{"id":2518,"date":"2026-03-06T09:11:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T09:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/?p=2518"},"modified":"2026-03-06T09:58:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T09:58:04","slug":"arc-404-digitizing-and-designing-toward-spolia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/2026\/03\/06\/arc-404-digitizing-and-designing-toward-spolia\/","title":{"rendered":"ARC 404: Digitizing and Designing Toward Spolia"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Instructor: Nick Bruscia<\/em>
ARC 404<\/em>
Spring 2026<\/em><\/p>

DESCRIPTION:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>

This studio will engage students in the design and construction of dry-stacked masonry systems using recycled architectural stone. Design work will foreground interlocking, weight-bearing, and friction as primary drivers of form and assembly, placing geometric control, tolerance, and sequencing at the center of architectural decision-making. Drawing from historical and contemporary precedents, students will experiment with assembly strategies that translate irregular, salvaged stone into structurally legible systems without mortar, using both computation and physical modeling to evaluate contact surfaces, load paths, and stability.<\/p>

Through practices of digital quarrying stone once discarded and retrieved into a vast collection, will be documented, classified, and recomposed, extending historical traditions of spolia through contemporary workflows. Throughout the process, students will gain exposure to production- aware digital practices including LiDAR and\/or photogrammetry-based 3D scanning, point-cloud and mesh processing, computational physics-based simulation, and guided manual assembly using mixed reality visualization.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tARC 619: Architectural Geometry and Construction\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t
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Instructor: Nick Bruscia | Type: Seminar
\nThis technical seminar introduces computational modeling and simulation in architecture, focusing on geometric principles and digital workflows that connect form-finding, material behavior, and fabrication through algorithmic modeling and physics-based simulation tools.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tRead More \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tARC 404: Digitizing and Designing Toward Spolia\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t
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Instructor: Nick Bruscia | Type: Studio
\nThis studio explores the design and construction of dry-stacked masonry systems using recycled architectural stone, combining digital scanning, computational modeling, and mixed-reality tools to translate irregular salvaged materials into structurally legible assemblies.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tRead More \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tARC 606: Mediating and Remediating Gowanus\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t
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Instructor: Mark Shepard | Type: Studio
\nThis graduate design research studio investigates green infrastructure and environmental sensing systems for multispecies urban environments, focusing on ecological restoration and responsive landscape interventions along Brooklyn\u2019s Gowanus Canal.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tRead More \u00bb\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Instructor: Nick Bruscia | Type: Studio
\nThis studio explores the design and construction of dry-stacked masonry systems using recycled architectural stone, combining digital scanning, computational modeling, and mixed-reality tools to translate irregular salvaged materials into structurally legible assemblies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":639,"featured_media":2520,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-courses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/639"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2518"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2556,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2518\/revisions\/2556"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubwp.buffalo.edu\/cast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}