Abstract:

The rigor of educating individuals to practice architecture increasingly demands an approach that includes blending lessons from disparate fields of study. Taking architecture in its broadest sense, as the masterful establishment of complex assemblies, we see an intrinsic multidisciplinary nature within the greater architecture / design culture. In trying to support this multidisciplinary program of study, many colleges and universities have developed design / build curricula that involve students in the physical construction of small buildings. This approach demands that students bring a full scale building into being, and in ideal conditions, involves them from the conceptual stage through finished construction. The design / build process deliberately confronts students with the unexpected and demands improvised responses to prejudiced conditions.

Two projects, from two universities, have yielded a model for engaging disparate disciplines in cross-college multidisciplinary projects and improving the quality of design/build based architectural education. These projects, both developed through an indirect association with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon competitions, bring together students and faculty from within each university’s existing network of disciplines to develop a physical artifact that commonly supports each discipline’s individual research agenda. These projects have paired fields as different as architecture with biomedical sciences, engineering management with geological sciences, and industrial design with veterinary sciences.

The two universities and their associated projects revolve around the development of small, portable, solar powered shelter-laboratories. Although development of these portable laboratories is a collaborative process between various disciplines, the model used to bring the disciplines together is based on the classic relationship that an architect has with a patron; in essence, college ‘Q’ hires college ‘X’ to develop a laboratory, whereas the design, construction, fund raising, media, and publications generated is a collaborative effort. In both projects, the cross college relationship yielded a high level of inquiry, debate, and questioning of fundamental pedagogical elements, which necessitated each discipline seeing familiar things in new ways.

Keywords:

Architecture, Design / Build, Solar Decathlon, Craft, Multidisciplinary.