Architecture 499

Intent: to have the students learn how to produce a Journal from the acquisition and editing of articles to page layout design

Publication of ideas is an important part of architecture. This has been recognized by the students of the School of Architecture in the development of a newsletter and the student journal FORM. Seven issues of FORM have been released in the past two years. With each issue, the journal improves in quality of content, graphics, layout, organization, and distribution. Continued progress is necessary to establish the journal as a significant part of the School and of the field of architecture.

Architecture 499 provides an avenue for students to prepare, produce, and distribute one issue of FORM. The course covers writing and editing, research, computer skills, and management.

Writing is an important part of architecture. In the students' careers, they will be asked to prepare written documents such as master plans, magazine and journal articles, and written responses to RFPÕs and RFQÕs. Although composition classes are required for all students, writing for FORM gives the students the opportunity to deal with current issues in the architecture profession.

The articles written for the journal are not simply the midnight ramblings of tired students. Articles which have no structure, provide no new knowledge, are poorly constructed, and are not grounded in well thought out reasoning are inappropriate for a journal. Writing an article for a journal is not a trivial matter. Usually the students are working collaboratively, either with other students or usually with other faculty members and architects to produce articles.

A significant part of this project will include management. Each student is part of this effort. Management activities will include fundraising, coordination of printing and distribution, insuring that each of the articles is being prepared in a timely manner, etc. The team will decide on the graphic layout, editing standards, and final production schedule.

As the journal is prepared on the computer, the students need to learn word processing, layout, and electronic graphic design skills including the differences between RGB colors on the monitor versus CMYK colors on the actual printed page. The students also learn how to develop html pages and eventually FORM will be available on the Web.