This is a vertical studio combining students in their fourth and fifth year of the BArch program with students from the architecture graduate programs. Students may choose from a diverse range of options of study proposed by different faculty members. In general the studio options are grounded in a conceptual basis that invites disciplinary innovation. These studio options vary from year to year. In today’s world, architecture faces the pressing challenge of addressing urgent global issues such as climate change, resource scarcity, and the need for adaptable infrastructure. In many contexts, particularly in regions with limited access to resources and drastically increasing populations, the ability to deploy and fabricate structures quickly becomes essential. This studio explores transformability in architecture, focusing on rapid deployment strategies that cater to the temporariness of structures and the specific challenges of constrained environments.This advanced traSTUDIO is designed with two major objectives:Learning the Principles of Transformable Design and Digital Fabrication: Students will delve into the fundamentals of motion design, gaining the expertise to design materials and structures that, though typically inflexible, can perform predefined movements. This skill is vital for creating responsive in architecture that can be rapidly deployed in environments where access to proper fabrication facilities is limited, and time is of the essence.Application of These Principles to World-Challenging Issues: Students will apply transformable principles through two hands-on projects, both emphasizing the temporariness and urgent deployment of structures:Rapidly Deployed Atmospheric Water Harvesting Structures (Pavilion): Access to clean water is a critical global challenge, especially in arid regions where traditional water sources are scarce. By 2025, it is estimated that half of the world’s population will live in water-stressed areas. Many of these regions have significant amounts of water in the atmosphere—up to 12,900 cubic kilometers globally—yet current methods of extraction are often inefficient or impractical. This project will focus on developing rapidly deployable structures capable of efficiently harvesting atmospheric water, providing sustainable solutions to water scarcity. The designs must address the complexities of limited material access, rapid assembly, and adaptability to various environmental conditions, all while maximizing the capture of atmospheric moisture.Rapidly Deployed Educational Environments: Global population is rapidly increasing. In order to meet the global demand for buildings it is estimated that the construction industry must more than double productivity immediately to keep up with demand through 2050. Sub-Saharan Africa represents a significant portion of this demand while also facing some of the most extreme material resource limitations. The World Bank estimates that countries like Malawi will need over 60,000 classrooms in the next decade–a number impossible to meet with current construction practices. In collaboration with Dr. Nathan King of the Virginia Tech Center for Design Research, this project will explore the notion of transformation as a deployment strategy to help bridge the gap between demand and the ability for traditional construction strategies to meet that demand. Course Approach:Through these projects, students will engage with digital fabrication and craft techniques, focusing on critical aspects like materiality, tolerance, assembly, and motion geometry. They will learn how to source materials effectively, design elements and parts within constraints, and bring these components together into cohesive, intentional designs.Throughout the course, students will explore different fabrication tools and technologies and benefit from guest speakers and potential fieldwork opportunities, gaining real-world insights and collaboration experiences.This studio is centered on three domains of adaptability, sustainability, and digital fabrication to address significant global challenges, especially in contexts with severe limitations on time and resources.

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