bale, willow, rammed earth, hemp, and brick. The studio works within the constraints of the local conditions to determine material specification, use, reuse, and recycling or upcycling options available for on-site construction. Co-creation activities are at the heart of the design and building process, which requires a detailed understanding of the unique capacities of the community with which the students collaborate.
The studio explores the work of artists, designers and thinkers such as the ones who received the 'Global Award for Sustainable Architecture' or are part of the Design for the Common Good (DCG) coalition. Guest presenters also facilitate hands-on demonstration and workshops in alternative building materials and methods to which students and community members participate together. This includes, among others: cob construction materials and techniques, live hedges purpose and benefits, living walls and bug hotels, brick making and firing, material upcycling.
Students will work collaboratively on one to three design projects involving community members. At the end of the semester they will present their material research, building prototypes, design, construction strategies, timeline and budget proposal to a group of stakeholders who will give them feedback on the feasibility of their proposal.

Class Number

1032

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Community & Social Engagement, Public Space, Site, Landscape, Sustainable Design

Location

Sullivan Center 1240

Description

SAIC Design @ Homan Square combines professional practice design experience with community activism. Operating out of SAIC's facility in the Nichols tower at Homan Square, the course engages students in a focused dialogue on social project implementation in Chicago and provides the tools and frameworks to realize those projects. Functioning as a pro bono 'design consultancy' where the residents, small businesses and community groups of North Lawndale act as 'clients', each job is treated as a discrete project involving research, knowledge-sharing and design action. The projects will cover a two-semester cycle, with each semester being offered as an independent class. This course, running in the Spring semester, will emphasize the last three stages of the design thinking process; ideation, prototyping, and testing. course class will focus on proposing and implementing solutions that address the contextual research carried out in the first semester. These solutions will be presented to, and critiqued by, the 'clients' who are the main stakeholders, North Lawndale community leaders, as well as SAIC faculty. Recognizing that making is a research process that reveals new problems, the reflexive activity of proposing, making, presenting and critiquing solutions generates new knowledge as well as physical outcomes. It is this collective 'new intelligence' that is the primary goal of the course.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Sophomore-level or above.

Class Number

1276

Credits

3

Department

Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

Area of Study

Economic Inequality & Class, Community & Social Engagement, Collaboration

Location

Sullivan Center 1258