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San Francisco Institute
of Architecture
A Center for Innovation in Design and Education

Semester starts Monday evening,
September 25, 2006, and ends December 14, 2006.

Classes will start at the architecture office of HOK
at One Bush Street at Battery near Market Street, downtown
San Francisco.

(See new low tuition fees on the enrollment form below.)

 

New at SFIA:

Lower fees. Lower still for early enrollment. See "FEES"
at the enrollment form below.

New facilities. Fall, 2006 classes may be in temporary
meeting facilities. But a building of our own is in the works.

Hands-on workshops on eco retrofit at Frank Lloyd
Wright's Taliesins East and West and other facilities.

Alternative certificate and undergraduate programs
for students who do not wish to earn a Master degree.

 


FALL 2006 SEMESTER

CLASS LIST

Semester starts Monday evening,
September 25, 2006.
Semester ends December 14, 2006.

Also available:
complete architectural and ecological design
degree programs through distance learning.

See Architecture Distance Learning and
Eco Design Distance Learning
at www.SFIA.net.

SFIA ADMINISTRATIVE & INFORMATION OFFICE
Box 2590
Alameda, CA 94501
510-523-5174 • Fax 510-523-5175
SFIA@aol.com

 

* Indicates a Core Course -- strongly recommended for all students.

MONDAYS

D-4*
THE ARCHITECTURAL MIND:
CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING

3 units. Mondays, 6:30 - 7:45 p.m.
Instructor: Fred Stitt, Architect; Director, SFIA.

Class starts Monday, September 25;
ends Monday, December 11

The world's greatest creative design and problem
-solving methods -- mostly unknown to architects. This
course presents the mental and emotional processes that
precede, precipitate, support . . . or hinder the process of
design. It teaches today's most advanced methods for
inducing inspiration, original thinking, independent thinking,
and innovation, for solving the most important design
problems of our time. You'll learn the latest discoveries
in brain function and mind-expanding techniques, such
as Mind Maps, advanced Brainstorming methods, Lateral
Thinking, Charette Design Process, Morphological Thinking,
Value Analysis, Whole Building Design, and much more.
(D-4 is coordinated with the D-1, D-6, and T-1 core courses.)

D-1*
STUDIO: CREATIVE DESIGN AND
NATURE-BASED ARCHITECTURE

5 units. Mondays, 8:00 p.m. - 9:15+ p.m.
Instructor: Fred Stitt, Architect; Director, SFIA.

Class starts Monday, September 25;
ends Monday, December 11.

Nature-based design is a totally different process
from that taught in most design schools. This core
course shows how to create extraordinary buildings --
buildings wholly integrated with the needs of the users,
with the site, and within themselves as works of art. Design
methods are shown in step-by-step procedures that eliminate
any mystery about the process. The class focuses on how
to use natural creative skills, experiment with them, and evolve
and maximize your inherent design abilities. Includes
techniques for using climate and solar charts, and green
technology, to help shape buildings that improve the
environment instead of diminishing it. (D-1 is coordinated
with the D-4, D-6, and T-1 core courses.)

 

TUESDAYS

Tuesday intensive classes. Intensive classes provide
six weeks of instruction plus follow-up, self-paced, thesis
project work.

E-75
LIVING ROOFS, GREEN WALLS,
AND HABITAT RESTORATION

3 units. Tuesdays, 6:30 - 7:45 p.m.
Instructor: Paul Kephart, Hortaculturalist; internationally-
famed Living Roof Consultant. (www.RanaCreek.com)

Six-week intensive class starts Tuesday, September 26;
ends Tuesday, October 31. Thesis project follows.

With modern technology and an understanding of how the
natural world works, architecture and ecology can take on
a symbiotic relationship. Steel, concrete and wood become
foundations and habitats for plants, water, animals, and
insects. Soil and plant material can protect and enrich the
very structures on which they reside. Rana Creek's Living
Architecture Division is pioneering the field of vegetative
structures. We design restorative, "ecologically functioning"
buildings and landscapes that actually convert waste
streams into fuel and close the building resource loop.
Paul Kephart, Rana Creek.

E-77
ECOLOGICAL LANDSCAPE
ARCHITECTURE

3 units. Tuesdays, 8:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Instructor: Allen Green, Landscape Architect
and Community Planner.

Six-week intensive class starts Tuesday, September 26;
ends Tuesday, October 31. Thesis project follows.

