Engineer Peter Rice, Architect Renzo Piano, and others - Design meeting for Menil Collection, USA, 1984

Force, Material, Form: Exploring Interdisciplinary Design  

The design of structures is connected with an interdisciplinary negotiation of force, material and form. The resulting potential requires a creative exchange between architects and civil engineers. This course is aimed at students of architecture and civil engineering who wish to practice and explore the design of structures in interdisciplinary groups. In the interplay between application and theory, students will design small structural objects in interdisciplinary teams, and then investigate design-relevant group dynamics. Students will use their own experience to address the following questions: How can interdisciplinary groups develop high-quality innovative structures? What are the decisive processes in this collaboration? How are interdisciplinary ideas developed and decisions made? What roles can emerge in this process?

The methodology of the course aims to combine theory and practice in an instructive, practical and entertaining way. The students′ personal interests in exploring the interdisciplinary design and construction of structures are at the centre of the course. They are supplemented by input from lecturers, guest lectures by experts and excursions.

Administrative notes

• Elective course in spring semester with 3 CP
• Every Thursday afternoon
• Course language: German
• Ungraded semester performance
• Contact person: Hannes Hofmann - hofmann@arch.ethz.ch
• Link to further information in the course catalogue: www.vorlesungsverzeichnis.ethz.ch
• Semester-accompanying documents on the professorship′s student server:
  for MAC: smb://nas22.ethz.ch/arch_ita_schwartz_student/Kraft Material Form FS2021
  for PC: nas22.ethz.ch/arch_ita_schwartz_student/Kraft Material Form FS2021

FS2020: Interrelation between design, team roles und design processes

last modified 10.12.2020