00 PDF DOWNLOAD

Download a pdf copy of the full syllabus here.

01 COURSE ABSTRACT

The initial design lab supports the design studio with technical skills related to the design of virtual environments. Students develop experimental workflows for producing representations of landscapes incorporating game engines and AI-based imaging techniques.

02 COURSE OVERVIEW

This seminar explores strategies for representing landscapes in relation to the increasingly ambiguous definition of “nature.” As it is now impossible to separate the artificial from the natural, traditional methods of depicting ecological conditions fail to capture the nuance and inherent messiness of contemporary landscapes. This course asks students to rethink conventional representational approaches through the use—and deliberate subversion—of generative design tools, game engines, AI-based imaging techniques, and storytelling methods. By coaxing typically rigid and tidy technological tools towards entanglement and complexity, students create virtual environments that embrace and represent the messy coexistence of the human and nonhuman.

Image from Jakob von Uexküll’s “A Stroll Through the Worlds of Animals and Men” (1934)

03 COURSE ORGANIZATION

The course will be organized into sections for research, prototyping and modeling, virtual environment creation, refinement, and final project/presentation. Students will work on projects individually (unless otherwise approved), with the final presentation being a collaborative effort of the class to create a film in which each student will submit one animated segment. All course materials will be uploaded to the class website.

04 MATERIAL NEEDS

Hardware (required):

Computer capable of running Blender and Unreal Engine. Please contact the instructor directly with questions about the appropriate hardware.
A mouse

Software (required):

Unreal Engine (w/ plugins - to be installed as needed during tutorial sessions)
Blender

Various generative tools (to be installed as needed during tutorial sessions)

Adobe CC

Note: The exact software versions required will be provided during class. Students are expected to have the correct version installed for the group tutorials. Links will be provided on the course website.

05 STUDENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES & OUTCOMES

Student Learning Objective 1: The course will provide students with the technical skills necessary for designing virtual environments.
Student Learning Outcome 1: Students will learn 3d modeling and animation techniques by participating during in-class tutorial sessions and completing weekly assignments.

Student Learning Objective 2: The course will expose students to experimental workflows for digital representation.
Student Learning Outcome 2: Students will be encouraged to explore workflows introduced in class through tutorials and examples/precedents. Students will integrate experimental workflows in their weekly assignments as well as their final project.

Student Learning Objective 3: The course will familiarize students with the contemporary discourse surrounding digital representations of landscapes.
Student Learning Outcome 3: Students will understand contemporary representation strategies by participating in class talks and completing assigned readings.

06 PROJECT OVERVIEW + TECHNIQUES

The course will have several components:

Talks: Presentations framing the critical use of digital tools and conceptual basis for the course project.
Tutorials: In-class technical tutorials that support project development and skill acquisition. Students are expected to follow along and complete each tutorial. In most cases, pdf guides will also be provided. If we do not finish the tutorial during class, students are expected to complete the remaining steps on their own, as each week’s skills build upon the last.
Readings: Short essays or excerpts. All readings will be provided in pdf format.
Weekly Assignments: Homework assignments that build incrementally towards the final animation project.
Final project: Each student is expected to produce (1) digital animation that will be included in the final video for the course. Exact technical specifications and expectations will be given with the project brief.

The semester’s work will culminate in a digital “nature documentary” composed of individual student segments. Each segment will reflect their research into nonhuman perspectives, modeled in Blender and rendered in Unreal Engine, with procedural tools, animations, and narrative elements.

07 COMPONENTS OF GRADING

PERCENTAGE	DESCRIPTION
50	Weekly Assignments
25	Tutorial Participation
25	Final Project
100	Total Percentage Possible

Weekly Assignments will be graded for quality and completion.
Tutorial Participation means the student is in class, has their computer and mouse, has appropriate software and tools installed, is following along/completing the tutorial steps, and asking questions as needed.
The Final Project will be graded for quality and completion. More details will be given on the project brief, which will be posted on the course website.

08 COURSE SCHEDULE

Course Schedule

To ensure the course aligns with the needs of the class and progression of technical skill development, the schedule is subject to change. Please refer to the schedule page of the course website for the most updated information, including assignment and project deadlines.

