RENSSELAER SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

CASE STUDIES: Investigations in Architectural Knowledge FALL 2014

TOPIC 1: PRACTICE[S]

Assign: Thursday, Aug. 28, 2014
Due: (3 teams - tbd) presentation; Hard Copy/Digital Sub. (all teams) Mon., Sept. 08

PRESENTATION: The objective is to learn about and teach the class something about the
person and practice as a background to how and why it has contributed to the body of work,
contributions to, and innovations within the discipline.

Each team will have 15 minutes to present their selected architect and his/her practice in
power point format followed by 15 minutes of discussion. (Bring your presentation on a
removable storage device)

The following are suggested, however, this list should not be construed to be a template or to
be comprehensive.

1) Timeline of milestones in life and practice
2) Their cultural geography as persons and practices
3) The practice its organization, # of partners, architects, interns, other employees
relation to consultants, etc
4) Their philosophy; As stated and, as you interpret
5) Major Projects images and basic facts
6) Key innovations / contributions to the discipline
7) Bibliography of your literature search:
a. Written by them
b. Written about them
i. Books
ii. Journals / magazines
iii. Web

DOCUMENT HAND-IN (Monday 9/08 for all)
1) PPT presentation (Hardcopy handout format: 6 slides per page + Digital)
2) Literature Search Word Doc: Follow the Chicago Manual of Style see
attached pdf (Hard Copy+Digital)
3) Report (Hard Copy + Digital) the report should be substantially more
comprehensive than the PPT presentation. It too should include images, drawings
and diagrams where appropriate.

a. Keep all images you obtain or scan in a high resolution / size format for
future use.
a. When using for ppt compress and minimize files inside of ppt
1
OR by
using different file names and reducing them individually
b. Keep careful records of all image sources and list them in all docs (good
practice AND will pay off in the end)
c. Label all electronic Files starting with <your name> <topic (such as
architect)>followed by the file name you choose.

1
In PPT (does not function on a mac) drag in large size unaltered images (preserve high res images in
original file). When the PPT is ready right click on any image, click on format and select the compress
option. This will allow you to reduce all the images to screen resolution and dramatically reduce the
presentation size.