ARC 403– Senior Studio - City Life

Course No.: 10096
Department: Architecture
Semester: 2017 Fall
Location: Crosby – 310, 315, 330, 340
Meeting Day(s): Monday, Wednesday & Friday
Meeting Time: 1:00PM - 4:20PM
Faculty: Garofalo, Lecuyer, Song, Wales
The driving force of cities arises from collective energy. These days, that energy might be social,
economic, political and environmental, with increased urban density increasingly being seen as a key to
ecological sustainability. Because of its collective character, one of the challenges of the city is the
balance between the public and private realms, an issue that is central in the design of urban housing.
This semester focuses on the urban dwelling as a threshold between self and society, between
the local and the global, and between nature and culture. Instead of thinking of these conditions as
opposites, they can be understood as symbiotic states of being whose relationship, or balance, changes
at different scales – from room to dwelling, building, neighborhood, city and natural environment.
Work during the semester will be informed by engagement with urban issues, history and culture as well
as materiality and craft. Students are expected to develop a critical position based on exploration of
precedents, understanding of the current sociocultural environment and speculation about the future, and
to test this position out at the scale of the city, the building and its tectonic detail.