The Master of Architecture Thesis
Master of Architecture degree candidates in the M. Arch.
II and M. Arch. III programs must complete both a written
thesis document and design thesis under the supervision of
a committee made up of graduate faculty from the Department
and the University.
The following steps inform and shape the thesis process.
In the fall of the first professional year, students enroll
in ARC 634 Architecture Theory & Research, a course that explores a broad
range of theoretical discourse, providing students with a
solid foundation in architectural theory and its critical
application. During the spring semester, students take
the ARC 636 Design and Research Methods course that focuses
on the craft of writing, research methodologies, and strategies
to select and investigate their thesis site and develop their
thesis program. Students are empowered with the methodologies
to pursue their written thesis investigation in terms of:
1. Developing the thesis topic or “question”
2. Generating an abstract that responds to the thesis question
and outlines a method of inquiry
3. Creating writing groups for peer review
4. Assessing one’s method of inquiry
5. Developing the thesis draft document and
6. Editing, revising and presenting the thesis document.
The written thesis in conference paper,
ACSA National Meeting format stresses the exploration, presentation and publication of
a theoretical position presented to a distinguished
panel as part of the activity of the Architecture 701 Pre-Thesis
Design studio. Thesis inquiry is also supported early in the
design studio sequence. In the ARC 601 and 701 design studios,
students write response papers that “problematize a
context” and speculatively respond to the “problem”
that their design project seeks to address. This process is
supported by internationally recognized visiting scholars
that work with the students in the ARC 601 and 701 studios
that are taught vertically during the first half of the semester.
Recent visiting scholars include (2001) Artist Robert Irwin,
Psychologist James Hillman, Ruth Berktold, Asymptote Architects
New York, (2002) Susan Snyder and George Thomas, University
of Pennsylvania, Stephan Behnisch and David Cook, Behnisch,
Behnisch & Partner Stuttgart and Annette LeCuyer of the
University of Michigan, and (2004) Doug Garofalo, Garofalo Architects.
Graduate Departmental Seminars and elective course work stimulate
thesis inquiry and include extensive writing exercises in
multiple forms. Students are expected to develop an area of
thesis inquiry and identify seminars and independent study
elective(s) throughout the curriculum that will prepare them
for their thesis. After the spring semester mid-term of the
second year, students present thesis proposals to the faculty.
These presentations must include evidence of the topic’s
viability in terms of: a statement of, and response to, their
thesis question and an outline of their proposed method of
inquiry including existing scholarship related to their question
expressed in the form of an annotated bibliography. Committees
are established by semester’s end in consultation with
thesis students and the faculty.
Thesis research and design project site selection must occur
during the summer to assure timely completion of the thesis.
Students take ARC 700 Thesis Study independently under
the supervision of their thesis committee chair during the
summer term to pursue the development of the written thesis
document until its presentation during the fall term of the
second year as part of the ARC 701 Pre-Thesis Design studio.
Students may also take an additional three credits of independent
study to select, document and analyze their site.
During the thesis period, students meet regularly with their
thesis committees to receive advice and consultation on the
position of their written research and design inquiry. Students
present their research findings in the form of a well-crafted
journal article presented in a conference paper format to
students, faculty and invited guests during the fall term
of the second year. In the final spring semester, students
enroll in ARC 702 Thesis Design Studio to complete the thesis
design and incorporate their design findings into their written
thesis document in terms of a critical addendum that forensically
examines their design outcomes in an effort to understand
the efficacy of the design and point to its relevance. The
ARC 702 studio emphasizes design ideation, process and craft
while supporting the student’s design inquiry and content.
Whereas the written theses must meet the standards, format,
and procedures established by the Department of Architecture
and Interior Design, thesis topics are chosen by the student
to explore a particular area of personal inquiry. The thesis
topic, subject matter, methodology, and content are developed
by the student in consultation with their committee and their
studio and seminar instructors. The thesis is valued as a
rigorous culminating and synthesizing activity. The graduate
faculty and student community expects that thesis activity
should be of exceptional quality and its scholarship should
become the basis for publication in scholarly journals and
presentation at professional meetings.
AREAS OF THE CURRICULUM
Design
Architecture graduate study at Miami University is organized
around a rigorous sequence of studio experiences. Students
entering the two-year program enroll in ARC 601 during their
first semester. This studio incorporates design problem solving
methodologies and critical analysis. In the context of intensive
reading, writing and design exercises tested through a process
of individual and group critiques, students are expected to
demonstrate strong critical thinking, design ideation and
craft.
In the second semester, students enroll in ARC 602, a comprehensive
studio in which students build upon their ARC 601 experiences
and enables them to realize their designs through the design development/pre-construction document phase. Students in this studio become
familiar with all aspects of design integration, including
program assessment, site planning, structure, envelope and
environmental systems. Instruction in the studio is amplified
by frequent on-site visits and consultation with staff specialists
from regionally-recognized architectural firms.
In the third semester, students enroll in the Pre-Thesis Studio
ARC 701. The ARC 701 studio includes both directed projects
and thesis project development. A portion of the semester
is spent on the design of assigned projects under the direction
of the ARC 601 and 701 studio instructors, in collaboration
with nationally recognized visiting scholars that have included
architects, artists, psychologists and architectural critics
from outside the university who engage in criticism, studio
instruction and thesis document presentation. Students in
the Pre-Thesis Studio are expected to balance time spent on
assigned projects while finalizing their thesis written research,
presented in mid-November, and initiating preliminary design
investigations related to the thesis project that will be
reviewed at the end of the fall semester.
