Aims

By the end of this course, students will be able to :
Understand natural, cultivated and inhabited landscapes.
Become familiar with the interactions between description, analysis, and the emergence of a program in architectural design
Identify, measure and draw the specific qualities of a site that are physically relevant to the dimensions and scales of an architectural project.
Take the measure of landscapes as resources for the structuring of ground and wall planes, with attention to the qualities of place.
Deploy an appropriately rigorous and disciplined approach from the beginning of a design project.
Tie together matter, structure and light.
Produce, present and show reasoned arguments for the project.

Main themes

Account for and show the role of this studio in the overall study programme.

Introduction to the design process
Understanding a situation, a landscape, a context
Clarifying a design idea and an architectural program
Ordering elements within an iterative design process
The design studio is intended to cover the range from infinite possibilities to necessary choices; in this light, design decisions are not left to chance but must inevitably be reasoned
A design question will be framed in one of the following ways :
The program is defined, but the site is left open
The site is defined, but the program is left open
Both program and site are defined

The framing of the design question is thus fundamental to the comprehension of the design process : the design studio is not so much the place for "solutions" as for the production of possibilities. The studio may be divided into separate sections in order to look at two or three different approaches to the question.
The studio project will be accompanied by a theoretical introduction and a presentation of architectural references that may help in initiating the process.
Particular questions addressed, depending on the particular project, may include those of landscape; limits; scale; the ground plane; topography and cross-sections; walls; methodology…

Content and teaching methods

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Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

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Other credits in programs