ARCH 3314 · Cloud Hunting: A Territorial Interrogation on the Architectures of the Datascape

Eduardo Cilleruelo-Teran & Victoria McReynolds

“Cloud Hunting: A Territorial Interrogation on the Architectures of the Datascape” studies the territorial infrastructure of energetically hungry industries. We become observers and investigators, reading traces of these data centers and crypto mining vessels across the landscapes, logistics, and law to understand their footprint on economies, resources, and politics. This course runs as a hybrid workshop combining short-form writing, forensic research, and speculative model-making. Fieldwork and datasets inform material experiments that visualize scale, spatial erasure, environmental risk, and extractive footprints. A critical atlas of artifacts toward more accountable digital ecologies guides the production of this course.

ARCH 3314 · Code Compliance in Architectural Practice

Jimmy Johnson, AIA

The class will focus on the primary sections of the International Building Code and how to interpret those sections of code and how best to apply them to building design in the studio environment. A general overview of the code will be the focus that will be broken down into ten sub-sections spaced throughout the semester. Each subsequent section will pull from previous exercises, readings, and research that will be required to complete and fulfill the current assignments. Specific focus will be given to Building Use and Occupancy, Building Heights and Areas, Types of Construction, Fire and Smoke Protection, and most importantly, Means of Egress. Assignments will be required to interpret code phrases, execute calculations for proper interpretation of code, and finally make design decisions that have been informed by the building code exercises. Other aspects of the class will include Special Requirements of Use and Occupancy, Fire Protection Systems, Electrical Systems, Mechanical Systems, and Plumbing Systems. A deep knowledge base will be gained to apply aspects of code compliance within the design studio as well as the on-site construction observation portions of the AXP.

ARCH 3314 · HORIZON: SEARCHING FOR BOATS

Chris Taylor

Drawing from Horizon (2019), other writings, and the university Sowell Collection archives by Barry Lopez (1945–2020) this course will take up the charge and responsibility to search for reciprocity between the human and more-than-human worlds. We will seek to address Barry’s statement that “Change is coming fast, though, on multiple fronts. Most of us begin the day now uncertain of exactly where we are. Once, we banked on knowing how to respond to all the important questions. Once, we assumed we’d be able to pass on to the next generation the skill of staying poised in worrying times. To survive what’s headed our way—global climate disruption, a new pandemic, additional authoritarian governments—and to endure, we will have to stretch our imaginations. We will need to trust each other, because today, it’s as if every safe place has melted into the sameness of water. We are searching for the boats we forgot to build.” Barry Lopez, Embrace Fearlessly the Burning World, 2022

ARCH 4341 · AI-based upcycling: scan, document & design small builds from reclaimed materials in simulation.

Nero He

ARCH 5301 · Soil-Based 3D Printing — Climate-Responsive Construction.

Erin Hunt

This graduate seminar explores soil-based 3D printing as a framework for climate-responsive construction and housing research. Students examine local soils as building media through material testing, computational modeling, and digital fabrication. The course investigates how wall-section assemblies can integrate thermal performance, structure, and environmental adaptability. Through readings, digital workflows, and printed prototypes, students translate regional material properties into architectural strategies for low-carbon, passive design.

ARCH 5301 · Design of the Site: The Architecture of Ground and Context

Darrick Wade, AIA

Architectural design of landform, access, and utilities within regulatory site context.

ARCH 5301 · East Asia’s Living Architectural Heritages

SimHinman Wan, Ph.D

This graduate elective surveys the enduring significance of East Asian traditions and their presence in the modern world. Among the sociocultural factors that have shaped the local built environments historically, we will look closely at Confucianism and Buddhism as influences traversing geopolitical borders. We will also consider vernacular developments in structural systems, material utilization, and spatial geometries that are based on the land, climate, and other natural conditions.

ARCH 5363 · Ecocritical Theory and the Environmental Humanities

SimHinman Wan, Ph.D

This graduate theory seminar is an introduction to the humanistic perspective on environmental studies. A key point of exploration is the interdisciplinary concepts that inform architectural thinking and creativity. Among the topics for discussion are the historiography of sustainable architecture, the shift from global to planetary awareness, green imperialism, postcolonial ecocriticism, and environmental justice.

