1 UIC School Of Architecture

Recent Topic StudiosA Mixed Bag of Activitiesand ExperimentsPaul Andersen and Sam Jacob,Fall 2020Social distancing, working fromhome, and the other measures weare taking right now have alteredtraditional relationships. Thisstudio explored that potential.We wanted to know what it meansfor architecture when the studio isalso your bedroom and when hightheory sits side by side with yourknitting or your PlayStation. Couldour enforced circumstances help usto see the architectural qualities ofthe everyday world around us?Or can we transform the everydayinto a disciplinary pursuit?The Federal CenterPaul Andersen and Sam Jacob,Fall 2019Chicago’s Federal Center is oneof Mies van der Rohe’s leastacclaimed buildings. He had littleinput into the design; two of itsbuildings were built five years afterhe died. But it has some qualitiesthat stand out. This studio usednew sources and combinations ofgrids, landscapes, and frames topropose alternative designs for the22 Federal Center.MArch CurriculumMismatched BuildingsPaul Andersen, Fall 2018This studio balanced arbitraryjuxtaposition with calculatedimagination. The first step wasto collect typical and anonymousbuildings. To fit, examples neededto present a strong architecturalagenda—for instance, to makea clear case for a particularbrand of repetition, composition,structure, idealism, scale, or otherlongstanding topic of interestto the field. Then we pairedeach building with a type witha very different sensibility, with“sensibility” encompassing bothlogic and style.Performing ArchitectureSam Jacob, Fall 2018This studio looked at Adler andSullivan’s Auditorium Building,thinking of it in a number ofways: as huge urban mass, ascomplex interior and section, asmix of program that folds the cityinto itself. We tried to decode itslanguages, significances, subtexts,politics, and economics. First weappreciated it, then we demolishedit, and then we remade it in waysappropriate for now.

23A model from Sam Jacob’s topic studioPerforming Architecture, Fall 2018.UIC School of Architecture

Drawings from Sarah Dunn’s research studio24 what if?. then., Spring 2020.MArch Curriculum

Recent ResearchSeminars and Studioswhat if.? then.,Sarah Dunn, 2019–20Last BuildingsJohn and Julia McMorrough, 2021–22In an effort to engage the cityproductively, this seminar andstudio sequence explored theformal and programmaticpossibilities of invented large-scalemetropolitan architecture.This seminar and studio examinethe means and methodology ofworld-building, specifically in theoverlap of the heuristic capacity of“possible worlds” and the serializedlogic of television.How Emails Grow Tomatoes:Architecture, Data, and AgricultureClare Lyster, 2020–21Hot Farms explored the spatialpotential of symbiotic systems,applying scientific and geospatialresearch of data infrastructure andagriculture toward the design ofnew spatial scenarios that combinefood production with data storage.The Orthogonal and Not:Studies in Eccentric Geometries,Tectonic Improbability,and PoliticsAndrew Zago, 2020–21This seminar and studio looked ata series of geometric eccentricitiesthat arose in the late twentiethcentury. These were contrastedagainst normative geometricand tectonic conditions that hadlong dominated architecture,including during modernism, inorder to trace a tendency thatsought to systematically dismantlearchitecture’s propensity for order,control, and probity.UIC School of ArchitecturePhi BonsecoursRobert Somol and Andrew Zago,2019–20This research seminar and studiopresented an opportunity to workwith Phi, a major emerging artsorganization in Montreal, on thedevelopment of a new arts center.Whatever Happenedto the Future?Penelope Dean, 2018–19If there’s one thing for architectsto recoup today, it’s their claimon the future. This seminar andstudio examined the fate of thefuture in concept and proposition:through a close study of howthe future has been understoodin recent decades, and througha hypothetical exhibition at theChicago Architecture Biennial.25

