Office: Hammons School of Architecture 214
Phone: (417) 873-7055
E-Mail: dbeach01@drury.edu
Monday
8 – 10 a.m.
11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Wednesday
8 – 10 a.m.
11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Friday
8 – 10 a.m.
11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
David R. Beach is an architect and assistant professor of architecture at the Hammons School of Architecture at Drury University. Specializing in digital design technology, David is an advocate of full digital immersion as part of a traditional design process augmenting work flow to leverage technology to inform the design process, collaborate with clients and communities, and rationalize decision making through an analysis only allowed through the building information modeling process.
At the Hammons School of Architecture, David teaches in the design studio, the Center for Community Studies working at the urban design scale, and both the introductory and advanced digital design technology courses. David also maintains an active architectural practice focusing on specialized projects for clients requiring a mode of design thinking that focuses on collaborative processes and technology to drive the formation of ideas.
The application elements of David’s current research can be found at the blog The Architect’s Digital Design Guide which is a new outlet for work and information directly related to questions received from students and practitioners regarding design process technology. Recently, the research path of applied technology is steering the scholarship work at the Hammons School of Architecture in two specific directions: The first area of research is applied design thinking in the virtual space, focusing on moving beyond the notion that the computer is a tool for representation.
The second realm of research focuses on the escalating role of digital fabrication to expand the scope and capabilities of architectural design into the creation of analog (physical) products. Both modalities of exploration are directly relevant to the changing role of architecture in society by improving our ability address complex information through simulation and analysis, and the expansion of services to clients through the physical creation of the objects as part of the design and construction process.
Along with teaching, practicing architecture, and researching digital design technology, David can often be found with his family training Morgan horses on his farm in rural Missouri.
Drury University faculty member since 1999
Professor since 2021