arch 2281, design fundamentals 2

year: spring 2026

location: university of minnesota school of architecture

type: teaching

faculty: nathan davies, dzenita hadziomerovic, ray heikkila, shaghayegh koohi, lauren lynn, catherine rouillard, rachel salmela

the course covers the documentation and transformation of specific domestic rooms- an opportunity for each student to reflect on and re-imagine their inhabited world at the most immediate scale. many of these rooms are situated in larger collective housing environments, such as apartment buildings and dorms, raising further questions about how interventions within the room scale may create opportunities to de-cellularize and socialize certain living conditions and activities.

the students document and draw their room they spend most time in via plan, section, axon, scaled physical model, and perspectives or other 2d graphics. the same are used when they transform their rooms accordingly based on constraints or opportunities they each chose to focus on to provide more enjoyment, function, or value.

the course is a hybrid of studio and seminar/ lecture formats and consists of talks, activities, discussions, videos, and readings. 

a large focus is on clear and thoughtful spatial communication, both verbally and via architectural representation. precedents and drawings are the basis for discussion to share the broad scope of architectural practice as an approach for asking questions and helping on another.