IE and IIT to launch an Architecture Summer School on the Battle of Cities for Sustainability

The Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture, Chicago, and IE School of Architecture & Design, Madrid/Segovia, have joined forces to launch the IE/IIT Summer School, set to take place from July 8 to 15, 2011. The course, headed ATLAS ON DENSITY, will explore the cross implications of levels of density and sustainability from the sprawl of American suburbs to the extreme density of Asian cities.

The intensive 8-day studio-based design workshop will be held in Madrid and will provide enthusiastic architectural undergraduate and graduates worldwide with a stage for debating contemporary architectural and urban ideas, digital and analogue techniques, with an emphasis on inventive design and communication abilities. Using Madrid as a laboratory, participants will explore the architectural, urban, and environmental implications of density. Tutors from Chicago, Madrid, and Singapore, will use their own metropolitan backgrounds to enrich the potential evolution of Spain’s capital.

With Madrid serving as headquarters, case study subject, and site for field research, students will investigate specific urban sustainable challenges. The workshop will foster a debate about the future of cities based on the positive or negative consequences of density, embedding sustainability deep into the design process. Is there a level of density that fosters ecosystem regeneration and a respect for nature? The course will explore the way toward a new notion of density, one that oscillates between the quantitative and qualitative properties of architecture and the city.

This design and research-based architecture workshop, organized by both schools in collaboration with the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, will include a number of expert lectures. In line with IE’s education model, the course will also feature intensive courses on digital design tools and communication abilities, aimed at enhancing both individual and group work.

Find more information on the program at http://ie_iitsummerschool.ie.edu

Acerca del IIT College of Architecture, Chicago, Illinois.

With a history of design excellence and technical expertise and unmatched professional studio curriculum, the IIT College of Architecture is respected by architectural firms nationwide for its highly professional curriculum and its emphasis on material investigation and fabrication. IIT’s NAAB-accredited College of Architecture draws strength from its Chicago setting, its Mies van der Rohe heritage, and its award-winning faculty.

Acerca de IE School of Architecture and Design

The IE School of Architecture & Design educates architects who go on to become global leaders of excellence in design, innovation and management. It is a diverse, international institution which houses an extensive blend of different cultures, with the Spanish culture as a backdrop and topic for analysis.