Architectural Studies 302 - Building Bridges: A Collaborative Design Studio

(Offered as ARCH 302 and ARHA 302) This is a design-build studio course with a specific goal: the creation of architectural and structural designs for four pedestrian bridges that will be built in a section of Amherst College’s Wildlife Sanctuary. This is an ecologically diverse area managed by the College and including 500 acres of open fields, woods, wetlands, ponds, and streams. As an architectural design learner, in this studio, you will co-participate in the design of those bridges. To engage in that task, you will have the support of your professor as well as a team formed by engineers and environmental science experts. This support will ensure that your designs can be built in real life. The bridges must have a minimal environmental impact on the sanctuary. They also must be feasible, cost-effective, structurally resistant, durable, compliant with accessibility and other codes, and, above all, beautiful and inspiring.

Beyond its material goal, in this studio, you will be building bridges in multiple ways. You will bridge between your own and your classmates’ ideas, between the built and the natural landscape, between the theory and practice of sustainability, and between the ideal of unlimited creativity and the reality of building codes.

At least one architectural design studio and/or a drawing or sketching course at the college level is required. Limited to 12 students.

Fall semester: Professor Gabriel Arboleda.

How to handle overenrollment: Priority to Architectural Studies majors, seniors, sophomores, juniors, and first year students, in that order.

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: Working in groups, reading about precedents, performing basic structural design calculations, working on studio architectural sketching and outdoors freehand sketching, doing parallel drawing, working in a natural setting, engaging on long walks, doing field visits, and engaging on experiential learning.