The Core 3 Cities studio uses the lens of housing and housing policy to dissect the ways in which these architectural choices impact residents' access to dignity in their cities. In the market of the built environment, where does architecture start? You may think it is the napkin sketch or AutoCAD but think instead of something more mundane: the government official's zoning map or the development firm's financial projection. In the architectural profession, we often lament our lack of agency in the creation of space. The architect must wait for the client, the request for proposal, or the competition. We are then at the mercy of local, state, and federal policy-responding to regulations, sightlines, zoning, and more. But how can we see the mechanisms of governance and finance as inherent parts of design? The Core 3 Cities studio uses the lens of housing and housing policy to dissect the ways in which these architectural choices impact residents' access to and dignity in their cities. Through assignments, readings, and discussions we will explore what is at stake in the urban environment and endeavor to discover new forms of design intervention that respond with nuance to those stakes.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | MArch: Architecture (3yr)

This seminar will utilize the content, topic, and conceit of measure as a pinhole through which to see the world of Directed Design Research. Directed Design Research is an alternative to Thesis, which lays out a specific territory of inquiry and encourages students to identify the topic and scope of their work, emanating from this specific point of departure. The seminar will lay out a series of methods, techniques, and exercises related to the exploration of measure, asking each student to then define a territory of inquiry within this delimited field. The deliverables for the Scope Seminar include a thoughtfully delimited and actionable statement of the intended design research, the documentation of a minimum of three methodologies or approaches to be utilized in the design research, and a well-wrought syllabus that includes: a weekly breakdown of tasks and deliverables, relevant references and precedents properly cited, and a concise text (3 pages maximum) describing the research activities to be undertaken.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Fifth-year Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | BArch: Architecture (Directed Research Track)

What if Tokyo becomes a forest?  

The population in Japan is decreasing, and the population is aging faster in cities. In Ukraine, 30 years after the Chernobyl disaster, the exclusion zone became a forest where wild animals thrive. Considering the foreseen scenarios of our future technologies, such as remote medical treatment, flying cars, driverless buses, and AI-operated white-collar jobs, the definition of convenience may no longer be based on location. 

The concept of a Circular Economy puts pressure on all manufacturing companies to increase material efficiency. The extraction of raw materials will hopefully decrease, therefore, unpopulated areas can regain nature. The Japanese population currently occupies 50% of their land, which is predicted to fall to 40% due to depopulation in 2050 (*1). 70% of the land is currently forested, and Tokyo is only 0.6%. 

What is the ideal life in the post-urban forest? 

Instead of trying to increase the population, how can we happily accept depopulation? 
How do we seek the happiness of individuals? Students will envisage a new Actor Network (*2) connecting inhabited and uninhabited environments.  

• *1. National long-term outlook by National Land Council, Policy Subcommittee, Long-Term Outlook Committee, 2011
• *2. We will discuss the concept of Actor-Network Theory developed by Bruno Latour and some examples by Atelier BowWow using the concept.

Registration is not available in Workday. Students must complete an application through RISD Global. A minimum GPA of 2.5 is required and permission of instructor. Failure to remain in good academic standing can lead to removal from the course, either before or during the course. Most courses are open to first year students with approval from the Dean of Experimental and Foundation Studies.

The course is, effectively, a seminar congruent with a studio, and its ambition is to provide rigorous methodological framing and provocative content scaffolding for the design research activities within the studio. While the studio component will focus on the advancing of the design research questions framed in the fall seminar, the seminar component will consider the best formats and vehicles for the dissemination of the design research. The deliverables for this course will be twofold: a thoroughly researched, documented, and delineated design project; and a textual 'exit document' in which students articulate their research methods, techniques, formats, and outcomes.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | BArch, MArch (3yr), MArch (2yr): Architecture

The course is, effectively, a studio congruent with a seminar, and its ambition is to provide rigorous methodological framing and provocative content scaffolding for the design research activities within the studio. While the studio component will focus on the advancing of the design research questions framed in the fall seminar, the seminar component will consider the best formats and vehicles for the dissemination of the design research. The deliverables for this course will be twofold: a thoroughly researched, documented, and delineated design project; and a textual 'exit document' in which students articulate their research methods, techniques, formats, and outcomes.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Architecture Students.

Major Requirement | BArch, MArch (3yr), MArch (2yr): Architecture