Terri Meyer Boake, BES, BArch, MArch, LEED AP
Professor School of Architecture University of Waterloo
email: tboake@uwaterloo.ca

AE101:
History of the Built Environment

Fall 2023
Course Home Page

Course Description:

A complementary studies course that provides a broad history of technology as it relates to buildings, towers, bridges, etc. Social, cultural, environmental and economic influences on technological products will be discussed while surveying icons of architectural engineering.

Students will
· keep a detailed sketchbook of examples and details addressed in class
· do a weekly sketch
· complete a case study research/poster assignment

Teaching Assistants:

• Afnan Al-Rashid
• Nadia Cheng

General Course Requirements:

The most important thing that you can do is to attend the weekly lectures. To this end the major course requirement will be to take annotated (meaning sketches and words) notes from all of the lectures. I have always required that students have no laptops in my class and take notes by hand, so this is not new. ALL notes are to be taken by hand in your required sketchbook. Sketchbooks will be scanned/photographed for submission and graded on their completeness as well as neatness. To ensure that you keep up with the work, you will be required to make pdfs of your notes pages EACH WEEK and submit them to LEARN. Cellphone shots converted into a consolidated PDF are fine as long as they are legible. The TAs will evaluate and provide feedback on a week by week basis. The notes are due to be submitted to LEARN by 10pm the day of the lecture.

Additionally there will be a sketch assignment each week. This is a full page sketch in the medium of your choice, to be made in the same sketchbook, of an assigned aspect of building construction, topic noted in the course outline below. These will be submitted to LEARN for grading. I prefer you to go out and sketch in situ rather than from an image online. You will be spending enough time in front of a computer screen. It is also more challenging to sketch from life.

As time permits, I will do some live detail sketches in class, and these should also be included in your sketchbook as part of the annotated notes.

Class Times:
I have scheduled approximately 4 contact hours in order to deliver the 3 hours of lecture material. I understand that this may be challenging for those used to shorter classes. Take the time to step outside during the breaks. Fresh air makes for better minds.

Please feel free to raise your hands and ask questions/interrupt during the lectures if you need more explanations or clarifications.

Office Hours:
I am happy to take questions during the 15 minutes prior to class, during break or immediately after class. If you wish to contact me personally, you can email, anytime tboake@uwaterloo.ca I am happy to do quick meetings on Teams as well.

Learning Outcomes:

There are some clear things that you should be able to do or know by the end of this course.

1. Come to understand this historical progression of changes in the built environment, with some understanding of architectural styles and how they are referenced.

2. Understand the critical role of technology as it informs architectural design. How did the changed in major structural materials impact the nature of design?

3. Why and Why Not? are the major questions that I am asking this term. Why might something have been done a certain way and how did the taking of risks, asking why not? propel design in other ways.

4. When you design and detail a building you don't do this from memory. You surround yourself with information and guides. You should know where to go to look for information on technical building requirements.

Course Materials:

This web page will be updated each week as required, so please check it. PDF copies of the presentations will be posted by the end of Thursday. I commute back to Toronto and also teach all day in Cambridge on Wednesdays, so will upload as time permits. Do not count on them to complete your weekly notes.

Log-in to LEARN: here

Please check out the Facebook page that I keep for my classes:
https://www.facebook.com/BoakeTech/

COURSE INTRODUCTION: It's all about Why and Why Not?

There are many ways that I could take you through the history of the built environment. I like to see the intrinsic relationship between material capabilities and structural form. So in this first class we will look at an overview of this as a means to allow for a deeper understanding of this notion throughout the course.

Required reading for today

THE HISTORY OF STYLES: Stone Construction Part 1
Forces in materials. Compression, tension and bending. Covering Ancient Egypt, Greek inventions. Architectural styles, the classical orders. What were the capabilities of Stone that led to Gothic, Romanesque, Renaissance. Increasing span through vaulting styles. Rotating arches to create domes, etc.

SKETCH: Find some detail that inspires you to design a building. Anything that you like. This sketch is due to LEARN before NEXT week's class.

