Marcel's applied research deals with design build delivery models for architectural projects, environmental product design and innovative/entrepreneurial practices. Through Clinical/Practical Teaching I am able to apply research and actually design + build projects of varying scope and size & complexity with students and other faculty. I do this through a highly collaborative processes and by applying innovative models around design and design thinking. Furthermore, my applied research focuses on using technologies around digital design and manufacturing as well as investigation around manufacturing processes and material connections using parametric software and fabrication strategies.
keywords
Design Build Project Deliveries, Building Information Modeling, Generative Design, Parametric Design Digital Design and Fabrication Small object design and making Light fixture design, lightning design, environmental product design modular design, prefabricated architecture, kit of parts design build, sustainable design, innovative building systems
Teaching
courses taught
ARCH 3100 - Studio 2: Intermediate Architecture
Primary Instructor
-
Spring 2020 / Fall 2020
Emphasizes the interaction of form, programmatic use, human behavior and context in creating structure. May include a client-based community engaged project, real world applications, and result in a physical product. Students work across analog and digital platforms to produce designs that provide solutions to contemporary challenges. May be repeated up to 12 total credit hours. Recommended corequisite: ARCH 3114.
ARCH 4115 - Architecture Building Technology
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2022
Presents the fundamentals of building physics and climate science through experimentation and testing. Students learn the concepts related to structural and mechanical systems necessary for proper building function by first studying and then implementing the key systems through hypothetical building assignments. This class covers active and passive green building systems that are necessary when designing structures for an evolving climate.
ENVD 1110 - Studio 2: Fundamentals of Environmental Design 1
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2019 / Fall 2020 / Fall 2021
Explores the core principles shared across environmental design disciplines, including Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Environmental Product Design, and Sustainable Planning and Urban Design. Through a multidisciplinary studio approach, students engage in spatial problem-solving, sustainable design strategies, peer-to-peer collaboration, and design thinking. Hands-on projects challenge students to apply foundational tools and methods to real-world challenges, considering social, environmental, and cultural impacts in both built and natural environments.�Course is part of a co-requisite sequence: ENVD 1110, Studio 2: Fundamentals of Environmental Design 1, taken the first 7-weeks of the semester, followed by ENVD 1120, Studio 2: Fundamentals of Design 2, taken in the second 7-weeks of the semester, along with ENVD 1022, Technology 3: Intermediate Applications for Environmental Design, a 14-week class that is taught alongside the two 7-week studios.
ENVD 2352 - Beginning Digital Applications
Primary Instructor
-
Spring 2021 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2022 / Fall 2022 / Spring 2023 / Fall 2023 / Spring 2024
Foundation level computing skills for design analytics and representation.
ENVD 3002 - Revit I: Introduction to Building Information Modeling (BIM)
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2025
Introduces students to BIM modeling through the Revit platform. Fundamental skills will be taught to help students understand technical and practical aspects of this software to support academic projects and gain early exposure to expectations in professional practice.
ENVD 3100 - ENVD Interdisciplinary Design Studio
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2024
Explores a sequence of investigations that lead to the development of design concepts for critical evaluation and discussion. Students analyze intermediate to advanced design practices that are common to the disciplines of architecture, planning, urban design, landscape architecture, and product design through an interdisciplinary design project.
ENVD 3252 - RHINO: Intro to 3-D Modeling
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2024 / Fall 2025 / Spring 2026
Teaches beginning to intermediate skills and design practices of 3D modeling using Rhino-Rhinoceros 3D software. Learn strategies around representing your design in 3D models and how to use these techniques.
ENVD 3300 - Special Topics: Intermediate Design Lab
Primary Instructor
-
Spring 2018 / Summer 2018 / Spring 2019 / Summer 2019
Design lab exploring new and emerging themes in environmental design. May be repeated up to 18 total credit hours.
ENVD 3352 - Intermediate Digital Applications
Primary Instructor
-
Spring 2021 / Spring 2022 / Spring 2023
Intermediate level computing skills for design analytics and representation.
ENVD 4100 - Advanced Design Lab 1
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2018 / Spring 2025
Design lab exploring new and emerging themes in design. May be repeated up to 12 total credit hours.
ENVD 4152 - Digital Design and Fabrication
Primary Instructor
-
Spring 2024 / Spring 2025 / Spring 2026
Teaches beginning to intermediate concepts, strategies, and techniques in digital design and fabrication. Students will use 3D modeling (Rhino) and parametric plugins (Grasshopper) to investigate new ways of making using 3D printing, CNC machining, laser cutting and other processes.
ENVD 4365 - Topics in Environmental Design: Technology and Practice
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2018 / Summer 2025
Provides an advanced seminar on new technologies and issues of professional practice in the environmental design professions. May be repeated up to 12 total credit hours.
ENVD 4420 - Senior Capstone Seminar
Primary Instructor
-
Spring 2019
Focuses on theoretical concerns and practical issues inherent in environmental design and planning. Views concerns and issues in terms of setting, processes, and planning and design outcomes. Provides a critical synthesis of the inherently interdisciplinary nature of planning and design education.
EPOD 3100 - Studio 2: Intermediate Environmental Products of Design
Primary Instructor
-
Spring 2020
Introduces students to emerging technologies and techniques in digital fabrication and design through a project-based studio environment. Students will be asked to develop design solutions that benefit humanity through material investigations, cradle-to-cradle methodology, and more advanced methods in design optimization. May be repeated up to 12 total credit hours. Recommended corequisite: EPOD 3101.
EPOD 4100 - Studio 3: Capstone in Environmental Products of Design
Primary Instructor
-
Summer 2020 / Spring 2026
Draws on design research processes such as design thinking, human-centered design, and speculative/critical design to create a comprehensive proposal. In this capstone experience, students identify a specific need, opportunity, or problem and then develop a design solution that addresses the challenge. This proposal is brought to life through the creation of a full-scale physical prototype.
