jav101h1.syllabus.2015

230 College St.Toronto, ON M5T 1R2 CanadaT +1 416 946 3897 F +1 416 971 2094

COURSE DESCRIPTION How to Design Almost Anything is an introduction to the discipline of design. Practiced through a variety of techniques, students engage in hands-on methods to learning the theories of design through the processes of making. The course is studio-based and students are expected to work independently or in groups depending on project guidelines. All students are expected to attend class for desk critiques and workshop seminars. Over the course of the semester students will be expected to research and explore common problems in design and challenge conventions of representation through assigned work. Instructors will endeavor to provide the guidance and perspectives to help students better develop their technical abilities and critical thinking skills. Designing “almost anything” means that any object is designed and therefore can be subject to scrutiny through the lens of cultural aesthetics, social systems, environmental ecology, formalism, etc. Whether you are designing a poster or podium, all design incorporates the same basic ambition - to prescribe not just superficial but meaningful relationships between people, places and things. COURSE OBJECTIVES The objectives for this course are to expose and help guide students through the methodologies of the design process in a variety of media. Through applied, studio-based projects, students will be introduced to the problem of design in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban, Graphic, Industrial and Digital Design. The goal of the course is to give students a sampling of applied design in a variety of media and their attendant sites. Class time will be divided between a combination of individual discussions and informal pinups. Presentations of projects will be take place in a public forum in order to create a group discussion about the ideas inherent in their work. SCHEDULE The course work is organized around three themes: 1>Looking 2>Making 3>Moving Each theme consists of a specific studio exercise, design brief, requirements, and related working seminars augmented by “Anything” readings. The design themes can begin to be characterized however, by the included word lists (see following pages). Consider these lists as guides and clues to the various ways one could think about each theme as it relates to the broader design culture. Studio Instructors may provide additional content for the thematic design exercise and working seminars.

Studios: The course is studio-based and students are expected to work independently or in groups depending on project guidelines. All students are expected to attend class for desk critiques and workshop seminars. Over the course of the semester students will be expected to research and explore common problems in design and challenge conventions of representation through assigned work. Instructors will endeavor to provide the guidance and perspectives to help students better develop their technical abilities and critical thinking skills.

FALL 2015 H1F UNDERGRADUATE COURSE OUTLINE COURSE CODE: JAV101H1 COURSE TITLE: How to Design Almost Anything INFORMATION L0101: T 1pm-4pm, 665 Spadina, Jay Pooley: [email protected] L0102: T 1pm-4pm, 665 Spadina, Mauricio Quiros Pacheco: [email protected] L0103: W 9pam-12pm, HA 316, Liat Margolis: [email protected] L0104: W 9pam-12pm, SF3201, Dan Briker: [email protected] L5101: T 6pm-9pm, 665 Spadina, TBD L5102: T 6pm-9pm, 665 Spadina, Alex Josephson: [email protected] T0101 (ALL): T 9am-10am, KP 108, Jay Pooley: [email protected] OFFICE HOURS To be determined by your professor BLACKBOARD Blackboard URL to be submitted on the first day of class COURSE WEBSITE TBA

2


Designing “almost anything” means that any object is designed and therefore can be subject to scrutiny through the lens of cultural aesthetics, social systems, environmental ecology, formalism, etc. Whether you are designing a poster or podium, all design incorporates the same basic ambition - to prescribe not just superficial but meaningful relationships between people, places and things.

Tutorials: Students will meet as an entire course for a one-hour tutorial each week. These tutorials lead by the course coordinator will provide a single location for all project, assignment, reading, and technique dissemination and discussion. The material and methods required for the successful submission of weekly progress assignments will be covered in each tutorial – and will be due before the following studio for development and review with your respective instructor. Tutorial attendance is mandatory – and as the method for technique instruction – essential for success in the course. Students are required to bring all rough work, drawing tools, and computers to studio each week.

Detailed Schedule: Week 1 Sept 14-18 Introduction Studio (M/T/W): Introduction Tutorial (T): Course introduction, project 1 introduction, site, orthographic drawing Week 2 Sept 21-25 Looking – Digital Critique 1 Studio: Work in progress review Tutorial: Elevations, Digital working methods Week 3 Sept 28-2 Looking - Digital Critique 2 Studio: Work in progress review Tutorial: Wall Sections, Presentation strategy Week 4 Oct 5-9 Looking – Final Review Studio: Assignment 1 (Looking) digital submission due via Blackboard between 5pm and 11:59pm day before studio Tutorial: Project 2 Introduction, Welcome to Minecraft Week 5 Oct 12-16 Making Studio: Introduction to Project 2 Tutorial: Design Methods, Model Making Week 6 Oct 19-23 Making – Digital Critique 1 Studio: Work in progress review Tutorial: Scale and Layout

