Brett Schneider
Brett Schneider is educated as both an architect and an engineer. After earning his BA from Williams College in art history (with honors) and astrophysics in 1994, Schneider pursued joint Master’s degrees in architecture and structural engineering at Princeton University, graduating with a Master’s in engineering in 2000.
Schneider teaches structural engineering, integrated design and design studios at RISD. He was a visiting critic at the Yale School of Architecture in 2022–23 and a visiting lecturer in architecture at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University in 2021–22. He has previously been visiting faculty at Parsons the New School for Design (School of Constructed Environments), the College of Architecture Art and Planning at Cornell University, and the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University.
Schneider has practiced at Guy Nordenson and Associates (structural engineers) in New York, NY since 1998 and is currently a senior associate. Significant recent projects include Day’s End with the artist David Hammons for the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Menil Drawing Institute with Johnston MarkLee. He was the winner of the Lakefront Kiosk Competition for the 2015 Chicago Architectural Biennial and corresponding BP Prize with Aaron Forrest and Yasmin Vobis (Ultramoderne) for Chicago Horizon. This innovative pavilion using super-laminated CLT to make a monolithic timber roof was also a recipient of US WoodWorks’ Wood Design Award (2016), an Architect Magazine R+D Citation (2016), a SEAoNY Excellence in Structural Engineering Award (Other Structures, 2017) and an AIA RI Honor Award (2017).
In 2017, Schneider was commissioned by the Architectural League of New York to design and erect a site-specific installation to transform an industrial space at the Brooklyn Navy Yard for their Beaux Arts Ball. The installation, which included a 450-ft transforming curtain of burlap and canvas hung with funicular lines of paracord from the existing structure, was a collaboration with Elizabeth Hodges, RISD students Farinaz Moslemi MArch 18 and Andrea Kelly MArch 18, and others. It is notable that this is the only time the ALNY has asked an engineer rather than an architect to design the installation for the Beaux Arts Ball.
Current research includes a project in collaboration with Aaron Forrest and Yasmin Vobis (Ultramoderne and UC Berkeley) titled Heterogenous Constructions, which looks at the implications of material heterogeneity in construction as a cultural practice through the use of full-color, technical drawings of global case studies and speculative construction projects. These drawings and a collection of related essays is expected to be published in a book with same name in 2024.
Courses
Fall 2023 Courses
ARCH 2196-06
THESIS SEM: NAVIGATING THE CREATIVE PROCESS
SECTION DESCRIPTION
We begin work on your Thesis Projects from the outset of the semester: navigating arbitrary beginnings; setting boundaries like nets; developing a whole language of grunts, smudges and haiku; gathering the unique and unrepeatable content, forces, and conditions of your project; hunting an emerging and fleeting idea; recognizing discoveries; projecting forward with the imagination; and distilling glyphs, diagrams and insight plans.This course satisfies the prerequisite requirement for Thesis Project.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $50.00 - $200.00
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | BArch, MArch (3yr), MArch (2yr): Architecture
ARCH 2252-01 / LAEL 2252-01
PHENOMENA
SECTION DESCRIPTION
As artists and designers our understanding of the physical universe can be a fundamental part of our engagement with our context and in production of our creative work. This course includes an introduction to selected fundamentals of physics: momentum, thermodynamics, and waves and optics - all part of the basis for Architectural Technology. These fundamental phenomena are to be considered both through their mathematical application and expression as concepts in contemporary art. Content to be examined through mathematical problem solving, critical reading, and lab sessions using both physical measurement and digital simulation in Python programming language.
Offered as ARCH-2252 and LAEL-2252.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Open to non-major Sophomore, Junior or Senior Undergraduate Students.
Major Requirement | BArch: Architecture
ARCH 252G-01 / LAEL 252G-01
PHENOMENA
SECTION DESCRIPTION
As artists and designers our understanding of the physical universe can be a fundamental part of our engagement with our context and in production of our creative work. This course includes an introduction to selected fundamentals of physics: momentum, thermodynamics, and waves and optics - all part of the basis for Architectural Technology. These fundamental phenomena are to be considered both through their mathematical application and expression as concepts in contemporary art. Content to be examined through mathematical problem solving, critical reading, and lab sessions using both physical measurement and digital simulation in Python programming language.
Offered as ARCH-252G or LAEL-252G.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Open to non-major Graduate Students.
Major Requirement | MArch: Architecture (3yr)
ARCH 2252-01 / LAEL 2252-01
PHENOMENA
SECTION DESCRIPTION
As artists and designers our understanding of the physical universe can be a fundamental part of our engagement with our context and in production of our creative work. This course includes an introduction to selected fundamentals of physics: momentum, thermodynamics, and waves and optics - all part of the basis for Architectural Technology. These fundamental phenomena are to be considered both through their mathematical application and expression as concepts in contemporary art. Content to be examined through mathematical problem solving, critical reading, and lab sessions using both physical measurement and digital simulation in Python programming language.
Offered as ARCH-2252 and LAEL-2252.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Open to non-major Sophomore, Junior or Senior Undergraduate Students.
Major Requirement | BArch: Architecture
ARCH 252G-01 / LAEL 252G-01
PHENOMENA
SECTION DESCRIPTION
As artists and designers our understanding of the physical universe can be a fundamental part of our engagement with our context and in production of our creative work. This course includes an introduction to selected fundamentals of physics: momentum, thermodynamics, and waves and optics - all part of the basis for Architectural Technology. These fundamental phenomena are to be considered both through their mathematical application and expression as concepts in contemporary art. Content to be examined through mathematical problem solving, critical reading, and lab sessions using both physical measurement and digital simulation in Python programming language.
Offered as ARCH-252G or LAEL-252G.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Open to non-major Graduate Students.
Major Requirement | MArch: Architecture (3yr)
Spring 2024 Courses
ARCH 2198-06
THESIS PROJECT
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Under the supervision of a faculty advisor, students are responsible for the preparation and completion of an independent thesis project.
Estimated Materials Cost: $50.00 - $200.00
Permission for this class is based on the student's overall academic record, as well as their performance in the Wintersession course ARCH 2197: Thesis Discursive Workshop. If the department recommends against a student undertaking ARCH-2198: Thesis Project, two advanced elective studios must be taken instead.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | BArch, MArch (3yr), MArch (2yr): Architecture
ARCH 2253-01
ARCHITECTURAL ANATOMY
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Introduction to technical building systems - Structure, Environmental and Enclosure - and their integration with an emphasis on quantifying performance and increasing sustainability. Content includes survey of these three system types - typical components, basis of performance, and analysis of performance - and introduction to related conventions of construction and architectural detailing to realize them.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Preference is given to Sophomore Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | BArch: Architecture
ARCH 253G-01
ARCHITECTURAL ANATOMY
SECTION DESCRIPTION
Introduction to technical building systems - Structure, Environmental and Enclosure - and their integration with an emphasis on quantifying performance and increasing sustainability. Content includes survey of these three system types - typical components, basis of performance, and analysis of performance - and introduction to related conventions of construction and architectural detailing to realize them.
Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to first-year MArch (3yr) Architecture Students.
Major Requirement | MArch: Architecture (3yr)