Architecture Program Report Tulane University New Orleans ...

discipline and practice.
Second-year
The pedagogical approach to second-year studio is based on the belief that
constraints inherent in the design of architecture do not hinder the exploration of
significant possibilities, but in fact allow and promote such activity. In this year,
the studio addresses a range of issues fundamental to the discipline and practice
of architecture. The pedagogy over the entire year is design as a sequentially
coherent whole, with courses such as Digital Media II (CAD & Spatial Modeling)
a required elective in the History of Architecture, and Technological Systems II
taught simultaneously. This is also the year when undergraduate and graduate
curricula overlap.
The vehicle for Studio exploration is a series of building design projects with a
range of program and site conditions. Each project focuses on specific
architectural issues within a body of continuing concerns, including: the
accommodation of activity or process, immediate and peripheral context; the
definition and quality of space (interior and exterior); and structure and the use of
materials. There are three fundamental criteria that each project represents: 1.
Projects have a basis in realistic conditions outside of the particular concerns of
architecture; site and programs relationships must be appropriate in terms of type
and scale and programs must address existing needs in the community
―considerations of use are paramount, 2. Projects are initiated through the
extensive documentation and analysis of site―“what is found there,” and 3.
Projects are viewed in the context of other built, proposed and paper
architecture.
In the Second-year, students are also introduced to the History and Theory
sequence of the curriculum (AHST 110). While prerequisite introductory courses
(History of Architecture I for undergraduates and History of Architecture I/II for
graduates) present various ideas associated with the study of architectural
history and theory, the continuation of the sequence focuses on criticism and
research methodologies associated with history and theory: one required Period
elective spanning Ancient to 19 th -century (AHST 310, 311, 312, 313) and the
required Modern Architecture course (either AHST 320 or 321).
Students in the School of Architecture thus enroll in a three-semester sequence
of courses on the History of Western Architecture. The introductory survey for
undergraduates presents a Global History of Architecture. And given the nature
of the period and modern electives, students may take courses that are
significantly global, such as World Heritage Sites I (Gonzalez) or largely
grounded in the Western tradition, such as 19 th -century Architecture (Gamard).
The presentation of other cultural traditions, and more particularly, the
architecture and urban design associated with non-Western traditions, has
steadily increased in the past several years.
The History courses are chronologically structured and provide the student with a
thorough historical armature on which to build a view of the history of
architecture. While it is true that the material could be critiqued for its