Jonathan Solomon

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.

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.

This 6-credit (two day) design studio is an opportunity for summative, integrated undergraduate work in architecture. Teaching leads students through theoretical and historical precedent, site and program analysis, to a design proposal that addresses contemporary issues in the built environment with a focus on architecture and how it serves the public. Students are expected to produce comprehensive design proposals that express and embody conceptual positions. Students are expected to respond to topical briefs put forward by their teacher that incorporate knowledge from areas of architectural practice such as preservation, interior design, or urbanism; and that respond to specific, contemporary challenges and opportunities in the built environment such as sustainability, public space, or the impacts of advanced technology. Class work includes precedent studies and site analysis, site visits, and preparation and presentation of a design proposal. At the conclusion of the semester, students participate in the Studio Show, an exhibition of capstone work organized by faculty and students in the department's gallery. Studnets and faculty participate as critics in concluding events the Department's Architecture Studios as part of their coursework. This course requires 12 credits of Architecture Studio: Practice to register. This course requires students to have a laptop that meets SAIC's minimum hardware specifications and runs the department software template including Rhino and Revit.

In this course the participants will explore and see historic American interiors either as on site visits in Chicago or as classroom powerpoint presentation.

Visiting appropriate Chicago interiors will give the participants an opportunity to stand in the interiors and discuss what makes them important time pieces of American history and preservation. This course is an examination of American interior design, furniture, and decorative arts from the mid-19c to the mid-1990s. The emphasis will be on the architectural and decorative interior styles (both high and common) as seen in person in Chicago but as representative of prevalent U.S. usage and their possible European, Middle Eastern, and Asian influences. Both public and private interiors will be visited and discussed. On site visits are essential.

Participants should expect to discuss the readings, on site visits, in class images as well as write three papers during the semester.