Recent Electivesand SelectivesCities, Power, and SpaceGeoff Goldberg, Spring 2019TheoryDesigning CriticismSam Jacob, Fall 2020/2021This seminar examined therelationship between politicalpower and urban spatiality bylooking at a particular size ofspaces (large and public), witha particular expression of power(protest), during a particularmoment (1968).This writing workshop was abouthow objects, places, and buildingscontain narratives (whether theyknow it or not). It explored notonly how criticism describes thedesigned world, but also how it cananimate the design process andcreate platforms and audiences forarchitectural practice.Event ArchitecturesDavid Brown, Spring 2019/2020This class derived from anexposition planned with a Chicagoneighborhood examining the rolecollective space can have in thecity today. It sought to understandsuch an exposition, which is alsoan implementation of an urbandesign, as a disciplinary endeavor.Review as PreviewSam Jacob, Fall 2019By claiming the format of thereview, this class used an act oflooking back at things that alreadyexist as a way of thinking aboutthe future. It supposed that design26 is criticism and criticism is design.MArch CurriculumUrbanism in the Age ofAutomation: The City as aMachine EcosystemClare Lyster, Spring 2019Not since the first industrialrevolution has technology sodominated every aspect of ourlives and the spaces we inhabit.This seminar explored the conceptof the automated or “posthuman”city, with a special focus on visualand formal research.Entrepreneurial ArchitectureGeoff Goldberg, Spring 2018This seminar examined architectureand the marketplace, with aparticular focus on the interfacebetween design and real estatedevelopment. Its goal was toidentify strategies and approachesthat have been used successfullyby progressive architecture in itsinterface with development.

TechnologyAds, Pitches, and OdesSarah Blankenbaker, Spring 2021This seminar studied motionpictures produced by or witharchitects and critics in the pastcentury and created new ones.Working with the legacy of figureslike the Eameses and Ernst May,the course explored persuasive,explanatory, and promotionalforms of video-making.Giants and MiniaturesPaul Andersen, Fall 2020Scale is a topic that architects haveendowed with the utmost gravitasand a feature that has been atthe core of a lot of funny andmarvelous projects. This seminarstudied objects that are bigger orsmaller than we expect them tobe, with the aim of devising newapplications of scale in design.Who Made Who?Sean Lally, Spring 2020The portrait is a uniquecombination of variables thatprovides a temporary readingof the present. Techniques ofrepresentation, articulation ofanatomy, display of fashion, andtreatment of environment andobjects are choices that do morethan document. This seminarlooked to the technologicalpressures affecting our physiology,environment, and spaces througha single narrative-driven portrait.UIC School of ArchitectureWood / Not WoodAndrew Zago, Spring 2020This seminar examined largescale wood members and testedtheir assembly through ungainlyjoinery, operating in a zone whereconstruction techniques, modelmaking, and sculpture overlap.TerranulliusJohannes Berry, Fall 2019In the context of a globalizing andpost-truth society, this coursefocused on what we all as humanshave in common: the essential oruniversal human characteristics weall share. The course did not definethese characteristics, or who orwhat we are, but rather hopedto find or create the conditionsattractive enough for humans togive meaning.The Blue GuitarThomas Kelley, Spring 2019In 1977, David Hockney produceda portfolio of eighteen etchingsinspired by the 1937 poem “The Manwith the Blue Guitar,” by WallaceStevens, which many believe wasinspired by The Old Guitarist, a1903 painting by Pablo Picasso.This seminar attempted toreinterpret the blue guitar again,this time by coupling two forms of27architectural drawing to updatethe set: delineation (clean line) andphotorealism (digital rendering).

28A model from Paul Preissner’s technology electiveAmerican Framing Too, Spring 2019.MArch Curriculum

29A portrait from Sean Lally’s technology seminarWho Made Who?, Spring 2020.UIC School of Architecture

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Masterof Artsin DesignCriticismThe Master of Arts in DesignCriticism (MAD-Crit) is a two-yearprogram that develops textualand visual argumentation inarchitecture, urbanism, landscape,and allied design practices.Revolving around writing seminarsand publication workshops, theprogram is unabashedly operativein its ambitions: it is driven bythe practice of writing and thedemand to inject argumentimmediately into diverse media ofcommunication.The program is intended forarchitects or those alreadypracticing as critics, journalists,or curators interested in focusingon research, writing, andpublication. MArch students mayelect to enter the joint MArch/MAD-Crit program, which awardsboth degrees after a fourth yearof study.An exhibition of work by thearchitect Doug Garofalo preparedby a theory seminar, Spring 2019.UIC School of Architecture31

MAD-CritCurriculumThe first year of the MAD-Critcurriculum introduces studentsto the discipline of architectureand its theory and history throughrequired courses and electivestaken with MArch students.Pro-seminars specific to theMAD-Crit program immersestudents in a variety of modes ofcriticism and the dissemination ofarchitectural ideas.In the second year, MAD-Critstudents take a research seminarwith MArch students in the fall andcontinue with additional electivesin the fall and spring. They alsoundertake a yearlong independentresearch and writing project thataddresses a topic of their choiceacross multiple writing genres andfor various audiences.32The MAD-Crit curriculum.