ARCH 2503 · Shaping Space

Coordinator: Lauren Phillips

Instructors: Sadaf Alikhani · Adrian Anaya · Rebecca Barnes · Lahib Jaddo​ · Pedro Mena Vega, Ph.D · Deborah Pittman​ · Michael Simonds, AIA

Architectural Design III: Shaping Space frames architecture as the action of defining space for human occupation through the introduction of form. The second-year studio builds students’ facility with the fundamentals of architectural research, representation, and design. Over the semester, students expand their architectural toolkit through three interconnected phases. In the opening weeks, we study institutional precedents from the last century that engage the public realm, with a focus on the “outdoor room” as a key spatial strategy. These investigations lead into the Midterm Project: a Food Truck Court that emphasizes deployability, adaptability, and public space—directly tied to Lubbock’s First Friday Art Trail. In the final phase, students synthesize their learning in a comprehensive proposal for a Lubbock Academy of Visual Art, engaging questions of community, culture, and civic life. By semester’s end, students will have developed both a working design vocabulary and the foundations of an architectural portfolio.

ARCH 4601 · On ‘Dwelling Poetically’

as Homo Sapiens|Homo Fabers|Homo Ludens on a – NOT so – Empty Canvas outside LBB’s City Limits

Coordinator: Hendrika Buelinckx, Ph.D

& on learning from social | ecological | cluster | collective | convenient | small | tiny | endless | … & OUT-houses

ARCH 4601 · Architectural Design VII

Coordinator: Christi Wier, AIA

Instructor: Jimmy Johnson, AIA

Located in NE Dallas, this recovery center should be at the forefront of providing comprehensive treatment and support to women battling substance use disorder. Initially focused on rehabilitation, the center would like to offer a wide range of services including therapy, life skills training, childcare, wellness treatments and other complimentary services. The primary challenge in creating the building is to develop a space that can simultaneously address the diverse needs of its occupants and integrate a variety of programs within a single facility while considering the confidential and intimate nature of the services provided. This task will require reconciling the need for both public engagement spaces and private, contemplative areas within an optimized environment of recovery.

These two sections will work in teams with ID Students and have private mentorships with HKS Dallas. Revit 2025 knowledge is required and a trip to Dallas during the semester will be strongly encouraged.

ARCH 4601 · 3D Printed Ceramic Hydroponics

Instructor: Logman Arja

This studio leverages additive manufacturing technology and ceramic fabrication to develop novel, replicable, deployable, environmentally conscious hydroponic structures and integrated architecture systems.

The studio will elaborate on ecotechnology as a framework for the next generation of small and agile micro-infrastructures that are inherently ecological and technological. The studio integrates the 'ecology of technics' and the 'technics of ecology'. We will utilize particles of light, jets of water, and bits of data to transform dust into customized architecture platforms and non-soil mediums for growing plants. The objective is to address broader concerns of food deserts in urban contexts and hinterlands. Students will theories and reintroduce the concept of inhabitation that might not be exclusive to humans but rather to other organisms and plants. Students will develop various hydroponic prototypes and speculate on their implications on the built environment. A dedication to creating physical environments and postulating technologically informed ceramics as disruptive to the culture of buildings is paramount.

Students will be introduced to ceramic 3D printers to fabricate their prototypes and models. Through interactive demonstrations and tutorials, students will develop a workflow spanning digital fabrication and machine craft. Through research and regular presentations, students will develop a body of work on urban farming technologies and horticulture practices.

ARCH 4601 · Architectural Design VII

Instructor: Lenora Ask, AIA

This Section explores architecture’s capacity to foster community across generations. Students will design an intergenerational housing and daycare center located in Comanche Park, a prominent public space in Big Spring, Texas. The project asks how architecture can create meaningful connections between children, families, and seniors while respecting cultural identity, environmental context, and social needs. Through site research, precedent studies, and programmatic analysis, students will investigate how shared spaces can encourage interaction while preserving dignity and privacy. Emphasis will be placed on integrating sustainable strategies, structural systems, and building codes into a cohesive design. Students are expected to produce projects that balance social responsibility, technical rigor, and architectural expression. This studio serves as a bridge between academic exploration and professional practice, requiring students to synthesize site, program, and systems into designs that are both visionary and grounded.

ARCH 4601 · The People’s Library

Libraries as Artifacts, Archives, and Infrastructures for the Social Responsibility

Instructor: Pat Klieopatinon

A library can be architecture. It can also be virtual, or a web page. It can be literal stacks of things. It can be permanent, temporary, mobile, a movement. It is itself an artifact. It can be a symbol, even evidence-- of decisions, intentions, priorities or lack thereof.

A library is also a container of artifacts. While it is architecture for people, it is also architecture for its contents. It is an archive. It collects, organizes, exhibits, narrates.

A library is infrastructure. It can be public; it can be private. It is a system within layers of connecting systems– of classification, knowledge, service, of communities. These external systems can be both supportive and suppressive.

Above all, the studio recognizes the library as agency for social responsibility, change, and possibility.

ARCH 4601 · Airways of the Llano Estacado

Instructor: Victoria McReynolds

Airways of the Llano Estacado, posits architecture as a bridge connecting the Llano Estacado Caprock with the Americas Central Flyway. Students will design a Llano Estacado Ornithology Lab situated within the Lubbock Lake National Historic Landmark, focusing on one characteristic bird: kite, kestrel, hawk, heron, crane, owl.

