Design Foundation
 

DFN 1000 School of Architecture Orientation

2-0-2

This course provides new students with the educational requirements and the licensing procedures for design professionals. Development of the built environment and the study of professional practice are also introduced.
 

DFN 1001 Design Foundation I

0-12-4

Students investigate and document the spaces dedicated to a familiar activity as a means for developing basic skills and sensitivities toward the role of architecture in enhancing the quality of life.
 

DFN 1002 Design Foundation II

0-12-4

Prerequisites: DFN 1000, DFN 1001
This course employs investigation, comparison, and evaluation of alternatives in order to understand the relationship between behavior and architectural form.
 

DFN 2003 Design Foundation III

1-9-4

Prerequisite: DFN 1002
This course concentrates on shaping, organizing, and comparing architectural space using strategies developed by Architects.
 

DFN 2004 Design Foundation IV

0-9-3

Prerequisite: DFN 2003
The culmination of the Design Foundation incorporates and builds upon all previous course work. It adds the fundamental concept of typology to previous experiences with architectural space, composition, and program. Students investigate layers of functional zoning, geometric organization, three dimensional configuration, openings, physical texture, color, character, and symbolic meaning.
 

DFN 2111 Architecture Culture I: Prehistory through Gothic with an Introduction to Non-Western Traditions

3-0-3

The history of architecture is presented as a collection of buildings, each of which is seen as a concrete solution to a given set of culturally derived problems and issues. These buildings, as precedents, are not to be analyzed on the basis of composition or aesthetic image, but rather as design solutions to complex socio-cultural problems. History is used as a didactic device to aid the design student in problem solving by presenting examples of how architects have successfully transformed the intellectual concerns of their day into built form.
 

DFN 2211 Introduction to Structures

3-0-3

Prerequisite: MATH 2253
This course is an introduction to architectural structures with an emphasis on statics and strength of materials concepts. Focus is on force systems, shear and moment diagrams and determination of section properties.