introduction to architectural design

8/14/2019 Introduction to Architectural Design

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intro toarchitectural designFall 2010 Days + TimesClassroom Building + Room NumberClass Blog Blog AddressProfessor Alicia EggertContact [email protected]

Office Room Number + Hours

Course Description + Goals

In this course we will investigate our relationship to thebuilt environment, first and foremost as individuals butalso as a society. We will research the subject bothphysically - through field trips and personal explorationsof space - and historically - by learning about primitiveforms of shelter, historical movements and theories, andcontemporary practices and methods. Our research willbe furthered through regular class discussions about anarchitectural designs relationship to current social and

political issues. We will identify problems found withinthe built environments we encounter locally and proposeour own solutions, all the while applying ideas andinformation gleaned from other subjects, such as thearts, social sciences, ecology and mathematics.

In addition to acquiring fundamental design skills inarchitectural drafting, site surveying and model making,we will also explore three very different prioritizedapproaches to the design process: formal, functional andconceptual. Formal concerns addressed throughout thesemester will include scale, volume, order, proportion,and materiality; functional considerations will includeprogrammatic distribution, accessibility and spatialcirculation; and conceptual and theoretical approachesexplored will include functionalism, landscape urbanism,impermanence/mobility, and situationist practices suchas the drive. We will also analyze and discuss theimportance of context with respect to the site or land-scape, and the interplay between interior and exterior.

Most importantly, the class will focus on individualcreative development and the application of our diversepersonal interests, ideas and opinions to the variousproblems encountered within the assignments. Our maingoal should be to end the semester seeing the worldfrom a new perspective and thinking about the architec-

tural environments we interact with daily in acompletely different way.

Required Readings + Discussions

You will be assigned readings from various sourcesrelated to the topics covered within the assignments.Interesting conversations result when everyone readscritically, comes to class prepared, and openly joins thedialogue. An excellent discussion is one where the groupquestions assumptions and works on developing a higherlevel of understanding of the material at hand.

Evaluation + Grading

Attendance + Critiques

Your personal evaluation will be determined by yourcommitment to the quality, creativity and completion ofyour work, your dedication to the required fieldwork andresearch, and your participation in class. You will beexpected to help foster the class community by taking anactive role in the discussions, thoroughly reading allassigned materials, and energetically pursuing your ownlearning through a high level of engagement with theassignments. Lack of respect for studio rules and cleanli-

ness will adversely affect your grade.

Success in a studio art class is dependent upon yourparticipation in the studio activities and your interactionwith other students. This cannot occur if you are not inclass. Therefore, the attendance policy will be strictlyenforced. If you are absent, it is your responsibility tofind out what you have missed and what you need toprepare for the next class. In addition to contacting theinstructor, you should also contact one of your class-mates to find out about any assignments not indicated onthe course outline.

Despite the title, critique sessions are not intended to beforums for demeaning criticism; neither are they meantto focus on what one likes or dislikes. They are to assistyou in your creative development by providing focusedopportunities for you to verbalize your reasoning andintentions, and for fellow classmates to share theirindividual perspectives and knowledge. Critiques in astudio class take the place of exams and quizzes in alecture course. Attendance is critical and required. Notonly are no make ups allowed, they are not possible.

Class Blog

You will be required to document each of your projectsand post images and writings on the class blog. Thisdocumentation will be viewed at midterms and finals,and will be a determining factor of your final grade.

Field Trips

Experiencing local architectural environments will be animportant aspect of this class. Depending on schedulesand events, we may arrange to meet in a place otherthan the classroom during the course. Dates will bediscussed in advance and arranged according to personalschedules.


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Project Description + Goals

This assignment asks you to go for a walk. But not just an

ordinary walk. First, you must delineate your current

location on a map. Start by printing a Google Map

satellite view of the town. Find your dorm or apartment

on that map, and mark it with a solid dot. Then, with a

ruler, draw a straight line that is approximately 1/2 mile

long in any direction (use the maps scale to estimate the

appropriate length). Mark the endpoint of that line with

another solid dot. That will be your destination.

Your goal will be to walk from your bedroom to that

destination by following that straight line as closely and

as accurately as possible. Stand in the center of your

bedroom and figure out which wall you would need to

face in order to be heading directly towards that seem-

ingly faraway place. Then start walking.

