| dc.description.abstract | **Please note that the full text is embargoed** ABSTRACT: Welcome to the School of Architecture. Short of spending an entire semester in the building, I think perusing this volume is the next best thing to being here. The work you will see of the students is representative of the best but the variety and quantity also attests to the depth of accomplishment - significant achievement is not found in just a few stars, but is evident across the entire student body.
While the work should depict the broad range of issues, media and ideas underlying architectural thinking these days, I also think that a clear educational philosophy will be evident - that architecture, interior design and landscape architecture are not just abstractions but very real constructions addressing very real human needs and desires. Throughout its history the School has maintained a clear commitment to belief that design is about the manipulation of form, space and materials. This should still be strongly apparent, especially through the continued reliance on the well crafted model as the design tool but also with the more progressive experiments in LED lighting, digital fabrication and advanced digital representation. While clearly committed to preserving these values, which, after all, distinguishes the design professions from other disciplines, we are also working to extend the definition of design beyond concept to an understanding of it as an arc: an arc that starts on the ground with the identification of a need, gains loft by way of a concept and then completes its trajectory with a strategy for its realization - and that all along that curve are opportunities for insightful designers to create utility and beauty. - Donald Gatzke, AIA, Dean | en_US |