Organized around three phases, the studio gains understanding of designing architecture with avian ecologies, light sensitivity, and performative structures through research, drawings, discussions, and site visits. Design thinking will take place through mappings, large format drawings, modeling and photography. Deliverables include research booklet, site and project diagrams, hand modeling and 3D prints, as well as various drawing types.

Students will thoughtfully move between site and tectonics to develop ornithological structures that dial visitors’ awareness towards sub-ground, ground, on-ground, and above-ground conditions. Designs will accommodate programs of labs, gathering, gallery, offices, research, and machine space.

ARCH 4601 · Moto Euro

Instructor: Ben Shacklette

Design a Motorcycle/Automobile Dealership. The owners are authorized dealers for Ducati, BMW Motorrad, Triumph motorcycles, and MINI Copper automobiles. They offer sales and service for all four brands. They also sell and service pre-owned motorcycles and automobiles specializing in vintage European brands. The owners want the design to be visually compelling and hi-tech emphasizing the fusion of the machine aesthetic and art expressing the harmonious relationship between form and function that is inherent in automotive and motorcycle design, as it is in architecture. The purpose of the building is to comfortably house the employees, graciously accommodate customers, and strike an exciting and stimulating presence in West Texas, projecting quality of product and service, and underscoring excellence in sales and marketing.

ARCH 5301 · Argo

Nero He

This studio investigates how artificial intelligence can reshape the documentation and reuse of building materials during the deconstruction phase. Using 3D scanning and AI-based classification, students will build a digital “material bank” that catalogs components, evaluates their condition, and determines pathways for reuse, treatment, or disposal. The aim is to establish a workflow where material information is not lost in dismantling but reactivated as design intelligence.

The studio situates architecture between two scales: the macro, where design is seen as object-making, and the micro, where architecture emerges from the careful assembly of materials. By engaging AI as both an analytical and generative tool, students will trace how construction data—often overlooked at the end of a building’s life—can be transformed into design knowledge. Ultimately, the studio asks how linking macro–micro perspectives can reframe upcycling as both a design methodology and a material ethic.

ARCH 5603 · 3AM Studio

Augmented Adaptive Additive Manufacturing Architecture

Sina Mostafavi, Ph.D

3AM Studio is a recurring graduate-level design research platform that investigates how emerging design-build technologies, such as artificial intelligence, computational design, robotic fabrication, and additive manufacturing, can transform the discipline of architecture. Positioned within the paradigm of Industry 5.0, the studio emphasizes how augmented, adaptive, and additive processes can redefine architectural production by enabling customizable, data-driven, scalable systems. The course integrates design experimentation with advanced production methods to explore hybrid human–machine workflows, collaborative robotics, and material-driven innovation. Central to 3AM Studio is the development of prototypes and design-to-production strategies that expand architecture’s disciplinary agency across scales, from macro-level form and configuration to meso-level assemblies and micro-level tectonics, while cultivating technical mastery and critical insight into the role of next-generation manufacturing. This year’s studio focuses on resilient housing, linking entrepreneurial strategies with robotic construction and 3D printing architecture. While the final project will be presented as one documented architectural instance, projects are encouraged to devise adaptive solutions as systems rather than fixed outcomes, leveraging the flexibility and programmability of integrated design-to-production methods. Final outcomes include a documented and prototyped housing system, with further incubation pursued through collaborative efforts in conjunction with TTU’s Innovation Hub initiatives and supported by the C-Startup grant.

ARCH 5603 · Square non-Grid

Daniel Pruske

Upon joining the First Texas School in 1954 — and as a member of what would eventually be called the Texas Rangers — John Hejduk introduced The Nine-Square Grid, a pedagogical device for nurturing the fundamental skills and capacity for thought in new students of architecture.

In 2010, Thom Mayne introduced an analogous pedagogical device which later became the Combinatory Form Studies shown in his book Strange Networks. Expanding the foundational nature of The Nine-Square Grid, the project introduces randomness and chance behavior, broader organizational capabilities, and infinite iterative possibilities to produce diverse potential.

Abstract in nature, part-one of this studio will continue the exploration. Derivations of “point, line, plane, and volume” will serve as the basis for morphological systems, where embedded relationships and rules between themselves and a broader “site” will develop architectural ecologies.

Speculative in nature, part-two of the studio will implement the Combinatory Form Studies as projects.

ARCH 5603 · Healing for Growing Lives

A Pediatric Clinic Design

Lingyi Qiu, Ph.D

This studio has been invited to design a pediatric clinic in Broadview Heights, Ohio, as part of the Student Design Competition hosted by the Elliot Program in Healthcare Design at Kent State University. The project emphasizes creating a child-friendly healthcare environment that supports children and families while enhancing the overall care experience.