You will undoubtedly encounter many obstacles along the

way. It will be up to you to decide how to surmount

them. Obviously you will not be able to walk through

walls, trees, cars or fences. You will have to veer off

course slightly at times. But try your best to adhere to

the line (it is, after all, the shortest distance between

two points). Is this even possible?

Safety should be your first priority, and efficiency your

second. Buildings may have to be entered and navigated(legally, of course) or sometimes circumvented. Your

path will most likely cross a wide variety of territories,

both natural and artificial, private and public. How are

they delineated? Are the boundaries between them

physical? social? political?

The goal of this assignment is to heighten your physical

and mental awareness of interior and exterior spaces,

the way you traverse them and transition between them.

You will, therefore, be asked to perform this walk on

three separate occasions, focusing each time on differ-

ent sensory perceptions and documenting your experi-

ences accordingly.

Readings + Resources

Action in Perception, by Alva No

Species of Spaces and Other Pieces, by Georges Perec

Theory of the Drive:www.bopsecrets.org/SI/2.derive.htm

Richard Longs Walking the Line:

www.richardlong.org

Janet Cardiffs Walks:

www.cardiffmiller.com

Walk #2

Your second walk will require a more comprehensive

visual analysis of the terrain. You have already traveled

this route, so you know what to expect. Now you need to

scrutinize it.

For this journey you will need to affix the camera to you

body so that it maintains a consistent directional focus in

relationship to your body. For example, the camera can

point straight down at your feet by cantilevering out

from a belt buckle, or it can focus on what is directly

ahead of or behind you if it is mounted to a hat.

As you walk, count your steps and take a picture every

10 paces. Once the walk is complete, upload these

images onto the computer and use the appropriate

software to convert these images into an animation

(specific software demonstrations will be given in class).

Walk #3

Your final journey will be dramatically different from the

first two because it will occur without the use of your

most powerful sense: your sight. For this last expedition

you will need to employ the help of a trustworthy friend

This friend will lead you, blindfolded, to your destina-tion. However, this will most likely require you to

instruct your guide on how to proceed around certain

obstacles. Will you be able to recognize your surround-

ings by sound, smell or touch well enough to navigate

this assumingly familiar path?

You will be provided with an audio recorder with which

to document this final experience. In addition to

instructing your guide, you should also verbally narrate

your sensory experiences as much as possible. This audio

recording will then be paired with your animation and

drawings from Walk #1, and uploaded to the class blog.

Walk #1

Your first walk should feel like an expedition. You should

feel like an explorer of a foreign land.

Bring a notebook with you and map out your experi-

ences. Draw your path and the objects and buildings you

encounter. Take notes. What did you do when you came

upon that picket fence? You will need to remember your

route and how you navigated around, over or through

specific obstacles so you can repeat those movements in

your future walks.

What we need to question is bricks, concrete, glass, our table manners, ourutensils, our tools, the way we spend our time, our rhythms. To question thatwhich seems to have ceased forever to astonish us. We live, true, we breathe, true;we walk, we go downstairs, we sit at a table in order to eat, we lie down on a bedin order to sleep. How? Where? When? Why?

-Georges Perec

walking a line


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The intent of this assignment is for you to recognize the

way your body physically relates to the spaces andobjects around you, and to consider the differences

between perceived scale and objective size. How do you

fit in?

You will be provided with a standard 2x4 (1.5 x 3.5 x

8-0 piece of lumber) with which to create your own

measuring device. We will cut the length of it down to

your exact height in inches. Then, using color and line,

you will need to subdivide that unit into at least 2

incrementally smaller units (like a yard stick, which

subdivides one yard into feet and inches). Those smaller

units should also relate to different parts of your body,

like the length of your forearm or your index finger.What parts of your body can be multiplied by a whole

number to equal its total length?

Once complete, your personal ruler will be a sculptural

object with which to measure a chosen interior space.

Select a medium-sized room that interests and appeals

to you, one that you feel comfortable in. Measure all

aspects of that built environment with your instrument -

its length, width, height, the location of doors and

windows, cabinets, and even the larger objects or

furniture. Start by sketching a plan view of the room and

then start in one corner, working your way around the

room systematically and noting all of its measurements.Next, sketch one interior facing each direction (north,

south, east and west) on which you can note heights.