What is a Sketch? It is not a frame quality drawing that takes many hours to complete. Generally it should show reasonable perspective, use varied line weights for emphasis and avoid excessive shading. Have a look at my Pinterest Board for some examples. https://www.pinterest.ca/terriboake/architecture-sketches/ To this end your sketches are not permitted to use shading, focus on linework and simplicity. They should take 30 minutes maximum to complete. They need to be neat, legible and compelling, but not look like renders. Lines have to be done well enough so that they can photograph for submission. You have a week to complete the weekly sketch - but that is by no means inferring that it is a week of work.

Course Intro PDF

Stone Part 1 PDF

ROMAN TO GOTHIC: Stone Construction Part 2
The evolution of the arch from round to pointed. Increased abilities to span and make larger rooms.

SKETCH: Go out and find some nice stone details on a old building. Churches and historic banks might have them. 

Stone Part 2 PDF

Terri at CISC Conference - Recorded lecture. Notes and sketch due as per normal timing

FROM TECHNIQUE TO TECHNOLOGY - Renaissance and Enlightenment to the 19th Century
Stone Construction: General Principles and Stereometry
Architects of note: Brunelleschi, Palladio, Alberti, Soufflot, Rondelet
Material nature of stone: compressive

READ:
Course Notes:
Stone Construction link
Intrinsically Linked through Materiality link
Mainstone: Chapter 3: Structural Materials, Chapter 4: Construction and Form
50 Architects You Should Know: Brunelleschi, Bramante, Alberti, Michelangelo, Bernini, Palladio, Wren, Gaudi, Jefferson, Schinkel

SKETCH: Using Alberti's method, do a one point perspective of the interior of a room. (I am preparing a short video which will be uploading later Monday morning to help with this). Sorry having issues with making this. It will be posted on Thursday. I am at a conference and have no time. I tried 6 times to do it today and have technical issues. Sorry.

Recording of the lecture

Stone 3 PDF

MAKING BUILDINGS/DESIGNING BUILDINGS
The Collaborative Process; Zoning; Codes

READ:
Course Notes: Regulatory Determinants link
Canadian Wood Frame House Construction: p. 2-18
Internet:
Have a look at the Official Plan for the City of Toronto link
50 Architects You Should Know: Aalto, Johnson, Pei, Rossi, SOM, Libeskind

SKETCH: Design yourself a nice north arrow, graphic scale and scale figure that you can put on your studio drawings. If you don't show which direction is north, you won't have it in mind when making decisions affecting orientation.

Making PDF

THE EVOLUTION TOWARDS CONTEMPORARY CLIMATE RESPONSIVE DESIGN:
An Introduction to the Science of Buildings
Buildings must not only work from a cultural and functional perspective, but they need to address fundamental issues of site, climate and sustainability. There is much to be learned from indigenous and vernacular architecture - that worked before the advent of modern AC and heating systems. The location and siting of the building must acknowledge solar orientation, the availability of wind for natural cooling, microclimate. Many buildings are designed to meet Green Building ratings.

READ:

Primitive Architecture and Climate: James Marston Fitch and Daniel P. Branch

SKETCH: Look for details of shading devices or nice operable openings that encourage ventilation.

Information of a detailed nature on the LEED system for assessing green buildings. Knowing a bit about this might be useful when going for jobs.

climate design PDF

BUILDING WITH WOOD
The materiality of wood and the structural implications and potentials of wood systems; sawn framing (traditional) versus engineered wood (more recent), light wood framing, heavy timber and CLT examples

READ:

All of the links below are for your information and future use. You do NOT need to study these for the quiz! Suggest that you download and save to your hard drives. They may come in handy someday.
Ontario's Tall Wood Building Guide
CLT Primer
Canada Mortgage and Housing Wood Frame Handbook. This is an essential one for wood frame basics!
History of Wood
https://www.unbc.ca/engineering-graduate/construction-wood-innovation-design-centre
http://cwc.ca/design-with-wood/durability/woods-heritage/

CMHC Best Practice Guides: Wood Frame Guide, BC Wood Frame Guide, Brick and Block and Brick and Steel Stud these guides have lots of details of wall systems for wood fram. Download and keep for future studio projects!

