We are a leading center for architectural engineering and design. Many of our research outputs are created for, and in partnership with, industrial collaborators to ensure demonstrable impacts on policy and practice nationwide.
Architectural Theory
In the field of Architectural Theory (AT), we examine architectural spaces from the perspectives of history, art, tradition and humanity, exploring the concepts of an architecture closely related to everyday life. In today’s diverse, complicated, and fast-changing times, it is easy to lose sight of important values fundamental to our lives. It is more than every necessary to approach the creation of architectural spaces through an understanding of the historical significance of architecture, technologies for maintenance and repair, and planning and theory that embraces the user’s viewpoint.
Urban Environment
In the field of Urban Environment (UE), the program includes research and training directed at making possible health, safety, comfort, development potential, and sustainability in human life and in the city. Under this umbrella, we examine the complex links between people, structures, energy, environmental factors (sound, light, heat, air, water), and ecology as a single system and ask how to expand such a system or build one anew. Today, as cities have become increasingly diverse and the relationships between everyday life and the global environment have become unbalanced, we must ask what the new sustainable city for the society of the future should be and how urban environmental design can contribute to its realization.
Structural Engineering
In the field of Structural Engineering (SE), we conduct research on and provide training in construction materials, structures, and building construction in order to ensure the safety of buildings and protect the lives and property of those who visit or occupy them. Buildings are classified by type of structure: steel-frame, reinforced concrete, or wooden, for example. Stadiums and other structures with large indoor spaces are examined as examples of structures with special spatial demands. Structures’ ability to withstand their vertical loads and also to be safe in strong winds and earthquakes are absolute requirements. As architectural design becomes more diverse, more advanced forms of structural analysis are required.
Architectural Design
In the field of Architectural Design (AD), we are involved in education and research related to the design of contemporary buildings and cities. We see designing structures as contributing to a well-rounded education. Architectural design requi4res knowledge that ranges from engineering to the social sciences and humanities, aesthetics and philosophy. Architectural designers also need to be able to communicate their ideas and connect them with their social context. Conceiving of structures and spaces in the city that do not yet exist requires respect for history, understanding of contemporary culture and society, and accepting responsibility for the future.