Readings + Resources

The Modulor, by Le Corbusier

Species of Spaces and Other Pieces, by Georges Perec

Leonardo da Vincis Vitruvian Man:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitruvian_Man

Ron Mueck:

http://www.jamescohan.com/artists/ron-mueck/

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/10/arts/design/10mu

ec.html

Claes Oldenburg:

http://www.oldenburgvanbruggen.com/

Technical Drawings

Using 1/4 graph paper and a ruler, you will then draw

this room to scale. Determine what each 1/4 box will

equal in anatomical units so that your drawings will fill

most of the page (for instance, one box could equal one

arms length, four boxes equaling one Joe). Note that

scale in the bottom left corner of the page.

You should do five drawings in total, one plan view and

four interior elevations, and label each drawing accord-

ingly as taught in class. Use a soft, sharp pencil (2B or

314 drafting pencil). Prepare five sheets of 8 1/2" x 11"

graph paper. In the lower right corner of each sheet,

print the following information as neatly as you can (use

guidelines):

YOUR NAME (in 3/16" letters, all upper case)

Intro to Architecture (in 1/8" letters,

Assignment 2 upper and lower case)

Include a graphic compass on the upper right hand corne

of the page of your plan view drawing to indicate direc-tion. Include a scaled figure in each elevation view (scale

a picture of yourself in Photoshop using the ruler tool,

print it out, and trace your profile).

human scalea physical comparison of body + space

Le Corbusiers Modular System


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The intent of this assignment is to explore folding as a

generative process that has the potential to create

countless forms. You will be supplied with 5 pieces of 24

x 30 Ivory Carton paper to manipulate using the follow-

ing techniques: fold, pleat, crease, press, score, cut,

pull up-down, rotate, twist, turn, wrap, enfold, pierce,

hinge, knot, weave, compress, balance, unfold, crumple.

Your goal should be to create a very distinct and varied

form from each continuous sheet of paper. Pay respect to

volume (positive and negative space), layering, pattern

and repetition, and rectilinear and curvilinear folds.

Work intuitively and playfully with the material, without

predetermining the final results. Do not think about what

function that form would serve, only observe and react

to its formal qualities.

We will observe and analyze these forms, and choose as

a class which one we think is the most dynamic. You will

at that point decide how that form should rest on the

ground, and mount it securely to a cardboard or foam

core base. You will then build off of it (additively or

subtractively) to create a more realistic architecturalmodel, using everyday materials such as bamboo skew-

ers, vellum, transparency paper, and aluminum foil.

Spatial + Organizational Diagrams

Print several photographs of your printed form (one for

each direction). Overlay tracing paper and use color,

line, shading and words to make the following spatial and

organizational diagrams:

1. Physically describe each interior space with 1-3 words.

Avoid using words such as big or small; instead, use

descriptive words like airy, cramped, sharp, warped, etc.

2. Analyze the way light interacts with the form and its

interior. Shade each interior space according to the

quality of light it receives from a fixed light source.

3. Use lines and arrows to create circulation diagrams.

Where would a person enter/exit the structure? If you

were to pour water into that opening, how would it flow

through the form? Do the spaces intersect in such a way

that they allow for multiple directions of travel, or are

there one clear path or direction?

Function

After completing your diagrams, you will finally decide

upon this structures function. What purpose could this

form serve? Consider all the possibilities, including

open-air park structures, religious temples, monuments,museums, schools, residences, factories, etc. Once

youve decided, make any necessary practical adjust-

ments to your model and re-photograph it if necessary.

Then, draw one final diagram describing the various uses

of each interior space. What activities would be most

appropriate considering its formal qualities? Refer to

your prior diagrams and make informed choices.

Site

Now that you have a form that serves a very particular

function, think about how that form would relate to a

particular site. Does it belong in the middle of a metro-politan are? in the woods? on a cliff? How would the way

people perceive it change if it were located in different

countries, and perceived my people of different cultures

Use Google Maps to choose a specific geographical

location, and screen capture the satellite view of that

site. Photograph your model from directly overhead, and

use Photoshop to scale it correctly and place it on the

map. This image, along with your diagrams and docu-

mentation of your initial five forms will be uploaded to

the class blog for grading.

Readings + ResourcesFolding Architecture, by Sophia Vyzoviti

Folding in Architecture, edited by Greg Lynn

Frank Gehry:

www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Frank_Gehry.html

Andrew Scott Ross:

http://andrewscottross.com

Yuken Teruya:

www.yukenteruyastudio.com

folding architecturean eploration of form

Architecture is the learned game,correct and magnificent,of forms assembled in the light.

-Le Corbusier

introduction to architectural design

Documents