This class is jointly sponsored by the MIT Museum, Massachusetts Bay Maritime Artisans, the Department of Mechanical Engineering’s Center for Ocean Engineering, and the Department of Architecture.

FREE
This course includes
Hours of videos

138 years, 10 months

Units & Quizzes

5

Unlimited Lifetime access
Access on mobile app
Certificate of Completion

The course teaches the fundamental steps in traditional boat design and demonstrates connections between craft and modern methods. Instructors provide vessel design orientation and then students carve their own shape ideas in the form of a wooden half-hull model. Experts teach the traditional skills of visualizing and carving your model in this phase of the class. After the models are completed, a practicing naval architect guides students in translating shape from models into a lines plan. The final phase of the class is a comparative analysis of the designs generated by the group.

This course is offered during the Independent Activities Period (IAP), which is a special 4-week term at MIT that runs from the first week of January until the end of the month.

Course Currilcum

  • Introductory Lecture Unlimited
  • MIT Museum Nautical Collections and an Introductory Demonstration Unlimited
  • Model Building Unlimited
  • Finishing Up and Drawing Up Plans Unlimited
  • Conclusion, and More of the MIT Museum’s Nautical Collections Unlimited