21st Century Thinking, Design Exploration and Delivery – The Master of Architecture at Roch- ester Institute Of Technology

521ST CENTURY THINKING, DESIGN EXPLORATION AND DELIVERY – THE MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE AT ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

by Dennis A. Andrejko, FAIA Head –Department of Architecture Golisano Institute for Sustainability Rochester institute of Technology

The Master of Architecture program in the Golisano Institute for Sustainability at Rochester Institute of Technology is a relatively new professional degree offering among NAAB accredited programs. Launched in 2011, the program received initial accreditation in 2017 and recently received a full eight-year continuation of accreditation in 2021. As launched, the program’s unique positioning rests with broad and focused sustainability exploration and execution to enhance the value and purpose of design, and its main tenet and underpinning borrows from the Proceedings from Cranbrook 07: Integrated Practice and the Twenty-first Century Curriculum, (AIA and ACSA, 2008) –“…new technologies and practices coupled with the irreversible consequences of global climate change begin to delimit the core challenges facing our schools. BIM, IP (Integrated Practice), and sustainability constitute a natural package but the ways the curricula greet or integrate these realities into studio-based programs of required instruction remains an open question. Old principles still dominate studio pedagogy; few if any schools teach building science in a studio context; fewer still enjoy access to facilities and faculty sufficient to explore new materials and methods of construction.” The program was founded with direct input and guidance from the architectural profession, and with intentional focus on design delivery and professional practice into the 21st century. In collaboration with RIT’s College of Art and Design (CAD), and housed within and the Golisano Institute for Sustainability

Golisano Institute for Sustainability (GIS)

(GIS), it draws upon core principles and strengths in both art, design and technology – offering an innovative interdisciplinary initiative and approach. The architecture program at RIT was founded on the basis of understanding, and responding to, the changing environment. Courses focus on addressing the current and future environmental and social exigencies of the 21st century. To assure future design leadership and valuable civic engagement, students graduate with a strong understanding of the natural world, social parity and equity, and of the necessity for responsible stewardship of the environment. This was noted by the NAAB 2021 Accreditation Site Visit Team as a valuable, unique and requisite strength of the current program, and particularly relevant to 21st century design delivery – its value, purpose, significance and relevance. The program offers a platform where sustainability and resilient design thinking are infused into all aspects of the curriculum in an integrated, immersive and holistic way. Further, the Golisano Institute for Sustainability’s flagship, state of the art building—Sustainability Institute Hall—with over 1500 building sensors to collect building operational data - is a high performance living, learning laboratory where students are provided with hands-on learning opportunities to document, assess, test and evaluate multiple building systems. In addition, students are exposed to the results of cutting-edge research being conducted in GIS in such areas as material and assemblage exploration, clean technologies, alternative energy solutions, pollution prevention and green product assessment. The program combines strengths that already distinguishes RIT at its founding: science, technology, design, and society. With its emphasis on integrated practice—a collaborative, multi-professional approach to the practice of architecture— RIT’s abiding consideration of practical, career-oriented education is reinforced. The integrated pedagogy is intentional to ameliorate 21st century design thinking in an interactive and collaborative manner. Course material is regularly recursive, and encourages holistic and integrated thinking, as do the building science courses in the “Integrated Building Systems” sequence. With the high level of community engagement, students experience both academic and professional realms as fully integrated. Of particular note, our Integrative Studio provides an arena for comprehensive design exploration. Additional comments from the NAAB 2021 Accreditation Site Visit team noted that, “students have utilized the integrative studio in an exemplary manner, fully integrating complex multi-use architectural design projects to demonstrate ability in design analysis, decision methodologies, code and systems documentation, technical documents, and systems integration” in a comprehensive manner.

BAB Student Work

Heliodone

The program brings together four cornerstones to capture the value of design to provide healthy, resilient communities and enrich lives: • SUSTAINABILITY | Creating sustainable and resilient environments as a central theme of the program, grounded on the principle that the adjective “sustainable” is always the implicit modifier to the noun “architecture”; • URBANISM | Achieving sustainable environments through better development of equitable and diverse urban living patterns, recognizing that the complexity of the urban environment – buildings, economics, policy, sociology, di-

versity, and regional culture - requires an interdisciplinary approach to architectural education; • TECHNOLOGY | Using cutting edge technological tools to create technologically advanced structures, and recognizing how natural systems can inform technological thinking; and • INTEGRATION | Harmonizing learning and practice, and integrating design and technology, where studios provide a setting as a core educational venue that can model the same cross-disciplinary, cross-professional integration fast becoming the norm in architectural practice. • Providing students with the technical and practical knowledge necessary to develop innovative and sustainable solutions to urban problems; • Habituating students in creative exploration, critical problem-solving, and robust design investigation; • Preparing students as leaders in a briskly evolving profession requiring teamwork, business integration, and holistic, collaborative thinking; and • Providing students with the knowledge and skills necessary to obtain professional licensure. While design exploration, execution and delivery can and will continue to evolve and advance, the Master of Architecture at RIT provides a foundation for continued growth for the discipline and profession to augment its quest to offer and create buildings, neighborhoods and communities that are sustainable and resilient; rich and robust; and equitable and empowering. Moving into the 21st century and beyond means to empower architects – across diverse settings and contexts - to serve society and enrich individual lives by elevating the value of design as a vital and essential element in striving toward a positive, productive, and prosperous future. l

Studio Review

Through its curricular and experiential learning emphases on sustainable design and building solutions, urban revitalization, and integrated practice, the RIT Master of Architecture program educates students to be critical thinkers, well-grounded in the principles and practices of sustainability, who are able to become competent contributors on comprehensive projects that solve problems at the intersection of architecture and sustainability. Overall, the Master of Architecture program mission is student centric by: • Developing in the students a first-principle commitment to a fully sustainable built environment; Dennis A. Andrejko, FAIA is Head of the Department of Architecture in the Golisano Institute for Sustainability at Rochester Institute of Technology. His primary design, scholarship and teaching agenda focuses on renewable energy and high performance buildings; regional design and ecological literacy; passive systems in design and design resiliency. Spanning over thirty years, Dennis’ work has been featured in documentaries and articles, and he has lectured throughout the US, Europe and Central America. He co-authored Passive Solar Architecture: Logic and Beauty; contributed to editions of the Architectural Graphic Standards; worked on the development of the International Green Construction Code (IgCC); and has served as an expert and leader for numerous Sustainable Design Assessment Teams. In addition, he has been a contributor to AIA’s Guidebook on the International Green Construction Code; AIA’s Guide on Energy Modeling and High Performance Design; and AIA’s Sustainability Resource for Carbon Neutral Design. Dennis served as the AIA Buffalo/WNY Chapter President; was an AIANYS Director; and a Regional Director on the AIA National Board. He was also Vice President to the AIA National Board, while heading the Board Knowledge Committee. Awards and recognition include the AIA Buffalo/WNY Distinguished Service Award; and the AIANYS President’s Award, President’s Citation, Matthew Del Gaudio Award and the Kideney Gold Medal. He also received the AIA Buffalo/WNY Louise Bethune Award for lifetime achievement and contributions to the profession of architecture. Dennis received a Bachelor of Architecture at Arizona State University and a Master of Architecture in Advanced Studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.