Topics in Contemporary Architecture and Urbanism: Building and Embodied Carbon

The climate crisis requires a radical shift in how buildings are built to significantly decrease their embodied carbon. This design seminar explores the tectonics of plant-based building materials (wood, straw, hemp, cork, bamboo, etc.), invents new assemblies and tests how different material assemblies can be catalysts for new forms of buildings. As a design intensive course, the visible aesthetics of these materials are combined with the invisible attributes made legible through other means such as life cycle analysis, thermal imaging, and carbon calculations.