3


Week 7 Oct 26-30 Making – Digital Critique 2 Studio: Work in progress review Tutorial: Orthographic Drawing Week 8 Nov 2-6 Making – Final Review Studio: Assignment 2 (Making) digital submission due via Blackboard between 5pm and 11:59pm day before studio Tutorial: Project 3 Introduction, Theory and Practice of Production Design Week 9 Nov 9-13 Looking – Digital Critique 1 Studio: Work in progress review Tutorial: Cancelled due to November Break Week 10 Nov 16-20 Making – Digital Critique 2 Studio: Work in progress review Tutorial: Shooting style and technique Week 11 Nov 23-27 Making – Digital Critique 3 Studio: Work in progress review Tutorial: Atmosphere and Architecture Week 12 Nov 30-4 Making – Digital Critique 4 Studio: Work in progress review Tutorial: Photographic Composition Week 13 Dec 7-11 Making – Final Review Studio: Digital submission due via Blackboard between 5pm and 11:59pm day before studio. School- wide reviews TBA Tutorial: Editing

Conflicts with religious observances should be brought to the attention of the course instructor and the Office of the Registrar and Student Services no later than the second week of classes. For more information, please see the Policy on Scheduling of Classes and Examinations and Other Accommodations for Religious Observances A list of all sessional dates can be found at: https://www.daniels.utoronto.ca/students/undergraduate-students/academics-and-registration For any and all discrepancies, please consider the website to be correct.

All student work must be removed from all Daniels Faculty studio spaces by the last date of each academic term (Fall/Winter/Summer). The last day of the Fall 2015F academic term is December 22, 2015. Any work remaining in studio past this date will be disposed of.

4


ASSIGNMENT 1 - LOOKING

Introduction: A fundamental feature of the design world is creating a frame that establishes a point of view. Throughout the entire history and contemporary aspects of the city, framing a view is a recurring theme. The problem of the view involves a complex field of motives including way-finding, civic celebration, ontological triggers, air, light and social contact. One of the first steps in any design process is to define a position from which to conceive of a tactical approach to framing this very “view” itself. The problem of perception is intimately tied to the design process. Framing a view is one of the foundations of design in the field of the city. The first of three design exercises attempts to re-think/configure an urban monolith. Designing a new view for the urban citizen is one of the most powerful acts an architect, landscape architect and urban designer can accomplish. Looking through a carefully constructed frame gives a sense of meaning and scale to the user. An articulated view will connect us together and give rise to identifying significant urban relationships. Roadways generally offer a clearing in which to direct an urban view. In certain instances, such as Varsity Stadium on Bloor Street West, the view is compromised by historical conservation over contemporary urban experience. Varsity Stadium is situated along what is commonly referred to as the ‘Bloor Street Corridor’ in Toronto. Bloor Street borders the north side of the site with a “T” junction ending at a historic Varsity Stadium masonry wall, which terminates the south end of Bedford Avenue. Design Brief: The current Varsity Stadium wall that faces Bloor Street West is to be understood as an urban site for this project. The existing wall condition acts as a barrier to the stadium. You are to imagine creating a new relationship to the pedestrian traffic by designing a viewing device through the existing Varsity Stadium wall. Pedestrians who skirt across the sidewalk along this elevation are to be considered the user. This is a hypothetical exercise in blowing a hole through the solid masonry wall, configuring the opening and skewering it with some kind of viewing device. You are to design a viewing device inserted into a ½ meter sq. opening. There is no limit to how far it can be projected on either side. The date and time for the Viewing Device is to be determined by each student. Your viewing device is considered to be a temporary installation. You are responsible for both the material design of the finished opening and your Viewing Device. Your urban installation will constitute a viewing portal for pedestrian traffic that currently moves along the Varsity Stadium east-west brick wall. The device should act as way to view the stadium/city. Requirements: § 1 – 11” x 17” panel: compose 6 photographs in total, 4 of which audit the existing site and 2 which identify the specific location of your viewing device. Include notes and descriptions for each photo. § 3 – 11” x 17” panels: Using any multimedia techniques/software: Sketchup, collage, Photoshop, etc. create a series of illustrations showing development of the final viewing device. § 4 – 11” x 17” panels: Using drawings or Sketchup with Photoshop, create 4 still photo-assemblages showing your viewing device inserted into the Varsity Stadium wall, north, south, east, west. Note: You can determine the viewing angle and it doesn't necessarily have to be a flat on elevation § 1 – 11” x 17” Panel: Create a wall section that represents a north south cut through the Varsity stadium wall illustrating how your viewing device is inserted in it. Sketchup, Photoshop, and sketching can all be used for this requirement. § 3 – 11” x 17” Panels: Using Photoshop, Sketchup and/or any other software, display 3 views of your final viewing device. Suggested Work Schedule: Week 1: Site audit/photographs Week 2: Rough Sketchup models/elevations Week 3: Wall Section/final Photoshop images Week 4: Further revision of final images included in one compiled pdf *A preliminary model of the varsity wall is available on blackboard

