Throughout history, human kind has elevated its ability to design and build structures that were testament to its existence. And, it has also developed technologies that have insured its survival.  And, although humanity has assumed a modern approach to its designs, the basic building blocks of construction have always been in place. Two-dimensional illustrations have led to Three-dimensional models and finished products. Looking into our past helps us to understand this. However, this poses new questions altogether: What would it have been like, during another time in our history, to use our modern-day tools to design and build using only stone, wood, and iron? How did engineers and designers illustrate without the aid of a computer? How do we value computerized tools that we typically take for granted?

 The CAD I (Fall Semester) class of 2007 set forth to try and answer these questions. Broken up into four teams, and bound under different banners (House of Phoenix, House of Gryphon, House of Dragon, and House of Chimera), these students performed research on castles and Medieval structures, designed plans and blue-prints for new castle construction proposals, and then illustrated and modeled their concepts in AutoCAD. And, upon completion of their designs, the four families presented their solutions to each other.