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| Exploring Innovations in Design, Fabrication and Advanced Digital Media | |

The objective of the Product Architecture and Engineering (PAE) Program is to encourage future design and building professionals to embrace collaborative work methods as they pursue nascent topics in design in the context of manufacturing methodologies and advanced material studies. The program brings into question long-standing and separate traditions in the education of designers and engineers, and in doing so forges a distinctive fusion of design culture, technology, and services.
Advanced Digital Media Lab
The Product-Architecture Laboratory has captured the national attention of innovators in the design industry. Gehry Technologies of Los Angeles, Tri-Pyramid Structures, an integrated design and manufacturing company in Westford , MA, as well as BitForms, a world-renowned NYC art gallery involved in the convergences of art and technology, are among the program’s research collaborators.
The program is headquartered in Stevens’ historic Carnegie Laboratory — a facility that at the turn of the last century emerged as a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. With the recent addition of the advanced digital media lab— a suite of PCs and Macs; design software such as CATIA, Digital Project, Maya, Rhino, and Solidworks; video editing and digital imaging software; 3D scanners and other gear – the Product-Architect Lab leaps into this new century at the forefront of design and manufacturing technology.
Interdisciplinary Teams Design Award Winning Projects
The current student body — a mix of architects, engineers, product designers, mathematicians, and computer scientists — are grouped in interdisciplinary teams which study product design, buildings, and their component parts, with an emphasis on understanding design and production technologies, so that they may seek innovative ways to build sophisticated forms. Current design and research projects include the enclosure and interactive exhibition for the Concorde, currently housed on the Hudson River in the Intrepid Museum; “Apse-traction,” the architectural design and fabrication for a local church in Hoboken; interactive and information design for an upcoming commercial airline launch; the design of a prefabricated suburban house prototype; and the parametric design of a surfboard integrating algorithmically-based shape optimization methodologies.
Both the "Speaker Pavilion" and the "Apse-traction" projects, recently, received Professional Design Awards from the N.J. Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. | Master of Engineering in Product-Architecture & Engineering Degree | |
The Master of Engineering in Product-Architecture & Engineering degree program is supported by The Product-Architecture Lab and is intended to integrate the study of Product Design, Computational Architecture and Engineering with production methodologies and emerging materials. It can be considered as a terminal degree or as preparation for the Ph.D. program.
The goals and objectives of this program are:
- The interdisciplinary study of Industrial Design, Engineering and Architecture with nascent production methodologies and emerging materials.
- The exploration of expressive form and integrated functional capabilities.
- The immersion into advanced digital media and its impact on design
- The performance of interactive physical and digital environments.
Requirements
A Bachelors of Science degree in Engineering, a BID, (BFA, BA, or BS) in Industrial Design, or a BArch (Bachelor in Architecture) is needed for acceptance to the master’s program. Applicants with undergraduate degrees in other engineering or design disciplines may be required to take appropriate undergraduate courses before being formally admitted into the program.
The Master of Engineering in Product-Architecture and Engineering degree requires 30 credits, approved by the student’s academic advisor. Fifteen of the credits (or five courses) form the core and comprise the student’s major field. Nine of the credits (or three courses) form the Mechanical Engineering requirements and can consist of any of the offered ME courses included in the course catalogue.
Curriculum
The core classes and the recommended courses from the ME department are as follows: Core Courses | ME Courses | PAE 610 The Creative Form and the Digital Environment
PAE 620 The Creative Form and the Production Environment
PAE 630 Introduction to Interactie Digital Media
PAE 640 Performative Environments
PAE 800 Product Architecture & Engineering Design Project | ME 520 Analysis and Design of Composites
ME 564 Principles of Optimum Design and Manufacture
ME 635 Simulation and Modeling
ME 566 Design for Manufacturability |
The remaining two courses (6 credits) constitute the student’s elective field and will consist of:
- at least one course of "600-level or higher" given in the Product-Architecture and Engineering department
- a maximum of one course given in other departments
A student may elect to complete a Thesis (PAE 900 Thesis in Product-Architecture and Engineering, 3 credits) in lieu of completing one of the two open electives.
In order to graduate with a Master of Engineering in Product-Architecture and Engineering, a student must obtain a minimum of "B" average in the major field as well as an overall average of "B" in all the courses needed to meet the 30-credit requirement for the degree.
Please see the Office of Graduate Studies on Student Status.
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John Nastasi Industry Professor & Director of Product-Architecture Lab Carnegie Room 305 Phone: 201.216.8984 Fax: 201.216.8963 jnastasi@stevens.edu Camilla Minervini Administrative Assistant Edwin A. Stevens Hall Room 3rd Floor Phone: 201.216.5592 Fax: 201.216.8315 cminervi@stevens.edu www.stevens.edu/ecalendar
Conferences, Seminars, Information Sessions and more... Visit the PAE Web site! Visit the Department of Mechanical Engineering "The Graduate Program in Product-Architecture at Stevens Institute is perhaps one of the most innovative program in design education today. The program brings together the best talent and ideas from leading innovators in academia, professional practice and product development, from across the spectrum of design disciplines. This combination of depth and breadth of innovation makes [the program] one of the most exciting programs to study at and participate with. Gehry Technologies' partnerships and collaborations with the program have been tremendously fruitful, and graduates of the program are extensively recruited by organizations at the front lines of design innovation"
Dennis R. Shelden, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer, Gehry Technologies |
"The Graduate Program in Product-Architecture and Engineering at Stevens stresses the true understanding of design on a fundamental level. They define the design problem as a series of fundamental mechanical laws and in seeking the solution, through design, look to satisfy these laws. In this method, design is intuitive, robust and embraced wholeheartedly, and in doing so, positions invention as well within the reach of the author."
Matthew Melnyk Engineer Buro Happold Engineers |

PAE recognized in an article in the Architectural Record's Innovation Supplement. Download the 606 KB PDF |