587588589590CriticismPublicationsWriting Tutorial IWriting Tutorial IIPolemic/Theory ORResearch SeminarUrban/History ORApproved ch en520CADAOpenCADA400/500400/50033Larger circles indicate courseswith more credit hours. Dashedoutlines indicate courses wherestudents can select from amongmultiple options.Dashed outlines indicate courses where students canselect from multiple options.UIC School of Architecture

MAD-Crit Year 1Core CoursesFallArch 531: Theory History IDiscusses a diversity of criticaland generative approaches totwentieth-century architectureand theory.Recent faculty: Robert SomolArch 566: Research SeminarA seminar taken with MArchstudents focusing on research intoa topic of contemporary relevancefor the discipline, directed by arange of faculty.Recent faculty: Penelope Dean,Sarah Dunn, Clare Lyster,John and Julia McMorrough,Robert Somol, Andrew ZagoSee page 37 for recent topics.Arch 585: Theory History IIIStudies the emergence of themetropolis beginning in the midnineteenth century through asurvey of the forces that producedit and the ideologies and practicesthat have attempted to organize,control, and simulate it.Recent faculty:Alexander EisenschmidtArch 587: Pro-Seminar IIntroduces the methods and stylesof design criticism, with specific34 attention to architectural, urban,landscape, and environmentaldesign disciplines.Recent faculty: Sam JacobMAD-Crit CurriculumSpringArch 532: Theory History IIInvestigates historical, theoretical,and contextual connectionsbetween the recent fragmentationof architectural culture and thesplintering of culture, society,and politics at large.Recent faculty: Zehra Ahmed,Penelope DeanArch 586: Theory IVAn advanced seminar inarchitectural and urban criticism,theory, and history.See page 37 for recent topics.Arch 588: Pro-Seminar IIRevisits an archive of selectedmaterial to liberate strategiesand tactics for use in the presentday, as well as to encourage theinvention of new forms of evidencethrough diagramming andprojective graphics.Recent faculty: Robert Somol

MAD-Crit Year 2Core CoursesFallArch 566: Research SeminarA seminar taken with MArchstudents focusing on research intoa topic of contemporary relevancefor the discipline, directed by arange of faculty.Recent faculty: Penelope Dean,Sarah Dunn, Clare Lyster,John and Julia McMorrough,Robert Somol, Andrew ZagoSee page 37 for recent topics.SpringArch 586: Theory History IVAn advanced seminar inarchitectural and urban criticism,theory, and history.See page 37 for recent topics.Arch 589: Writing Tutorial IIIndependent research and writing,pursued under the direction of aprimary advisor.Recent advisors: Penelope Dean,Robert SomolArch 589: Writing Tutorial IIndependent research and writing,pursued under the direction of aprimary advisor.Recent advisors: Penelope Dean,Robert Somol35UIC School of Architecture

36Alexander Eisenschmidt and students in a first-year seminarprepare an exhibition of urban research, Fall 2019.MAD-Crit Curriculum

Recent MAD-CritElectives and SelectivesSee pages 26–27 for more examplesof recent graduate courses.Event ArchitecturesDavid Brown, Spring 2019/2020This class derived from anexposition planned with a Chicagoneighborhood examining the rolecollective space can have in thecity today. It sought to understandsuch an exposition, which is alsoan implementation of an urbandesign, as a disciplinary endeavor.Cities, Power, and SpaceGeoff Goldberg, Spring 2019This seminar examined therelationship between politicalpower and urban spatiality bylooking at a particular size ofspaces (large and public), witha particular expression of power(protest), during a particularmoment (1968).Urbanism in the Age ofAutomation: The City as aMachine EcosystemClare Lyster, Spring 2019Not since the first industrialrevolution has technology sodominated every aspect of ourlives and the spaces we inhabit.This seminar explored the conceptof the automated or “posthuman”city, with a special focus on visualand formal research.UIC School of ArchitectureResearch SeminarsLast BuildingsJohn and Julia McMorrough,Fall 2021This seminar examines the meansand methodology of worldbuilding, specifically in the overlapof the heuristic capacity of“possible worlds” and the serializedlogic of television.How Emails Grow Tomatoes:Architecture, Data, and AgricultureClare Lyster, Fall 2020Hot Farms explored the spatialpotential of symbiotic systems,applying scientific and geospatialresearch of data infrastructure andagriculture toward the design ofnew spatial scenarios that combinefood production with data storage.The Orthogonal and Not:Studies in Eccentric Geometries,Tectonic Improbability, andPoliticsAndrew Zago, Fall 2020This seminar looked at a seriesof geometric eccentricities thatarose in the late twentieth century.These were contrasted againstnormative conditions that hadlong dominated architecture,including during modernism, inorder to trace a tendency thatsought to systematically dismantlearchitecture’s propensity for order,control, and probity.37

Master ofScience inArchitectureThe Master of Science inArchitecture (MSArch) is a oneyear, two-semester programdesigned for holders of aprofessional degree in architecture(Bachelor of Architecture or Masterof Architecture) or its internationalequivalent.The MSArch consists of studiocentered work in architectureand urban design supported byelective coursework in advancedtechnology and contemporarytheory and criticism. This programis an intensive course of studyintended to further students’critical skills and analyticalabilities while expanding theirarchitectural expertise.38Models from Paul Andersen’soption studio MismatchedBuildings, Fall 2018.

