Studio title: ACDL:Space

The ACDL studio in the spring semester of 2020 will focus on Space, following the present studio on Place. Our ambition is to investigate fundamental architectural topics, and we plan for the following semester to focus on Time. Besides a given typology or site the emphasis of the studio will be on the design process from analog to digital in an iterative way. The topics of the studio narrow the focus, while allowing the students to do in-depth investigations simultaneously.  The intention is to help the students to develop their own design methodology while bridging analog processes and digital tools. While architects traditionally rely on intuition and experience to solve design problems, computational design aims to enhance that process. Our aim is to equip the students with the knowledge, skills and tools to achieve their architectural design.

Studio description:

The studio is project-based and the assignment is to design a medium scale bath facility.

The students will be given a reference program and a site. Following a week of intense research on the history, typology and precedents of baths the students are encouraged to formalize the programmatic focus of the design.

Prior to starting any design, the students will be asked to conduct a site analysis and simultaneously reflect on the sociological and psychological aspects of built environments and their influence on human beings. The architectural site analysis will look at issues such as site location, size, topography, vegetation, climate, traffic conditions and any future developments within the area. When working on the site analysis the students will be asked to consider the buildings placement, orientation, form and materiality, and how it can influence its structure, sustainability, etc. In the architectural design, students must consider local building culture, local climate, building materials, technology integration and relation to the outdoors and local landscape.

The studio will focus on an iterative design process to test and evaluate performative aspects of designs in relation to spatial and functional inquiries. This is done through a range of computational parametric analysis that is based on the focus of each design project in the studio.

Pedagogy:

The learning approach is project-based. The students develop architectural projects, with tasks given and advised by the staff through studio supervision. Lectures and workshops focusing on selected themes will contribute to knowledge and skills relevant for the project.

The ACDL studio foregrounds research by design with strong emphasis on computational design. Therefore all material produced by the students during the semester will be considered in the final evaluation. This focus on process and methodology throughout the semester allows the analog and digital to be considered together as part of a holistic approach.

In the studio, students will work independently and at times in small teams through workshops to enable lateral exchange of knowledge and skills.