Week 1 (Tuesday, September 2)_ Introduction
Introduction and syllabus overview
Introduction to course project and framing
Begin research phase

Week 2 (Tuesday, September 9)_ Research (Continued), Intro to Blender
Continue research phase
Generative images for concept design
Blender basics: UI, fundamentals of 3D modeling

Week 3 (Tuesday, September 16)_ Prototyping and Modeling
Introduction to advanced modeling techniques in Blender

Week 4 (Tuesday, September 23)_ Prototyping and Modeling 2
Experimental modeling techniques in Blender
AI + Blender
Generative 3D

Week 5 (Tuesday, September 30)_ Intro to Virtual Environments
Fundamentals of Unreal Engine: UI and navigating
Importing Blender models and models from the internet
Quixel basics

Week 6 (Tuesday, October 7)_ Virtual Environments 2
Techniques for virtual environmental modeling

Week 7 (Tuesday, October 14)_ Midterm
Group crit of progress on assignments / work towards final project

Week 8 (Tuesday, October 21)_ Virtual Environments 3
Procedural environment development in Unreal Engine

Week 9 (Tuesday, October 28)_ Virtual Environments 4
Weather and lighting
Experimental approaches in Unreal Engine

Week 10 (Tuesday, November 4)_ Refinement: Movement
Advanced animation techniques

Week 11 (Tuesday, November 11)_ Refinement: Rendering
Advanced rendering techniques

Week 12 (Tuesday, November 18)_ Final project prep
Work day and desk crits
Collaborative voiceover finalized

Week 13 (Friday, November 25)_ Final project prep
Final film rough cut – class exercise

Week 14 (Tuesday, December 2)_ Final Review
Final review day

Week 15 (Tuesday, December 9)_ Studio reviews
No class

09 READINGS + REFERENCE MATERIALS

Acquiring full texts is not required. PDF excerpts of any required readings will be provided to the class via the course website. The reading list below is supplemental/for reference only.

Philippe Descola – Beyond Nature and Culture (2013)
Jakob von Uexküll – A Stroll Through the Worlds of Animals and Men (1934)
Donna Haraway – Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene (2016)
Merlin Sheldrake – Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, and Shape Our Futures (2020)
Ed Yong – An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us (2022)
Sanford Kwinter – Combustible Landscape from Projective Ecologies (2014)
Gilles Deleuze – The Actual and the Virtual (1996)
Peter Wohlleben – The Hidden Life of Trees (2015)

10 GRADING PROCEDURES

Grades will be determined based upon the meeting of student learning objectives, quality of work produced, improvement over the course of the semester, completion of project requirements, quality of participation, attendance, attitude, and ethical conduct. SCI-Arc grading policies will be discussed on the first day of class, and any questions regarding grades or policies should be directed to the instructor and/or Lisa Russo, the registrar. A passing grade in the course requires committed completion of all projects. Incomplete work will not be evaluated.

From the SCI-Arc Student Handbook: SCI-Arc employs a narrative grading system, as follows: credit with distinction (CR+), credit (CR), marginal credit (CR-), conditional credit (CCR), no credit (NC), incomplete (I) and withdrawal (W). The grade of no credit (NC) is given whenever cumulative work, final work, and/or attendance are unsatisfactory. It is also given when a student fails to submit a final project or fails to take a final examination without prior approval from the instructor. No credit (NC) grades cannot be altered.

GPA Equivalents:

Grade	Point equivalent
CR+	4.0
CR	3.35
CR–	2.7
CCR	2.0
NC	0.0
I	0.0
W	0.0

11 ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY

(from SCI-Arc Student Handbook)

SCI-Arc takes issues of academic integrity seriously, including plagiarism, which can occur in design classes as well as core and elective classes. Some examples of plagiarism include:

Copying words, images, or other material without using quotation marks or other indications of the original source.
Paraphrasing another person’s ideas in your own words without crediting the original source.
Taking sole credit for assignments without giving credit to those who worked with you.
Submitting work for a course that has already/also been submitted for another course.
Internet plagiarism, such as submitting work either found or paid for online, failing to cite any internet sources used, or cutting and pasting sentences from various websites to create a collage of uncited words.

Note: the academic integrity policy contains several tiers, depending on the nature and extent of academic dishonesty involved and on whether the student has committed an academic offense before. All cases must be reported to the Academic Advisor and the report is added to the student’s academic record. Refer to the SCI-Arc Student Handbook for the full academic integrity policy including what happens at various tiers, right of appeal, and possible disciplinary outcomes.

12 COURSE POLICIES

Attendance Policy (For detailed policy, please refer to SCI-Arc Student Handbook)

Regular attendance and active participation are vital in architecture and design education, where learning is hands-on, collaborative, and iterative. As a result, students must not exceed the following attendance limits, regardless of whether absences are excused or unexcused, unless formal academic accommodations are approved. Exceeding the following limits may result in academic penalties such as grade reduction, course failure, or administrative withdrawal.

