I know mainly engineering students who create apps in class.

Is this for architecture students? Seems like quite a stretch. Uless you are trying to save them from architecture.

btw SDK for iphone is $99 per license, so this course may be a tad pricey, unless "degree costs $200k anyways, so what's another Benjamin."

Why do it?  This seems like the sort of gimmicky studio that there is way too much of.  Rather than focusing on the latest fads in technology, why not teach a studio based on structure, or construction, or something serious.  I am an architecture student, and I worry that my coursework is based too much on what the instructors think is cool at the moment. Teach us real stuff. If I were forced to work in teams to design an app, I would leave school.

GSAPP has some seminars that are using student-built apps as tools for exploring a wide range of issues.    http://www.arch.columbia.edu/workpage/work/courses/visual-studies/app-itecture

As noted, this is a superb way to show kids what you can do (and get paid well for) outside of architecture.

Also noted, I am not sure what this has to do with architecture.  Further, you either have to use a template-based system or actually know how to code well to make something worthwhile, the latter being next to impossible to expect any architecture student to have a clue about (and if they do, they are surely already looking at other careers and this class would be beneath their skills).

As b/b points out, why don't you teach them something that is actually helpful for architecture?  No firm, anywhere, is going to care if you made an app.  Probably more fun for you to teach, if you are a programmer, but think of what is best for the students.

one of the students in our faculty made an app connected with a community redevelopment project.  but we are multi-disciplinary and he was working under professor where coding skills are considered basic requirements (his field was remote sensing not architecture).

maybe one of your colleagues can teach it barry? from what i see around me modifying GIS takes some skills with code...surely some of the landscape people are into that?

this might be good to keep those *** types that think everything is coded busy.  also might be useful to get a few wide-eyed optimistic students to drop out before they're in too deep.

however, i would not ask your students to do something you're not able to do.  so before you ask them to make a magic app, learn to make it yourself.  I've met too many big idea types, especially in academia (but also in the real world), that can't back up their narcissism/arrogance/whatever.  don't be that guy.  not saying you are that guy, or you don't already know everything about app architecture, because i don't know you that well.  just saying if you're not there yet, it might be best to either learn it or not teach it.

android sdk should be free.  iphone sucks.

http://archinect.com/forum/thread/49800471/leaving-la-for-nyc-or-sf

^^^ I get the feeling...Barry Lehrman is trolling Xenakis.  :)
Barry, after your students are done with your app class and graduate, urge them to move to SF too. :))

Ok. I'll be serious.

Q: How were the development/programming/content tasks assigned (was the class one large team with smaller groups doing specific tasks, smaller teams responsible for an entire app, of individual effort)?
A: You can pay the programmer as an individual or divide the fee equally among a large group of students.

code is design.

you're going to learn how to do structure and all that bullshit in practice.
figuring out how programming logics work, not so much.

also, consider android. ipad apps may make more money, but the computing power you get from tegra 3 chips = nerdgasm.

2 words,
ubiquitous computing

The virtual terrain of architecture is going to be an important part of the physical built environment.

as an elective its cool, not I'm not sure about it being a design studio

I haven't taken a course where I've made apps, but I've taken courses where other people made apps (more on how this happened later) and have designed (but not coded) apps professionally. 

The courses where apps have been made have been graphic/interactive/industrial design courses where students from all of those disciplines were given design objectives and allowed to determine the format they wanted to use to accomplish those objectives on their own. From the reaction I've seen above to this idea, that may actually be a path that this could take; ask the students to find a way to display this information, and let it take whatever form they are most interested in (mobile apps, interactive kiosks, physically interactive exhibits, etc.)

In terms of tools for designing apps, I worked in illustrator, because I wasn't doing the coding. It was also important for me to forward sample images to my own phone so that I could view how a screen would actually feel and what an appropriate scale was. 

Individual efforts all the way. Though I could see if you split this into two sections, developing content and developing solutions, the first (content) section could be a team thing.

Learning outcomes varied based on how students chose to approach the problem. 

"building code is design"

fixed that for you.

thanks rusty.  it was a little confusing at first.  also, re:

you're going to learn how to do structure and all that bullshit in practice.

you may be underestimating how easy it is to spend 10 years doing nothing but toilet and stair details.  your misspent youth may be better misspent learning about structure and other bullshit so you have a better chance at digging yourself out of such a hole in the future.  On the other hand, there is a lot of repetitive work drawing railings.  That could be scripted if you're talented enough.

or you could be scripted out of existence.

the bottom line is that students need to learn how to code - once you learn one language, it's easy to learn the others - increasingly, the ability to write scripts and programs is what will make the difference in who gets hired - it did in my case.

Xenakis-  Are you working as an architect? If so, do you spend your days coding?