CMHC. Canadian Wood Frame House Construction. (span tables at end) Available as a downloadable PDF. here

SKETCH: Find a residential building under construction and sketch its framing. Look carefully for the way it is put together - the order that the pieces were attached to each other. Feel free to base your sketches on the 3D views of platform framing in the lecture. 

PDF of Wood

IRON AND STEEL: THE CREATION OF THE STRUCTURAL SKELETON AND THE EVOLUTION OF MODERNISM
An historical investigation of the invention of iron and steel framing systems and the ramifications on modern architectural conceptual design theories and implementation. The separation of structure and the envelope.
Architects of note: Behrens, Gropius, Mies, any High Tech architects like Foster, Rogers, Piano
Material nature of steel: tensile

READ:
Course Notes: Steel
images/course_pdf/172-ch5.pdf
50 Architects You Should Know: Ledoux, Sullivan, Burnham, Horta, Gropius, Mies, Neutra, Pei, Rogers, Meier, Foster, Herzog&deMeuron, Gehry, Koolhaas, Nouvel

For reference: Steel Design website I created for CISC

SKETCH: Look for some details that show steel construction and connections. You can look at the above website for examples.

PDF of Steel

THE EVOLUTION OF REINFORCED CONCRETE AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO MODERNISM
An historical investigation of the invention of reinforced concrete and the ramifications of the monolithic structure on modern design theories and construction practices.
Architects of note: LeCorbusier, Pier Luigi Nervi, Eero Saarinen
Material nature of concrete: compressive

READ:
Course notes: Reinforced Concrete
images/course_pdf/172-ch6.pdf
50 Architects You Should Know: Wright, Perret, Le Corbusier, Kahn, Niemeyer, Saarinen, Ando, Hadid, Ito, Tange  

SKETCH: Look for some details to sketch showing textured concrete. Feel free to use any of the images in the slide show as the basis for your sketches.

PDF of Part 1

PDF of Part 2

PDF of Part 3

BUILDING WITH MASONRY
Introduction to the fundamentals of masonry construction, including brick and concrete block, modular sizing, terminology, building practices

READ:
Links (for reference, not for the quiz):
Brick Institute of America http://www.bia.org/
Hanson Brick (coursing charts and good general diagrams) http://www.hansonbrick.com/english/products/sizes_coursing_us.php
https://owlcation.com/humanities/Who-Invented-Bricks-Mortar-and-Concrete
https://www.dezeen.com/tag/bricks/

Some very useful detailing guides for future reference (work, studio) not for testing in this course:

Wood Frame Guide, BC Wood Frame Guide, Brick and Block and Brick and Steel Stud

SKETCH: Looking for some nice brick details from a facade. Something older will give you more to work with.

PDF of Masonry

THE FACADE:
The face of a building is its facade. This lecture will look at a wide range of systems of enclosure. The transition from load bearing walls to the skeleton frame and curtain wall system has enabled much variety in enclosure systems. A lead into thinking more deeply about building enclosure systems, which is the focus of the 2A Design Studio that I teach you in the future.

SKETCH: Find a cool facade and give it a sketch.  

PDF of Facade

THE ARCHITECTURE OF ASSEMBLY:
A study of the impact of industrialized building processes on design strategies.

READ:
Course notes: Architecture of Assembly
images/course_pdf/172-ch10.pdf
50 Architects You Should Know: Mies, Neutra, Pei, Rogers, Meier, Foster, Gehry, Nouvel
Mainstone: Chapter 14, 15 

Final research project due. Sunday, December 3 before MIDNIGHT. Late penalties of 5% per day will apply. After 5 days of lateness, no marks will be awarded. Early projects always welcome!

