Associate Professor
Rob Whitehead
Associate Professor, Architecture
Mailing Address
Architecture Department
158 College of Design
Ames, IA, 50011
Contact Information
Phone: (515) 294-8276
Email: rwhitehd@iastate.edu
Office: 499 Design
Education
BArch, Iowa State University, 1993
MArch, University of Texas at Austin, 1995
On the Web
Supporting Files
Research Interests
Critically integrating structural design considerations of process, production, and performance into technically engaging and experientially rich architecture. Emphasis on thin shell and long span structures.
Integrating contemporary material, and fabrication considerations into the design for deployable structures. Designing structures for resiliency and service in disaster relief, recovery, and preparedness scenarios. Work is prototyped in design-build scenarios.
Development & integration of alternative pedagogical methods for teaching building technology integration and analysis including haptic learning techniques and design-centric lab work. Scholarship of teaching and learning looks at ways to emphasize the role of productive failures in design, particularly in the design ideation and testing phases of structural design.
Portfolio and dossier of scholarly work, teaching, and extension:
https://issuu.com/robwhitehead5/docs/portfolio_whitehead_isu_17
Current Projects
Structures by Design: Thinking, Making, Breaking (Routledge, 2019) is a new type of structures textbook for architects who prefer to learn using the hands-on, creative problem-solving techniques typically found in a design studio. Instead of presenting structures as abstract concepts defined by formulas and diagrams, this book uses a project-based approach to demonstrate how a range of efficient, effective, and expressive architectural solutions can be generated, tested, and revised. Each section of the book is focused on a particular manner by which structural resistance is provided: Form (Arches and Cables), Section (Beams, Slabs, and Columns), Vectors (Trusses and Space Frames), Surfaces (Shells and Plates), and Frames (Connections and High-Rises).
University Faculty Fellow for High Impact Practices, Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT). Activities include production and coordination of: Project-Based learning workshops, Engaged Faculty Institute on Service-learning activities, development of CELT monograph series, and advocacy of open-educational resources and Student Innovation Center activities.
Design-build prototypes for "Structures in Service: Design for Disaster Relief" . Applications include: portable treatment and educational environments for refugees, deployable origami inspired folded plate shelter, retrofitting seismic protections for masonry veracular structures, modular tent flooring system, pneumatic cast concrete for remote locations, etc.
Examining the historical relationships between concrete thin shell designs, engineering, and construction methods. Particular emphasis on pre-computational shell design (e.g., Eero Saarinen and his structural engineers). Historical evolution of form-finding and testing of thin shells including integration of physical models and computational analysis.
Current Scholarship
- “Frei Otto’s Pneumatic Humanitarian Design Experiments: The ideology and technology of lightness and adaptability.” , 10/08/2019
- Structures by Design: Thinking, Making, + Breaking textbook, Routledge Books (Taylor and Francis Group). , 07/16/2019
- Structures for Relief & Resiliency: Enhancing Creative Applications of Technical Acumen through Constrained Conditions”, 07/16/2019
- “The Lore, Lessons, and Limits of Building Experience.” , 06/22/2019
- “Portentous, and Predictable: Eero Saarinen, Ammann & Whitney, and the Damaging Failures of Kresge Auditorium (1950-1955)” , 07/16/2018
- The Lore of Building Experience: Deconstructing Design-Build, 03/16/2017
- “Model Behavior: The Evolving Use of Physical Prototypes in Structural Shell Design, 1959-1974,” , 03/16/2016
- Supporting Students: Using Anthropomorphic Structures to Enhance Early Structures Education, 02/28/2016
- All Hands on Deck: Instructors as Collaborators and the Modified Dynamics of Design Build Instruction, 02/28/2016
- Ten Concrete Buildings: Donald Judd’s Incomplete Integrations of Art & Engineering, 08/20/2015
- Pedagogical Progressions: Reflections from an “Integrated” Technology Sequence, 06/27/2015
- Formative Experiences: Saarinen’s Shells and the Evolutionary Impact of Construction Challenges, 06/16/2015
- Building a Framework: Rethinking Structural Design in an Architectural Curriculum, 04/25/2015
- Comprehensive and Creative Conclusions: Enhancing Structural Design Educational Opportunities in Labs for Architecture Students,, 03/27/2015
- Design Intelligence, 30 Most Admired Educators for 2015, 10/15/2014
- Miller Faculty Fellowship, 10/01/2014
- AIA Iowa Educator Award, 09/20/2014
- Saarinen's Shells: The Evolution of Engineering Influence, 09/15/2014
- Vernon Stone Fund in Architecture, 09/01/2014
- Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Scholars Program, 09/01/2014
- Brick by Brick: Improved Outcomes Through Linked Learning Objectives in Building Technology Labs, 04/03/2014
- “Pedagogical Progressions: Reflections from an “Integrated” Technology Sequence” , 04/01/2014
- Design Tech: Building Science for Architects textbook, 02/15/2014
- (RE)Covering Shelter: Enhancing Structural Design Pedagogy by Designing for Disaster Relief, 10/17/2013
- ACSA Creative Achievement Award, 03/25/2013
- BTES (Building Technology Educators Society) 2011 Teaching Award, 08/09/2011
- NCARB Grant for the Integration of Practice and Education in the Academy, 12/09/2009
- Honorable Mention, U.S. Green Building Council, Excellence in Green Building Education Awards , 03/09/2009
