Teaching Portfolio- Shermineh Afsary- Nov 2024

Teaching Portfolio (Students’ Works)

Shermineh Afsary, Ph.D. EDAC. Email: shermineh.afsary@gmail.com Teaching Portfolio Link: https://issuu.com/sherminehafsary

Teaching Projects (Students’ Works)

Design+ Build Studio Design & Building of an Outdoor Classroom on Campus The University of Kansas Client: KU Center for Sustainability In Collaboration with: KU Facilities Planning & Development, Thornton Tomasetti firm & Midwest Concrete Materials (MCM)

Some of the key points in design & construction of this project were computational tools in design build, customized concrete blocks and curved concrete surfaces, support the environment, and utilizing different construction materials.

I was a GTA in design+ build studio at the University of Kansas, in which an outdoor classroom on campus was designed and built within a teamwork. The client was KU facilities planning and development. In this process, we had collaboration with KU Center for Sustainability, Thornton Tomasetti engineering firm in Kansas City, and Midwest Concrete Materials (MCM).

As a GTA, I led students within a collaborative work to become familiar with budget consideration, and site opportunities. Since there were available stones on the sites, a gabion wall was designed and built with a metal framework, filling with the existing stones. In addition, the digital tools were utilized to design and build the curved forms of sitting areas made with concrete.

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Design+ Build Studio Design & Building An Outdoor Classroom On Campus The University of Kansas

Drawn by student: Dan Aboucaya Drawn by student: Dan Aboucaya, Checked by student: Tiffany Nguyen

Checked by student: Tiffany Nguyen

Drawn by student: Graham Andrews Drawn by student: Dan Aboucaya, Checked by student: Tiffany Nguyen

SHERMINEH AFSARY- PORTFOLIO

Checked by student: Tiffany Nguyen

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Design+ Build Studio Design & Building an Outdoor Classroom On Campus The University of Kansas

Collaborative work of students with each other and industry

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Visualizing Site and Natural Environmental Systems The University of Kansas I was GTA in visualizing site and natural environmental systems at the University of Kansas.

This course had two modules of lecture and lab. As GTA I guided and evaluated students on their annotated sketches that summarize the reading assignments, evaluated their in-class exercise, and solve their issues on the lecture module.

This course introduces concepts of building science and performance in the area of materials, environmental systems and larger environmental relationships. The course is intended to develop intuitive and technical understanding of the natural, environmental forces working on buildings.

Here is a part of one of the students’ sample projects, which was the result of their learning from the lecture, readings, sketches and exercises, and labs.

Students: Katie Neyer and Lydia Juengling

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Architectural Foundations II Design Studio The University of Kansas I was a GTA in the Architectural foundation II design studio. As a GTA, I tried to lead students to find the design relationships among people, architectural space, and the environment. Issues such as scale, light, proportion, and rhythm were introduced about the human body, as well as architectural forms, and environments. I taught and review the students’ works and solve their issues on freehand drawing, perspective projection, building modeling, and computer graphics.

Student: Liz Putnam

Student: Ethan Witt

Student: Ethan Witt SHERMINEH AFSARY- PORTFOLIO

Student: Ethan Witt 5

Architectural Foundations II Design Studio The University of Kansas

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