Surprisingly, most landscape architecture classes are still
not devoted to sustainable planning and eco design principles.
They treat plants like furniture to be moved around in archi-
tectural plan patterns. Now there's a revolution: water- and
resource-conserving native plantscaping, green roofs, green
walls and interior plantscaping that remove toxins and
process waste. Join the changing landscape in buildings,
neighborhoods, and whole communities.

 

WEDNESDAYS

T-1*
CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS
AND METHODS

3 units. Wednesdays, 6:30 - 7:45 p.m.
Instructor: Fred Stitt, Architect; Director, SFIA.

Class starts Wednesday, September 27;
ends Wednesday, December 13.

How to build with nature instead of against it.
We start with the simplest materials of earth and stone, then
brick, tile, concrete, hybrid ecological alternative materials,
straw bale, bamboo, and wood. In the second semester the
progression continues through more complex constuction,
with an emphasis on the causes and prevention of building
failures. Each material is reviewed from the standpoint of its
internal nature and how to best utilize that nature in creative
architectural design. Each is illustrated in many variations of
historic use and studied in terms of potential failure and the
most creative applications. The severe dangers of toxins in
common construction materials are given special attention.
(T-1 is coordinated with the D-1, D-4 and D-6 core courses.)

D-6*
HISTORY AND THEORY OF
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

3 units. Wednesdays, 8:00 - 9:15+ p.m.
Instructor: Fred Stitt, Architect; Director, SFIA.

Class starts Wednesday, September 27;
ends Wednesday, December 13.

How architects design using organizing principles
and nature-based proportioning systems from ancient
Egypt, through Asia and the Western world. (Semester 1 of 2.)
You can't understand architecture without understanding the
little-known methods used to design buildings and the technology
required to build them. Unlike any architectural history course
ever presented. Includes ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece,
Rome, India, China, Japan, and Early Christian, Islamic, and
Gothic Architecture. (D-6 is coordinated with the D-1, D-4 and
T-1 core courses.)

D-21
MATHEMATICS AND GEOMETRY
FOR CREATIVE DESIGN

3 units. Wednesdays, 6:30 - 7:45 p.m.
Instructor: Matt Fulvio, M.Arch, SFIA.

Class starts Wednesday, September 27;
ends Wednesday, December 13.

The inner workings of the universe around us,
from the structures of minerals to the growth patterns of plants,
are best understood by recreating the harmonic mathematical
patterns that underlie all natural phenomena. These same
patterns are also the "secret" behind the world's greatest
architecture. Using a visual and hands-on approach to
understanding polyhedra, tilings, proportion, gnomons,
and magic squares, this course explores the mathematical
mind and the evolution of math concepts throughout history.

THURSDAYS

Thursday intensive classes. Intensive classes provide
six weeks of instruction plus follow-up, self-paced, thesis
project work.

DE-310
EVOLUTIONARY ARCHITECTURE

3 units. Thursdays, 6:30 - 7:45 p.m.
Instructor: Eugene Tsui, Ph.D., Architect,
Tsui Design & Research. (www.tdrinc.com)

Class starts Thursday, September 28;
ends Thursday, November 2. Thesis project follows.

Dr. Eugene Tsui's book, Evolutionary Architecture,
is usedworldwide as the preeminent nature-based, how-to
book for applying lessons learned in millions of years of natural
selection. This book is on the "Recommended Reading" list
of the Royal Institute of British Architects and the American
Institute of Building Design. Dr. Tsui's grand vision of what
architecture can be "when you design as if you were nature"
is profoundly influencing thousands of architects and students
on every continent. This is a rare opportunity to learn from a
man who is one of the most widely published and sought after
architectural speakers of our time and who lives and works
his creative vision like no one else on the planet.

DE-320
NATURE-BASED DESIGN FOR DISASTER

3 units. Thursdays, 8:00 - 9:15+ p.m.
Instructor: Eugene Tsui, Ph.D., Architect,
Tsui Design & Research. (www.tdrinc.com)

Class starts Thursday, September 28;
ends Thursday, November 2. Thesis project follows.

Successful survival means adapting and learning to
deal with whatever the world throws at you:
extremes of heat and cold, fire, hurricanes and tornadoes,
earthquakes, floods, and catastrophic climate change.
Nature has created numerous defenses through natural
selection, all of which teach vital lessons in architectural
design and engineering. Learn from the master teacher --
nature -- from an architect who studies natural processes
and biomimicry more than any other architect in the world.

 

VIDEO HOME STUDY

D-14
COMMUNICATING YOUR DESIGNS:
PERSPECTIVE DRAWING & MEDIA

Self-study video tape course created by Kirby Lockard,
a master of architectural graphic techniques.
3 units. (Credit option only.)

