INTEGRATIVE DESIGN: A CASE STUDY

A new building was planned for the campus and the architecture department wanted a course focusing on the construction of the new building to teach integrative design in the fall semester. Being asked to do so, the author agreed to plan and teach the course without being given many specifics, but assuming the time line for construction would allow the subject matter to be taught and that site visits would be allowed, as the contractor was very interested in being able to use the process as a teaching tool for the school. This paper will describe the course and how it went, including what worked and what did not, along with the mishaps along the way. The course was planned around weekly or biweekly site visits, but the group found out they were not allowed on site after being told they'd be able to do so. A large part of the course was to be the viewing of systems being integrated on site, but the course ended before structural steel even went up. Even the mock up was not complete in place until December, too late to be discussed. Due to these conditions, the course had to revised as it was in process to find other ways for the integration of systems and materials to be presented and learned. The course then focused on 1) using the construction drawing set that had been obtained from the contractor and 2) viewing the site activity out of windows of the library. The students were still responsible for keeping field notes of activities and conditions. They also chose areas of the building to make 3-D views from the 2-D construction drawings, integrating the architectural, structural, HVAC and mechanical drawings. The issues of this course, changes made along the way, and what was learned are all points addressed in this paper. The results will show that even while reacting and making necessary revisions due to the changing conditions the course proved to be a valuable learning experience.