ABSTRACT
By presenting materials through the lens of their applications and coalitions, students, designers, and architects will think of the problems encountered in assemblies as opportunities for invention. As designers, we are concerned with the form, aesthetics, and spatial experiences within our buildings. As full-fledged architects, however, we must also be concerned with detailing the assembly, coordinating the design team, maintaining budgets, and prioritizing life safety. The failure to protect the health and welfare of the building occupants looms over every architect. Architecture is more than buildings. In a broader sense, architecture is the activity of thinking buildings, and therefore it includes a process that starts from the inception of design ideas. Design is about exploring a range of possible solutions and being unafraid to take risks and to be wrong within the confined environment of the process.
