Courses are specific to each semester and take advantage of the large knowledge base in the Institute of Architecture and Technology, at the Royal Danish Academy and from our large international network. From courses in light, materials and innovative structures, to digital manufacturing and simulation tools, they support and enhance the research orientated design curriculum.
Furthermore, the large national and international network that this program provides, also translates into lectures, courses and workshops with industry, research and innovation.
One of the distinguishing factors of this course, are the yearly fieldwork trips, which are not thought as mere study trip, but as a hand-on, substantial part of the curriculum. They allow for onsite testing of hypothesis and prototypes, specific local knowledge and collaboration, courses, visits and workshops, as well as a vital network that will inform the building or component design throughout the course.
On the expedition students practice setting up scientific experiments in the field as well as recording, logging and analysing data. Data that forms the foundation of each student project in the second semester. Simultaneously the collected data is used to prepare of a scientific report. In this process students work closely with internal researchers to develop and assess a qualified hypothesis.
The course introduces students to core concepts and techniques for digital fabrication, performance-led design, sensing, and methods of experiment design and assessment. There is an emphasis on design task, sensing methodology and visualization of data results. Through the strategic linking of making and testing of an experimental prototype, the workshop supports students in developing integrated understandings that connect making, purposeful performance and assessment.
This workshop introduces methods and concepts in registration and representational techniques for mapping. It will introduce students to underlying fundamentals around photography, digital registration and mapping, including the understanding of historic impacts, the extraction of meaning from the study of the physical and social world, as well as being the generators for argumentation and proposition. Students will work with photography, as well as new digital registration techniques of drone-based photogrammetry, to make exploratory mappings.
In this course, students learn to use the latest sensor technology and adopt real-time reporting of meaningful data. Students are taught how to couple an architectural prototype with environmental sensors in order to generate ecosystem, climatic, material and human physiology data. Finally, students learn how to collect data in a scientific fashion and use them for future design developments. The course is directed by associate professor Emanuele Naboni.
An annual Critical Thinking seminar aims towards enriching the student’s theoretical knowledge and enhancing methodologies towards research and critical thinking. The seminar offers a continuous set of lectures, workshops and guidance from theorists that inform students work and support the development of competencies within the realm of the history of ideas.
Students develop the ability of simulating holistically ecosystems and the human data within their project design. Plugins to model LCA, energy, thermal, comfort, radiation and daylighting simulation tools are used to sustain creative design conceptions. The gaps in between the fields that need to be part of sustainable Design is addressed and bridged in the course.
In this course students are taught the use and application of Computational Fluid Dynamics for indoor and outdoor environments; the course will teach students to model and analyse heat- and airflow in and around buildings. The use of computational analysis methods and state of the art software will be integrated in the student’s project work as a tool to inform the design.
