Launch students into the world of architectural design with Designing the Future: AutoCAD for Architecture, a comprehensive, project-based AutoCAD architecture curriculum for high school. From simple rectangles to detailed 3D models and construction documents, this course walks learners through professional-level CAD skills using AutoCAD while incorporating engineering concepts, NGSS standards, and real-world applications.

Using iconic global structures—from the Blue Mosque to the Burj Khalifa—as context, students learn to think and draw like architects while building floor plans, simulating structural loads, and exploring sustainable design.

💡 What Students Will Learn:

• Navigate the AutoCAD interface: Ribbon, Command Line, Model Space

• Create 2D drawings using lines, polylines, and coordinates

• Apply scaling, dimensioning, and annotations to technical drawings

• Develop 3D models using extrude, subtract, and boolean operations

• Build components like doors, windows, and roofs

• Render 3D models with materials, lighting, and shadows

• Create professional blueprints with layouts, viewports, and title blocks

• Analyze load distribution and structural stability (aligned with NGSS HS-PS2-1)

🧰 Curriculum Features:

• 📄 Format: PDF curriculum with downloadable DWG files

• 🧠 Interdisciplinary: Combines architecture, engineering, physics, and design

• 🧪 Activities: Hands-on labs using free or school-licensed AutoCAD software

• 🖥️ Output: Construction documents, 3D rendered models, and engineering analysis

• 🏡 Ideal for: Homeschoolers, STEM co-ops, CTE programs, or classrooms

Students will complete 10 structured chapters with labs that include drawing blueprints, calculating wind loads, rendering solar simulations, and analyzing famous buildings through design theory.

🌐 Extend Learning with These Resources:

🔗 AutoDesk – Free AutoCAD for Students
🔗 PBS – Architecture and Design in STEM

🔗 Link to related curriculum: High School Classes
🔗 Link to full catalog

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