June 4, 2007
The following letter was mailed to all incoming students and distributed at the First-year Testing Counseling and Advising Program (FTCAP) sessions this summer
Dear Incoming Student,
Congratulations on your acceptance by the Penn State Architecture Department, one of the most selective programs in the University. We are pleased to announce a new initiative that will improve your undergraduate educational experience. Starting with the freshman class of 2006 and all subsequent classes the purchase of a laptop computer will be required. This type of requirement is quite typical in Architecture programs because it allows the school to concentrate resources on high-end technologies to which students would otherwise not have access. These technologies include advanced digital design visualization and fabrication tools, render-farms, and wide-format printing. Additionally, the wireless environment of the new Stuckeman Family Building for the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture will enable students to remain connected as they move between classes, studio spaces, the Immersive Environment Lab, the lawn, workshop and digital fabrication facilities. Furthermore, a required laptop computer purchase provides all students within a class with a uniform curricular experience and allows our faculty to plan instruction that takes advantage of a consistent technology.
Information Technology Services at Penn State is working with us to provide software for you to use for free, for as long as you are part of the Architecture program. While at this time the only free software we can legally provide is FormZ (the primary 3D modeling software we use in our design studios), we are continuing discussions with other software developers which may result in additional software being made available to students at no cost in future years.
You do not need to make the required purchase before you enter the second year of the architecture curriculum. We recommend that you do not buy a laptop or new computer before June of 2007, when our recommendation of Apple MacBook Pros is finalized, and our educational discount pricing is in place. Apple usually runs a back to school sale, and we also recommend you wait for that discounted pricing. The configuration list recommendations will be updated every year.
Having one of the recommended laptop computers during your second year will be necessary for effective participation in the department's digital-based design and fabrication studio program. Projects across the curriculum will assume that all students have access to computer-based tools (laptops) in their studio workspace.
Click Here for more information about the initiative.
Sincerely yours,
Dan Willis, AIA
Professor and Department Head
