University of Virginia
School of Architecture

Tuesday/Thursday
9:00-10:30 a.m.
Campbell Hall Room 135

Eric Field
[emfield@virginia.edu]
Room 131, 924-4033
Office Hours: Wed. 10-11:30am.

Syllabus & Schedule

Part I - The Technology of Making
Week 1 - Thursday January 15

Introduction and Conceptual Foundation
--- ar·chi·tect and tech·nol·o·gy
--- Technology Transfer
--- Geddes, Mumford, Jordan - Technics
--- Eliel and Eero Saarineen
--- Tools, Craft, and Industrial Modernism
--- Machine, Tool, and Machine Tool
--- Craft by Machine
- Can craft be achieved through machine description as effectively, innovatively, and creatively as by hand?
- Does today’s “Machine” reveal a new approach toward craft, using technology and a designer’s sensibility on Numeric Control?

Concepts in Numerical Control
--- Geometry and vectors
--- Parametric description
--- Cartesian geometry, 2-, 3-, and 5- axis motion, degrees of freedom
--- Tooling, Process, and Control
--- Types of CNC

Readings: - The Art and Craft of the Machine - Frank Lloyd Wright [toolkit]
-Machines, Utilities, and "The Machine", Technics and Civilization,
Lewis Mumford, p.9-12 [toolkit]
- Constructing the Future – Nixon, Kaplicky (Future Systems) [toolkit]

Week 2 - Tuesday January 20

2-Axis CNC - the Laser Cutter - hands on lab introduction
Discussion of laser technology, materials, techniques, tolerances, diffusion, specificity,
Software geometric control, software laser (color/line) control, Maintenance, Safety

Readings: - ARO Shure Studio book, December 2001 [CNC lab]
- Universal Systems M-300 Laser Cutter manual (skim) [CNC lab]

Assignment: Project 1 - Explore 2-axis laser control.

Thursday January 22

Lab: Lab discussion / Hands-on work with the Laser Cutter.

Week 3 - Tuesday January 27

"Describe and Make"- Tour the Physics Technical Services Facility
- NC milling and lathing
- Direct description - onboard NC

Readings: - Learning from the Product Makers, Patrick Mays, Architecture 3/99,
p.132-4 [FA-Periodicals: NA1.A326]

Assignment: Research an article on any NC technique and something made with it.
Bring it to the next class for discussion.

Thursday January 29

CNC in the manufacturing industries
- The first automated fabrication machine - 1725
- Henry Ford and the Model-T
- Modern Techniques - cutting, carving, turning, molds/casting, stretch-forming
- Rapid Prototyping technology - 3D printers, Stereo Lithography, FDM
- Robotics in manufacturing and building construction
- CAD, CAM, CAE, CIM

Readings: - Techniques in CNC articles collection [CNC lab]

Week 4 - Tuesday February 3

Discussion: Project 1 due in class - presentations and discussion

Thursday February 5

3-Axis CNC - the Mill and Router - hands-on introduction
Discussion of Machine-Tools. Tools and bits; Feeds and speeds; Axes and machine control;
G & M codes; Post-processors; CNC programming; 2-axis/3-axis paradigms; speculation on 5- and 6- axis systems. Maintenance. Safety.

Readings: - The Machinery’s Handbook (reference) [CNC lab]
- CNC Programming Handbook (reference) [CNC lab]

Assignment: Project 2 - Explore 3-Axis description

Week 5 - Tuesday February 10

Discussion: Tools, Materials, and NC Code - more details on CNC machining.

Thursday February 12
Lab: Lab discussion / Hands-on work with the Router and Mill.

Week 6 - Tuesday February 17

CAD / CAM software
- Solid and Surface Modeling, Features and Parametrics
- Creating and translating 3-dimensional object descriptions
- Modeling Process rather than Geometry

Thursday February 19

Lab: Lab discussion / Hands-on work with CAM software.
Describing Object and Process.

Week 7 - Tuesday February 24

Lab: Lab discussion / Hands-on work with the Router and Mill via CAM software.
Translating and fabricating complex 3-D conditions.

