• Ethics and Stewardship (ARPL 783 Ethics)

    This course critically examines the responsibility of architects and planners as authors of the built environment. Students explore their moral imperatives of environmental decisions which support professional guidelines. Environmental ethics is framed as a symbiotic relationship between the conservancy of human dignity, the environment, and society through investigations into various scales of manmade structures from cities to buildings.

  • Green Codes (ARPL 539 Resilience)

    Green codes, ratings, and standards is a survey course. Through six modules, students will apply a building science based systemic approach to green building code & supporting standards, and the LEED rating system. Students will examine local green construction and energy codes and initiatives to better understand international systems. Guest lectures with experts in the field will enhance reading and class discussion. Students will demonstrate their knowledge of green building systems during a capstone presentation.

  • LEED Lab (ARPL 539 Resilience)

    This is a laboratory for students to experiment with various quantifiable synergies and policy revisions in order to reach the most optimal sustainable goals towards Certifying existing campus facilities through direct collaboration between students, faculty and third-party green organizations. LEED Lab implements the LEED Existing Buildings Operations and Maintenance (O+M) rating system within existing campus buildings seeking LEED certification for the first time and LEED Certified buildings seeking recertification.

  • Introduction to Resilience & Climate Adaptation (ARPL 539 Resilience)

    Architects are increasingly expected to design to third-party certification platforms focused on general sustainability, but the reality of climate change compels designers to understand climate risks as a specific subset of site-responsive design. This class will use the RELi rating system, as a framework for understanding and addressing risk, as it relates to architecture. The foundation of RELi is systems thinking, which will be used as a basis for understanding the interactivity among design solutions. The class will utilize discussions, in-class exercises, homework assignments, and guest lecturers to cover topics of climate risk assessment, hazard preparation, hazard mitigation, and long-term adaptation.

  • Engaging with Sustainable Living (ARPL 594 Resilience)

    This independent study allows students pursuing the Sustainability Minor as well as students generally interested in campus sustainability to engage the campus community in achieving the university’s sustainability goals. Through a guided, hands-on approach, students expand upon existing sustainability initiatives on campus and identify new opportunities to advance sustainability. This independent study serves as a bridge between the Office of Campus Sustainability, other sustainability and environmental organizations on campus, and the student body, faculty, and staff.

  • Embodied Carbon in the Built Environment (APRL 539 Decarbonization)

    The equivalent of adding an entire New York City to the world, every month, is expected for 40 years. How can you help drive that change? Embodied Carbon is the carbon dioxide emissions associated with the construction process and manufacturing of materials used to build. Embodied Carbon is major component of the building industry’s influence on mitigating climate change. This course will aim to provide the tools to discuss the current technology and methodology surrounding embodied carbon reduction strategies.

  • Lighting Analysis (ARPL 530 Interiors)

    Through an optimized use of natural and artificial lighting, a building’s environmental impacts can be reduced significantly while improving energy efficiency, and the well-being and visual comfort of the occupants. This course aims at providing the tools necessary to integrate lighting in the overall design of a building. More advanced lighting design topics such as advanced glazing/shading technologies, and BIM assessment tools for lighting analysis and management will be discussed as the course increases in complexity of lighting analyses through concurrent ‘applications’, ‘Modules’ and quizzes. The culmination of the course will be an examination and integration into an actual application. This course will also serve as a platform for Autodesk’s PILOT Building Performance Analysis Certificate which can be earned through the required ‘Modules’ of the course. This course will also serve as a research platform for determining the accuracy between three software tools: DIVA, Sefaira, and
    3DStudio Max, and Ecotect.

  • Equity in the Built Environment (ARPL 539 Urban)

    How do we realize a future of sustainable communities for all? Equity is a key part of creating healthy, resilient, and sustainable communities. This course will dive deep into the issues of inequity and segregation that continue to plague U.S. cities and communities and the policy and structures that have led to inequity in the built environment. The course will explore the historical context, policy decisions and implementation practices that have led to the development of a built environment that separates populations and continues to enable systemic racism. We will pull from leaders in the environmental and social justice worlds to understand the voices who are not being heard in the sustainability movement and review tools that can be used for practice with a focus on housing.

  • Translating the New Urban Agenda (ARPL 539 Urban)

    Translating the new urban agenda is an introduction to the rapidly evolving relevance framework for professionals engaged in shaping the built environment. The course explores design principles for meeting the challenges of 21st century cities.

  • Cognition and Architecture (ARPL 539 Health)

    How do buildings make people feel? How do they influence our behavior? This class explores new findings in neuroscience and new technologies that can help us better understand architecture’s impact on people. Biometric tools like eye tracking and facial expression analysis, are widely used today. What happens when we apply them to architecture? This course will experiment using software common in signage and web design to predict how people look at buildings and also give students an opportunity to suggest improvements to public places based on their new understandings of how we function. The class is ultimately about learning about ourselves and hidden biological processes that drive our behavior.

  • WELL-Being (ARPL 539 Health)

    Students will deepen their understanding of the many ways the built environment impacts human health and well-being. The course will use the WELL Building Standard as a framework to study ways in which design of environments can be improved focusing on seven categories: Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Fitness, Comfort and Mind. This course will explore the needs of human society in an effort to improve human health and well-being.