In the final semester, ARC 702 students develop their thesis
designs under the direction of their thesis committees and
studio instructor and present their projects to a thesis jury
comprised of thesis committee members, visiting critics and
nationally recognized invited guests.
History and Theory
All students in the graduate program at Miami are expected
to have mastered course work in the history of architecture,
including 20th-century architecture. Those who have not taken
at least a survey of 20th-century architecture in their undergraduate
curricula are required to make up that deficiency as soon
as possible, usually during the first semester of the program.
In the first semester of the two-year program, all students
enroll in ARC 634 Architectural Theory and Research, a seminar
in architectural theory and research that offers valuable
grounding in architectural theory that enables students to
establish a theoretical framework from which to engage subsequent
course work. In the second semester, students take the
ARC 636 Design and Research Methods, a course that focuses
on the craft of writing, research methodologies, and strategies
to select and investigate their thesis site and develop their
thesis program. Students are required to take Departmental
Graduate Seminars in the areas of theory, criticism, the history
and philosophy of architecture and architectural practices.
Current and recent seminar choices have included period study
of Western and other architectural traditions and courses
including, but not limited to: Topics in Architectural Theory,
Aesthetics, Socially Constructed Architectural Practices,
Vernacular Architecture, European and Non-Western Design Theory
and Practices, Landscape and Urban Design Theory and Digital
Mediation Theory among others. Additional electives in the
second year, as well as the opportunity for directed independent
study, make it possible for each student to explore a rigorous
agenda of personal inquiry.
Structures and Environmental Systems
Courses in structures, materials and methods of construction,
and environmental systems provide a requisite technical context
for strong design ideation. Emphasis is placed on developing
a synthetic relationship between technology and design. Classroom
instruction is enhanced by on-site visits to construction
sites, building product manufacturers, research facilities
and related industries. Solar-assisted heating, natural ventilation,
and daylighting concepts are explored so that students may
develop responsible and environmentally sustainable buildings.
Courses in digital mediation encourage personal computer application
[see below]. A range of electives and independent study options
permit students interested in technology to focus on these
special interests. The Center for Building Science Research
(described below) has on-campus and off-campus research facilities
and maintains a wide range of experimental equipment used
in energy-related classes and by students working on their
own independent research projects.
Graphics and Computer Applications
Graphic communication enables one to express ideas in a graphic
medium and use drawing as a means to represent design ideation
and foster self-expression. Attaining graphic skills is fundamental
to architecture design education. The Department currently
offers a four-semester graphic communication sequence. Students
in the M. Arch. III program begin their exploration of and
ability to utilize graphic media concepts and techniques in
the first year. The sequence is carefully integrated
into the pedagogy of the 500 level foundation and design studios.
Graphic Media concepts continue their development and integration
in the second year design studios of the professional program
and in departmental graduate seminars such as Mind and Medium
that explore digital mediation theory and experience. Emphasis
is placed on developing student awareness of descriptive representational
media in the context of the act of making and, in parallel
with, the design studio. For example, in the ARC 581 foundation
studio, a student learning orthographic drawing concepts would
be using those concepts to understand, edit and describe the
object they are making, linking orthographic concepts with
design experiences.
The respective pedagogical goals of the four-semester sequence
are as follows:
ARC 613 introduces graphic media as a design
tool. Emphasis is placed on the development of drawing as
a component of 3-D analysis and will include:
free-hand, orthographic, paraline, perspective, drafting
techniques and photography.
ARC 614 emphasizes the use and integration
of traditional and digital media as tools of 3-D
analysis and synthesis in design process and representation
that includes orthographics, perspective, sketching, drafting,
photography, rendering and web design.
ARC 615 introduces computer drawing/drafting
(AutoCAD) with the intention of fueling discussion and investigating
the computer as a design tool. The course also encourages
experimentation in mixed media, building upon the traditional
skills of drawing, model-building and rendering and their
integration with digital media as a powerful design and graphic
tool.
ARC 616 introduces computer 3-D modeling
software to investigate the computer as a design tool. Exploration
in mixed media considering traditional wet media (marker and
watercolor) and their integration with digital media provides
a powerful design and graphic tool. Continued studies in perspective
and orthographic drawing as well as highly advanced rendering
techniques involving watercolor, marker and the computer are
emphasized.
Additionally, the Department instituted a series of graphics
sprint courses that run for 5-7 weeks and focus on a single
medium or digital media topic area. Full-time faculty, adjunct
professional architecture graphic artists and qualified graduate
students teach these courses. The list of sprint course topics
changes from semester to semester, depending on the demand
and staffing. Sprint course offerings range from courses in
watercolor and marker rendering to computer courses that explore
2-D graphics, 3-D formal exploration
and animation. The sprint course format allows students to
develop their representational skills in a wide range of areas
through short courses that can be taken early and throughout
a student's period of study at Miami.
In our most recent accreditation visit (fall 1998), the NAAB accreditation team cited these courses as a novel approach to this curricular area and as one of the unique strengths of Miami's architectural program.
The department maintains several support spaces that are directly
related to teaching graphics courses and model building skills.
These facilities, which are described in greater detail elsewhere,
include:
· The Architectural Design and Visualization (ADVis)
Laboratory
· The hand graphics teaching lab
· The media room
· The Department shop
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