This studio will investigate composite structural techniques at various scales. In an attempt to explore the relationship between structural performance and geometry given the resources at RPI we will develop structural composite skins and panels that will eventually be integrated into larger composite structures and systems. The thesis of the studio is to utilize the cadcam technologies available to explore innovative and novel structural possibilities in similar ways that control of complex form has evolved through the aid of these technologies. In addition to the structural conditions that will be developed using composite techniques, the effect of these techniques will also be equally relevant.

The Site for the study will be the Old Orchard Airstrip in Plattekill, New York. This is a private grass airstrip that is the home of the Hudson Valley Hornets, a flight club that promotes activities in connection with aviation including production light aircraft, amateur-built experimental aircraft, ultra light and light sport aircraft. The existing single strip facility is owned, operated, maintained, and constructed by its members. The facility is planned to have 40 private hangers lining the runway. The studio will develop a series of single span hangers for the club.

The semester will begin with in depth comprehensive explorations into significant aircrafts that have been developed through the course of aviation history, from the Da Vinci inspired gliders of Otto Lilienthal, the first heavier than air structures to fly, to the experimental Unmanned Aircraft being developed by the military today. The focus will be on the structure and surface of the craft. The students will then work in Generative Components, a parametric modeling environment, through which a series of morphological studies will be conducted. Principles derived from these studies will form the foundation of the explorations into the composite structures that will be developed. The final designs will call for a fully developed hanger to be situated at the Old Orchard Airpark. In addition full scale prototypes of the composite system will be fabricated.