Info on the Final Project

SKETCHBOOK:
You are required to keep a sketchbook/notebook for the course. 8 ½” by 11” format is recommended with BLANK pages. Grades are allocated based upon notes and technical sketches taken from the lecture.

11 LECTURES: @ 4% EACH (2 marks for completeness, 2 marks for neatness/clarity) total 44%

SKETCHES: 10 @ 3% EACH total 30%

FINAL DESIGN: 26% a Poster about Why and Why Not?

Late Penalties:
The weekly class notes are due to LEARN by 10pm the evening of the lecture. Late submissions will be subject to a deduction of 5% per day. After 2 days of lateness a grade of zero will be awarded. You need to develop good habits and keep up with your work - this assignment can be done during class.

The weekly sketch is due to LEARN prior to the following class. Late sketches will be awarded a grade of zero.
In case of a class absence due to illness you MUST contact Terri Boake by email and work out an arrangement to complete the work. Failure to reach out will earn a grade of zero for this note set.

There are a lot of small weekly assignments in this class. They are not hard but are intended to keep you on top of the class materials. Don't fall behind.

For the Final Research Project late penalties of 5% per day will be applied, following the 24 hour grace period. After 5 days of lateness a grade of zero will be applied.

CMHC. Canadian Wood Frame House Construction. Available as a downloadable PDF. here

Mainstone, Rowland. Developments in Structural Form. (Recommended reading)

50 Architects You Should Know. Prestel Press.
http://www.amazon.ca/50-Architects-You-Should-Know/dp/3791340433

Course notes archive. Available online. As linked throughout the course outline, or find them all here:
crsnotes.html

Academic Integrity: To create and promote a culture of academic integrity, the behaviour of all members of the University of Waterloo is based on honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility.

AI Policy: Permitted in this Course with Attribution: In this course, students are not permitted to use Generative AI Tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney to support their work. In order to maintain academic integrity, students must disclose any AI-generated material they use and properly attribute it. This disclosure should include AI generation whether in whole or part, including  images, designs, in-text citations, quotations, and references.

The full extent of images and text passages should be cited. The following statement in assignments may be used to indicate general use of a Generative AI Tool: “The author(s) acknowledges the use of [Generative AI Tool Name], a model developed by [Generative AI Tool Provider], in the preparation of this assignment. The [Generative AI Tool Name] was used in the following way(s) in this assignment: [indicate, e.g. grammatical correction, gathering sources, generating specific images, etc.].”

Caution: When using AI tools, it is important to be aware that the user data supplied might be utilized for training AI models or other purposes. Consequently, there is no guarantee that the information you provide will remain confidential. Instructors and students should exercise caution and avoid sharing any sensitive or private information when using these tools. Examples of such information include personally identifiable information (PII), protected health information (PHI), financial data, intellectual property (IP), and any other data that might be legally protected.

Grievance:  A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4, http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy70.htm

Discipline: A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity, to avoid committing academic offenses, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offense, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offenses (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course professor, academic advisor, or the Undergraduate Associate Dean. When misconduct has been found to have occurred, disciplinary penalties will be imposed under Policy 71 – Student Discipline. For information on categories of offenses and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71 - Student Discipline, http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy71.htm

Appeals: A student may appeal the finding and/or penalty in a decision made under Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances (other than regarding a petition) or Policy 71 - Student Discipline if a ground for an appeal can be established. Read Policy 72 - Student Appeals, http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy72.htm

Note for students with disabilities: YOU MUST VERIFY YOUR DISABLITY AND ACCOMMODATIONS WITH THE OPD AT THE START OF THE TERM. FOR EACH AND EVERY NEED FOR ACCOMMODATION, THEY MUST CONTACT ME TO MAKE ARRANGEMENTS OR ELSE LATE PENALITIES WILL BE APPLIED. The Office for Persons with Disabilities (OPD), located in Needles Hall, Room 1132, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with the OPD at the beginning of each academic term. Once registered with OPD, please meet with the professor, in confidence, during my office hours to discuss your needs.