Design Media is an essential part of the first year curriculum at the School of Architecture at UBC. In the fall, M.Arch I as well as B.Ends (Bachelor of Environmental Design) students take Design Media I together. This class helps to introduce hand-drawing skills and familiarize students with drawing and design software. It also introduces ideas on communication in design and graphic skills, with all projects culminating in a final poster and portfolio. This year John Bass and Matthew Soules taught the course. They were supported by a number of T.A.’s who were essential in helping us become adept with Vectorworks, Rhino, and the Adobe Creative Suite.

In the spring semester, Design Media II is a requirement for all M.Arch students including those with advanced placement. In this course a more advanced suite of software is explored with a focus on tooling and fabrication. Ian Ross McDonald taught us parametric modeling using grasshopper, animation using Maya and Adobe, and many of the projects required the use of digital output such as CNC and laser cutting. The final porfolio required in this second class was much more involved that the first and many people used an array of materials and digital outputs to produces theirs.

Here are some sample images from my projects throughout the year:


Hand-drawn perspective, Design Media I


Final poster, Design Media I


Umbrella Project, Design Media II


Parametric Modeling, Design Media II

Next year the Design Media courses will be under the direction of some new faculty and we are all excited to see what the new class produces.