Thursday February 26

Discussion: Project 2 due in class - presentations and discussion

Part II - The Art of Making

Week 8 - Tuesday March 2

Tools, Fabrication, and Design
- Tools and the Architect
- The English Arts & Crafts movement
- The Bauhaus, Industrialization, and early Modernism

Readings: - On the Origins of the Bauhaus, Bauhaus, Magdalena Droste [toolkit]
- Responses to Machines, Building Systems, Industrialization, and
Architecture, J. Russel, ch.3, p 69-98 [toolkit]
- The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Walter Benjamin, Illuminations, , p. 217-51 [toolkit]

Assignment: Project 3 – Describe and make a well-known design detail

Thursday March 4

Form and Shape - CNC in Architecture
- Architectures of Curves - Asymptote, office dA, UN Studio, …
- Sculptural form and historic restoration
- 3-dimensional scanning technology, stone cutting, casting

Readings: - Computer-Aided Gothic - New tools replicate stone ornamentation for
New York's Jewish Museum addition, Architecture, 11/93, p.123-7
[NA1.A326]
- Computer Aided Manufacturing of Custom Landscape Elements -
The William Smith Clark Memorial, Landscape Architecture, 3/94
[SB469.L3]
- The Computer School, Architecture, 9/00 p. 93-107 [NA1.A326]
- Harvard GSD Offices, Architecture, 9/01 p.117-119 [NA1.A326]

Week 9 – Spring Recess March 8-12

Week 10 - Tuesday March 16

Complexity and Control - Frank Gehry's office
- Idea to reality - How Bilbao was built
- Data Processing Architectural Design: Jim Glymph lecture, Spring 2001
- Catia software system - Databases of description

Readings: - Frank O. Gehry, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Coosje Van Bruggen,
1997, [The concept of a snake…] pp. 40-57,
and Appendix I & II, pp. 135-141 [N 3213.B78 1997] [Toolkit]
- Atlantic Star, Architectural Review, Catherine Slessor, 12/97,
p.30-42 [NA1.A67]
- Building Bilbao, Architectural Review, Annette LeCuyer, 12/97,
p.43-45 [NA1.A67]

Assignment: Semester Project - Design a prototype part, process, or system
Part 1 - define your research

Thursday March 18

Constructing “Process” – SHoP Architects, Erik Demaine
Discussion: - Art, Industrialization, and Computation
- The work of SHoP Architects
- The art and science of folding – Erik Demaine

Week 11 - Tuesday March 23

Tour of Piedmont Metal Fabricators - Louisa, Va.
- Large-scale CNC laser, brake, and punch
- Steelwork design and fabrication

Thursday March 25

Discussion: Project 3 due - presentations
Students also present initial research ideas for semester projects

Week 12 - Tuesday March 30

Systems, Kits of Parts, and Numeric Control
- The philosophy of LEGO™
- The American-System Ready Cut - Frank Lloyd Wright
- Eames and Koenig - the California Case Study Houses
- Furniture systems
- Mass-produced housing
- House_n project - MIT

Readings: - Office Revolution - a new furniture system by Asymptote, Architecture, 7/01, p.94-101 [NA1.A326]
- Home Work - the House_n project, Sara Hart, Architecture,
9/99, p.133-7 [NA1.A326]
- Cosmos: The First Open System for Housing,
Architectural & Engineering News, 5/69, p.37-40 [toolkit]
- Der neue Produktionstil - und sein Stil, Bauwelt, 1997, p.2544-5 [toolkit]

Assignment: Semester Project Part 2 - Produce a Fabrication Prototype

Thursday April 1

Mass Customization and Small Variations – Numeric Control enters Design
- Consumer products manufacturing
- Variable Form - ShoP and PS1
- Gehry revisted - the “fish and snake” idea
- Gregg Lynn and the Blob - algorithmic and numeric descriptors

Readings: - We are all prosumers now, Blueprint, 1/98, p. 26-7 [NA1.B37]
- The Smart Hands of Helga Jongerius, Metropolis, 7/02,
p. 109-13, 157-8 [N 6535 .N5 M47]
- Building a Better Blob, Joseph Giovanni, Architecture, 9/00, p. 126-9
- Gregg Lynn Form, Architecture, 9/00, p.99 [NA1.A326]
Part III - Innovations / Inventions

Week 13- Tuesday April 6

Tour nCore - 3D Rapid Prototyping Facility - Lynchburg, Va.

Thursday April 8

Computer Programming - Algorithmic Patterns and Form
- Natural patterns and fractal geometry
- Advanced geometry

Week 14 - Tuesday April 13

The Computer as a Tool of Invention
- Innovations on geometry and formal thinking
- Algorithms and generating form
- Material Response and Manipulation
- Process and system
Discussion: Preliminary Review of Semester Prototypes

Assignment: Semester Project Part 3 - Fabricate your Final Result

Thursday April 15

Lab Work / Consultations

Week 15 - April 20 and 22

Lab Work / Consultations

Week 16 - April 27

Conclusions

Finals Week:

Final Presentations of Semester Projects

Graduation Week:

Exhibit of projects