It seems strange to me that architects have outsourced so much of their profession to engineers, but insist on learning new skills that seem unrelated to the design and construction of buildings. 

spending 10 years doing toilets and stairs is easy if you are completely devoid of any ambition.

bob/bob - working in architectural capacity doing production with Revit - I used to do a lot of programmer type stuff with Maya .mel when I was in the game industry and when using Maya in school. I did program in C# and VB.NET at SOM when I was working on the Revit API - that's how I got hired, then I was placed in an architecture team, and I have been doing production for the last 5 years - different firms

" insist on learning new skills that seem unrelated to the design and construction of buildings. Well,  programming is a tool - but once you get into it, you spend all your time on API programming and have no time for the actual architecture stuff and then one evolves into a programmer. 

so they end up leaving architecture, is that a bad thing noting how the field is said to be oversaturated with new grads?

reminds me of a thread some time ago

Since I seemed to have opened pandora's box with the concept of creating an app as a studio project, I'll provide a few more details.

• First, this is just a proposal pending getting my ducks all lined up. On Tuesday, I'm meeting with the chair of the computer science department who teaches interactive media, gaming, and mobile computing to discuss the logistics and possibility of doing this as an interdisciplinary course where the CS students will do the heavy lifting with the coding.
• 2nd) I'm primarily interested providing narrative creation and content production as the primary learning objectives - not coding for coding's sake. 
• 3rd) the course will be an undergrad landscape architecture studio, so exploring alternative site inventory and presentation methods is a secondary learning outcome.
• 4th) this course will be a second in a series exploring a specific place. This course will be primarily focused on presentation/exhibition of the work developed in the first course - an alternative to app creation is doing an exhibit design/build.
• 5th) I'm seeking a sponsor to pay for the software tools and other expenses of developing the app - perhaps even buying a dozen iPads or similar for the class to use if funding becomes available...
• 6th) I do see media creation (web, apps, video, and gaming) as valid modes of 21st century landscape/architectural practice - not as an end in it's self, but an end to a means of communication the design work that is essential for entrepreneurship as designers these days.
• 7th) Knowing the basics of media creation enables stronger interdisciplinary partnership with the content creation pros, just as having the basics of structures, planning, hydrology, ecology, et cetera facilitates better collaboration with those disciplines. 

ps- Rationalist, I'll be in touch about having you onboard as a juror & guest!

BL, I took the UW Extension course in iPhone/Cocoa programming in 2010 when it looked like I really was going to have to Do Something Else (I'm an old CS major).  Here are a few ideas for you:

• If your heart is set on doing real apps, look at some of the interpreted language systems such as Ansca Corona or Appcelerator, these use Lua (very simple scripting language) and Javascript respectively as opposed to native Objective-C, which is difficult to learn and probably over the head of most beginning developers. Corona is especially good at rapid prototyping as well as e-publishing and can use a simple text editor as the scripting environment, as opposed to full-on XCode which can also be daunting to beginners.  Corona is designed for game development so it's good at handling graphics in a simple sort of way, essential to the architect's mindset I think.  Other options are Cabana (www.cabanaap.com) and Gamesalad. 
• If your heart is not necessarily on doing real apps but instead doing functional mockups, look at using Powerpoint or Keynote to produce clickable .pdf's.  This piece from Stack Overflow is a good start:  http://stackoverflow.com/questions/228247/what-are-possible-good-ways-to-prototype-iphone-applications.
• A Mac is required for iOS programming whether in Objective-C or one of the interpreted languages.  There are code editors but to my knowledge no full-blown IDE available for iPad. 
• Finally, if you wish to venture further afield look at iProcessing (http://luckybite.com/iprocessing/) which is Processing for iOS, and also at OpenFrameworks (http://www.openframeworks.cc/).  Processing has not been updated since iOS4.0, don't know if it will run on iOS 5 or not.  OpenFrameworks is based on C++ which makes for heavy weather but it's another option. 

Interesting idea, keep us posted!  I took a C# class a couple of years ago from a guy who had previously been in construction, he said architects make ideal software developers because they can work in the project format, they know how to build up ideas and concepts layer by layer, they're visually oriented and can think from their viewpoint of their projects' users (usually). 

It's an interesting idea. Personally,I'd enjoy this a lot in school. Ever since I took some rudimentary classes in computer science it has been apparent to me just how important even the slightest knowledge of coding has been. It teaches logic, it's a problem solving process, not to mention prepares students for the modern world of ubiquitous computing. There's a lot you could do with a class that uses the app as its main platform regarding architecture from Entrepreneurship and communication as you said to crowdsourced spacemaking through algorithmic process, integration with parametric design, situated technologies, etc. I think the argument for app design, or more generally any computer programming holds water though. I'm note rested to see where this goes

I wouldn't do it without the participation of the CS department. No offense to us, but the vast majority of architects aren't even qualified to teach architecture let alone something heavily reliant on computer programming.

I've worked at an AEC software company before without any prior software experience- it was eye-opening. Even the creatives/ holistic designers like myself had to be intimately familiar with what your programmers could and could not accomplish.

There are two bad situations that I would try to account for: A great design student paired with an incompetent programmer, and an incompetent designer paired with a great programmer. Chances are you're going to have a lot of students in these two categories- rarely do the best in one field manage to pair up with the best in another during cross-departmental projects like this.

The interdisciplinary resources for the proposed course are getting stronger. This past week, I got buy-in's from the Computer Science faculty and the Graphic Arts/Industrial Design faculty, joining me and the geography faculty. Now we just need to secure the initial funding.

As to the team structure, the disciplines will work collaboratively and separately at different points in the project, and be responsible for specific aspects of the project. Stay tuned...