Scheduled at students' convenience.

Excellent introduction to the principles and techniques of
manual perspective drawing and rendering. After your
enrollment, we'll arrange to deliver video tapes and work
materials. Introductory video available upon request from
Fred Stitt, SFIA@aol.com.

 

HOME STUDY DISTANCE LEARNING 

Complete Associate, Bachelor, and Master Degree
programs are available through textbook-based
distance learning. See "Architecture Distance Learning"
and "Eco Distance Learning" at www.SFIA.net.

 

Enroll by phone, e-mail, fax, or mail.

SFIA Information Office
Box 2590, Alameda, CA 94501
510-523-5174 | 800-634-7779
Fax 510-523-5175
SFIA@aol.com

 

CLASS ENROLLMENT FORM

SFIA FALL 2006 SEMESTER

 

Please enroll me in the classes listed below:

Name:

Address:

City:

State:

Zip:

E-mail:

Daytime Phone:

Evening Phone:

Fax:

__ New student

__ Current/previous student

 

__ Degree Candidate for:

Note: Students can change their candidacy at any time.

 

__ Master of Architecture Degree (100 units)

__ Master of Ecological Design Degree (75 units)

 

__ Bachelor of Science in Architecture Degree (72 units)

__ Bachelor of Science in Ecological Design Degree (54 units)

 

__ Associate Arts Degree and Technical Certificate
in Architecture (36 units)

__ Associate Arts Degree and Technical Certificate
in Ecological Design (36 units)

 

__ I'm not a degree candidate at this time.

Note credit or noncredit options. Some classes shown
below have only a noncredit option.

 

CR NC

Mondays

__ __ D-4*

THE ARCHITECTURAL MIND:
CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING
3 units. Mondays, 6:30 - 7:45 p.m.

__ __ D-1*

STUDIO: CREATIVE DESIGN
& NATURE-BASED ARCHITECTURE
5 units. Mondays, 8:00 - 9:15 p.m. =20

Tuesday

__ __ E-75

LIVING ROOFS, GREEN WALLS,
AND HABITAT RESTORATION
3 units. Tuesdays, 6:30 - 7:45 p.m.
A six-week intensive class, with self-paced thesis project to follow.

__ __ E-77

ECOLOGICAL LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
3 units. Tuesdays, 8:00 - 9:00 p.m.
A six-week intensive class, with self-paced thesis project to follow.

Wednesdays

__ __ T-1*

CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS AND METHODS
3 units. Wednesdays, 6:30 - 7:45 p.m.

__ __ D-6*

HISTORY AND THEORY OF ARCHITECTURAL
DESIGN
3 units. Wednesdays, 8:00 - 9:15 p.m.

__ __ D-21

MATHEMATICS AND GEOMETRY FOR
CREATIVE DESIGN
3 units. Wednesdays, 6:30 - 7:45 p.m.

Thursdays

__ __ DE-310

EVOLUTIONARY ARCHITECTURE
3 units. Thursdays, 6:30 - 7:45 p.m.

__ __ DE-320

NATURE-BASED DESIGN FOR DISASTER
3 units. Thursdays, 8:00 - 9:15 p.m.

Self-paced home study:

__      D-14

COMMUNICATING YOUR DESIGNS:
Perspective Drawing & Media

Saturday Cad classes and weekend, hands-on
workshop dates to be announced.

 

TUITION

3-unit classes: $350 credit, $250 noncredit.
5-unit studio classes: $550 credit, $450 noncredit.

Early enrollment discount: Enroll by September 15, 2006,
and deduct $50 from the fee for each class.

__ I am paying by check or money order (payable to SFIA).

__ I am paying by Visa or MasterCard:

Card number:

Expiration date:

Cardholder's full name:

__ I need an installment payment plan. I am paying 50% down,
and I will pay the balance in two equal installments, to be received
at SFIA by October 20 and November 17, 2006.
(If you are paying installments by credit card, SFIA will charge your account on those dates.)

If paying by check or m.o., please mail your payments at least
three days before the due dates.

No extra charge for changing classes or withdrawal within
the first two weeks of the semester. After the first week,
refunds will be on a prorata basis. Noncredit classes can be
upgraded to credit with added payment and completion of
required assignments, but credit classes cannot be changed
to noncredit.

 

SFIA INFORMATION OFFICE

Box 2590
Alameda, CA 94501
510-523-5174 | 800-634-7779
Fax 510-523-5175
SFIA@aol.com
www.SFIA.net