Students will explore strategies to reduce stress and promote safety and comfort, including the use of natural light, engaging interiors, age-appropriate support spaces, and accessible outdoor areas.

In addition, the studio will address clinical functionality and efficiency. Students will study how the arrangement of patient rooms, treatment and diagnostic areas, and staff workflows can enable smooth operations and support caregivers. Accessibility and inclusivity are essential, with universal design principles applied to welcome children of all ages and abilities.

Through research and iterative design, students will develop evidence-based design proposals that integrate architecture, landscape, and community into healing environments.

ARCH 5603 · Downtown Arts Gateway

Design-Build Studio

Peter Raab

This fall, students at Texas Tech University’s Huckabee College of Architecture will embark on a rigorous and rewarding design-build journey: the creation of the Downtown Arts Gateway, a steel and ceramic pavilion linking Two Docs Brewery with the Lubbock Arts District. Funded by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), the project is centered in Professor Peter Raab’s graduate design-build studio and paired with Erin Hunt’s technology seminar, where students advance parallel research in ceramics, environmental performance, and digital fabrication. Working hand in hand with local artists, fabricators, and community partners, the courses together offer a uniquely immersive experience.

The studio challenges students to integrate design excellence with advanced fabrication, sustainable performance, and real-world construction practice. Through charrettes, prototyping, and on-site building, students will explore steel’s expressive potential alongside 3D-printed ceramic tiles that provide performative potential.

More than a gateway, the pavilion will serve as a vibrant hub, offering shade, seating, gardens, and educational programming that reflects the energy of Lubbock’s thriving Arts District and demonstrates the transformative power of architecture when design, technology, and community come together.

ARCH 3314 · Code Compliance in Architectural Practice

Jimmy Johnson, AIA

The class will focus on the primary sections of the International Building Code and how to interpret those sections of code and how best to apply them to building design in the studio environment. A general overview of the code will be the focus that will be broken down into ten sub-sections spaced throughout the semester. Each subsequent section will pull from previous exercises, readings, and research that will be required to complete and fulfill the current assignments. Specific focus will be given to Building Use and Occupancy, Building Heights and Areas, Types of Construction, Fire and Smoke Protection, and most importantly, Means of Egress. Assignments will be required to interpret code phrases, execute calculations for proper interpretation of code, and finally make design decisions that have been informed by the building code exercises. Other aspects of the class will include Special Requirements of Use and Occupancy, Fire Protection Systems, Electrical Systems, Mechanical Systems, and Plumbing Systems. A deep knowledge base will be gained to apply aspects of code compliance within the design studio as well as the on-site construction observation portions of the AXP.

ARCH 3314 · Explorations in Combinatory Form

Daniel Pruske

This course will focus on the enrichment of formal and spatial design vocabularies, design processes which harness multiple ordering systems and operational methods, an understanding of combinatory form where design is a strategic / adaptable process, and the ability to translate design studies into small / medium constructions which will be finished to a level of abstraction and materiality a professional office would attain.

Upon developing organizational systems based on derivations of “point, line, plane, and volume,” we will codify relationships between the systems, as well as within—and with—a broader “site.” Stereotomic and tectonic operations blend using adaptive constraints and rulemaking between the organizational systems and site, generating rich formal / spatial ecologies. These environments bridge the gap between cartesian and biological order, generating combinatory forms and strategies for use at various scale.

ARCH 3314 · Architectural Sketching and Artificial Intelligence

Exploring the Haptic and the Virtual

Darrick Wade, AIA

This course will review and practice the fundamentals of architectural sketching and explore its potential relationship with Artificial Intelligence. Through discussion, sketching, and experimentation with AI, students will answer the question, “can AI help generate design iterations from original sketches?”. We will discuss ethics related to AI and how we can maintain agency as architects. Deliverables include: writings, sketches, printed material, slide presentations and others as the class determines.

ARCH 5301 · Explorations in Combinatory Form

Daniel Pruske

This course will focus on the enrichment of formal and spatial design vocabularies, design processes which harness multiple ordering systems and operational methods, an understanding of combinatory form where design is a strategic / adaptable process, and the ability to translate design studies into small / medium constructions which will be finished to a level of abstraction and materiality a professional office would attain.

Upon developing organizational systems based on derivations of “point, line, plane, and volume,” we will codify relationships between the systems, as well as within—and with—a broader “site.” Stereotomic and tectonic operations blend using adaptive constraints and rulemaking between the organizational systems and site, generating rich formal / spatial ecologies. These environments bridge the gap between cartesian and biological order, generating combinatory forms and strategies for use at various scale.