Seminar (1x/week): Max 3 unexcused / 4 total absences

Studio (3x/week): Max 4 unexcused / 6 total absences

Excused absences include illness, medical or family emergencies, religious holidays (with notice), legal obligations, military duty, and disability accommodations. Unexcused absences include undocumented absences, travel, or job conflicts without prior approval. Tardiness or leaving early may count as full absences.

Students must notify faculty in advance, submit documentation, and coordinate make-up work. Faculty must clearly state attendance policies, track attendance, and report extended absences (7+ days) to Academic Advising.

Incomplete Work

A student may receive a grade of incomplete (I) by requesting permission from the instructor prior to the date of the final examination or presentation. Permission will be granted only under extraordinary circumstances and usually for medical reasons. Incompletes must be fulfilled to the satisfaction of the instructor no later than three (3) weeks after the end of term. The student is responsible for providing the instructor with the “Request for Credit” card used for this purpose. This card must be signed by the instructor and returned to the Registrar’s office. Failure to do so will result in the incomplete (I) being changed to a no credit (NC). No credit grades cannot be altered.

Appeal of a Grade

Evaluation and grading of a student’s performance in a course is based upon the instructor’s professional assessment of the academic quality of the student’s per¬formance on a body of work. Such assessments are nonnegotiable, and disputes about them do not constitute valid grounds for an appeal. Students are encouraged to contact their instructor for clarification regarding the grade received in their course.

Grade appeals are rare and subject to appeal only for the following three grounds:

improper academic procedures that unfairly affect a student’s grade.
application of nonacademic criteria, such as: considerations of race, poli¬tics, religion, sex, or other criteria not directly reflective of performance related to course requirements.
sexual harassment.

Students must meet with the Academic Advisor to review the appeal process if they believe the grade received meets one or more of the grounds listed above. Petitions must be settled, and a final grade submitted to the registrar no later than six weeks after the end of the term in which the course was completed.

Archiving

The SCI-Arc Upload site is the school’s official archive of each semester’s work. This is a mandatory requirement of each student’s coursework, and grades will not be submitted until work is uploaded. This archive will be used for all future publica¬tions and graphic material as well as for required accreditation needs of SCI-Arc.

Archiving requirements may vary based on curricular and/or project requirements. Specific instructions will be communicated to students each semester.

Ownership of Student Work (from SCI-Arc Student Handbook)

Physical copies of student work submitted to the school to satisfy course requirements including but not limited to digital files, papers, drawings, and models become the property of the school. SCI-Arc shall have no obligation to safeguard such materials and may, at its discretion, retain them, return them to the student, or discard them.

Notwithstanding whether it retains any physical copies of such student works, SCIArc shall have an irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide right in perpetuity to use, reproduce, display, and exhibit works created by students during their studies at SCI-Arc, in publications by or about SCI-Arc, on its websites, on social media, or otherwise. SCI-Arc will make a reasonable effort to credit the author(s) of student work included in publications or other uses. Excepting works which are created during a student’s participation in a Sponsored Project, the student shall have the right to publish or present their own work without compensation to SCIArc. However, SCI-Arc must be informed of this publication and appropriately credited in this publication or presentation unless SCI-Arc requests not to be credited.

13 WELLBEING + SUPPORT

Supporting Mental Health

Diminished mental health, including significant stress, mood changes, excessive worry, or problems with eating or sleeping can interfere with optimal academic performance. Reducing stigma about accessing mental health care supports students seeking professional help when it is needed. SCI-Arc provides all students with two free counseling sessions per year. Sessions are available two days per week throughout the fall and spring terms, and one day per week during the summer term. All counseling sessions are confidential. Only with your consent can any details of your session be shared with another individual. Information to schedule an appointment can be found on the Campus Life tab of MySciarc.

Academic Accommodations

SCI-Arc provides reasonable accommodations in compliance with the ADA and related laws. Students must contact the Academic Advisor to begin the process, which requires documentation and is reviewed case-by-case. Students should share accommodation letters with faculty at the start of each term. Accommodations are not retroactive and do not excuse absences unless stated.

Contact the Academic Advisor or refer to SCI-Arc’s Academic Accommodations Policy for details. https://my.sciarc.edu/ICS/Advising/Academic_Accommodations.jnz