39UIC School of Architecture

MSArchCurriculumThe MSArch program exploresspecific design and researchagendas of current significancewith distinguished visiting faculty(e.g., in topic studios and withthe Greenwald Visiting Professor),including a yearlong course ofstudy in a research cluster gearedtoward publishing its findingsand proposals.The program begins with asummer workshop that framesarchitecture through the designtechnology of its production andintroduces current themes anddebates in contemporary designpractices. In the fall, topic studiosprovide the opportunity to workon a contemporary architecturalor urban design problem throughthe lens of an internationallyrecognized instructor. In the spring,research studios continue workbegun in the fall seminars throughindividual and collaborativedesign-research that addressesconcerns at the edge of the40 contemporary discipline.The MSArch curriculum.

565Topic566Research Open41Larger circles indicate courseswith more credit hours. DashedThe size of each circle represents the number of creditoutlinesindicatecourseswherehours associatedwith eachcourse. Classeswithlargercircles are worthmore credits.studentscan select from amongmultiple options.Dashed outlines indicate courses where students canselect from multiple options.UIC School of Architecture

MSArchCore CoursesFallArch 565: Topic StudioAn advanced studio that pursuesspecific design and researchagendas of current significance;students choose by lottery fromamong several options thatare offered by permanent anddistinguished visiting faculty.Recent faculty: Paul Andersen,Sam JacobSee page 45 for recent topics.Arch 566: Research SeminarThe first part of a yearlong designresearch project, the seminarestablishes the information base tobe developed into publishable formin the subsequent research studio.Recent faculty: Penelope Dean,Sarah Dunn, Clare Lyster,John and Julia McMorrough,Robert Somol, Andrew ZagoSee page 45 for recent topics.Arch 585: Theory History IIIStudies the emergence of themetropolis beginning in the midnineteenth century through asurvey of the forces that producedit and the ideologies and practicesthat have attempted to organize,control, and simulate it.Recent faculty:42 Alexander EisenschmidtMSArch CurriculumSpringArch 567: Research StudioCollaborative and individualdesign research, in multiplegenres, that addresses concernsat the edge of the contemporarydiscipline and results from ayearlong course of study.Recent faculty: Penelope Dean,Sarah Dunn, Clare Lyster, John andJulia McMorrough, Andrew ZagoArch 564: Technology IVAn advanced seminar/lab inarchitectural technologies,structures, new materials, andfabrication techniques.See page 27 for recent topics.Arch 586: Theory History IVAn advanced seminar inarchitectural and urban criticism,theory, and history.See page 26 for recent topics.

43A site plan drawing from Andrew Zago’s research studioWhat’s That Thing? An Exploration of Architectural Ambiguitiesfor Our Fraught Times through Art and Diagram, Spring 2019.UIC School of Architecture

44A rendering from Thomas Kelley’s technology electiveThe Blue Guitar, Spring 2019.MSArch Curriculum

Recent MSArch Topicand Research StudiosTopic StudiosA Mixed Bag of Activitiesand ExperimentsPaul Andersen and Sam Jacob,Fall 2020Social distancing, working fromhome, and the other measures weare taking right now have alteredtraditional relationships. Thisstudio explored that potential. Wewanted to know what it meansfor architecture when the studio isalso your bedroom and when hightheory sits side by side with yourknitting or your PlayStation. Couldour enforced circumstances help usto see the architectural qualities ofthe everyday world around us?Or can we transform the everydayinto a disciplinary pursuit?The Federal CenterPaul Andersen and Sam Jacob,Fall 2019Chicago’s Federal Center is oneof Mies van der Rohe’s leastacclaimed buildings. He had littleinput into the design; two of itsbuild

Established in 1965, UIC is now one of the top two hundred research-funded institutions in the world. The School of Architecture benefits from UIC's commitment to building a dynamic and diverse set of faculty and intellectual, aesthetic, and cultural interests. It is from within this context that the School of Architecture extends its three-part