architecture, from conception to construction
The studio is focused on the entire design
process of architecture, from analysis of the program brief to a design
concept, as well as actual construction. As such, the studio is organized
around the connection between the theory – the architectural position or idea –
and its constructed, material manifestation – the building.
Program
To allow for the full construction process,
the program for this studio is small: a chicken coop for 8 chickens.
This coop is to be added to a canonic house
from a selective list, including the Gehry House, Schindler’s Lovell beach
house, the Vanna Venturi house, the Tugendhat house, and others. The students
will be required to study the house of their choice both as a constructed
object (details, structure, materials, plans) and as a material idea – situated
within the oeuvre of its architect. The student’s proposal may be added
anywhere to the house (roof, facade, vertically, expanded out) as long as it is
on the site.
From this basic premise, and the program of
the chicken coop, students are asked to not only design but also build the
coop. In the process of construction, issues arise that are typically not
foreseen within the space of the drawing. It is in the attention to the
‘tell-the-tale detail’ that the theoretical position of the architect becomes
tangible.
As such, this studio turns the typical
pedagogy of the design studio on its head. The typical process consists of
elaborate analysis of the program that results in designs. The final
realization of a design is often perceived as a secondary process, in which the
architectural idea must be defended against compromise. This studio instead
argues that the theoretical position is tested (and at best, refined) through
the messy reality of actual building. It is thus the small architectural object
that allows for an in-depth study of idea and execution – to which the canonic
houses themselves stand testimony.
At the end of the studio, the students will
present their analysis and their design – as concept, as drawing, and as
full-scale constructed object.