5


ASSIGNMENT 2 - MAKING

Introduction: Form is an ambiguous and loaded term. Space is without end unless it is formed in time. Form, Space and Time make up the trilogy of three-dimensional design. Negotiating the world of form and space is a crucial modality in which one can conceive and model a spatial experience. Such as it is, the material world still holds the record for creating a most intensive and extenuating arena for experiencing the texture of life; except Video Gaming. Whether at work or play, “form”, and all its various attributes is the foundation upon which architecture, landscape architecture and urban design are given agency. Physical materials express form in a way that the digital world can never fully reproduce. Despite elaborate physics in the engines of virtual spaces, the material world is still the major stakeholder in the wilderness of sensory experience. There is nothing that comes close to reality, especially when it is fabricated with intense materiality; except Video Gaming. The problem of solid and void in architecture, landscape architecture and urban design is central to all three disciplines. Exercise 2 addresses the complex world of the solid/void paradigm in spatial design. The role in which geometric modeling plays in creating form is critical to the understanding of providing space. There is a longstanding history to the way in which space itself is given meaning through the designer’s mandate. Typically, there is no consensus around the options in the design field for just how to create form and its kindred subject: space. However, such as it is, the discipline does endeavor to provide a means in which to execute design by its conventions of representation. The design of a space then, no matter how general or specific in its use, is tied to the problem of its representation. In our era of digital representation, design is dependent upon representational tools that do not necessarily translate into the material world. Some design problems are meant to be more speculative. The Double “L” design exercise is takes on the problem of interlocking geometric form that is initially assigned a nominal amount of purpose. You are to further define the scale, function and siting in Minecraft through your design process. Design Brief: You are required to design and produce 3 different “double L” compositions in Minecraft. The site can be located anywhere on, above or below the ground plain of the game map site in Minecraft. An “L” is determined as having two segments where one segment is greater than the other. A “double L” is defined as a combination of two “L’s”. For each double L design, join/expose a void and render together two “L” shaped forms (scale, materials and specific Minecraft game site determined by you). You must then consider the form rendered according to how you interpret the influence of the Minecraft site you have selected. Each double L design should consider but not necessarily include both the solid figures of the L’s and a void produced when the two shapes are coupled together. The physical game-material and site of each of the three Double L pairs should also be defined during the design process. Requirements: § 3 – 11” x 17” panels: Site maps of the 3 different Double L pairs at scale 1:100m § 3 – 11” x 17” panels: Plan of each of the Double L pairs at scale 1:50m § 3 – 11” x 17” panels: Elevations of each of the Double L pairs at scale 1:50m § 3 – 11” x 17” panels: Atmospheric Minecraft mixed media rendering of the Double L pairs § 1 – A supplemental drawing of your choice in any medium and scale Suggested Work Schedule: Week 1: Design Concept Notation Week 2: Design Development Week 3: Final Submission – Site, Plans Elevations, Renders, Supplement * Plans in Minecraft have a slight perspective vanishing point. You can use the lowest vanishing point to the ground or recompose the plans in the appropriate software.

6


ASSIGNMENT 3 - MOVING

Introduction: Buildings are made to be experienced. The solitude of moving through a narrow passage, the joy of arriving at a discovered entrance – these are the moments we as designers seek to craft in our interpretations of the built environment. Film and architecture have a long history as both conspirators and collaborators. The task of the production designer is to curate the atmosphere of the film in order to facilitate the action of the players and drive the story. The role of the architect is to curate the construction of the building so to best serve the program of the users so that they may drive their own stories. The platform of the production designer can directly influence the way we view architecture. The direction of the shots, time of day and flow of traffic can all impact the perceived atmosphere of the building in frame. How does one capture the human experience of architecture through the medium of film? Movie Design Brief: Students will work in pairs for this final project. You are to select a building from the list below: 1. Toronto City Hall (Viljo Revell) 2. Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library (Mathers and Haldenby) 3. Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy (Norman Foster) 4. AGO (Collected) 5. Allen Lambert Galleria (Santiago Calatrava) 6. Underpass Park (Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg) 7. Hart House (Henry Sproatt) 8. Corkin Gallery (Shim-Sutcliffe) 9. Toronto Reference Library (Raymond Moriyama) 10. Evergreen Brick Works (du Toit Allsopp Hillier, Claude Cormier, Diamond and Schmitt and ERA) Using the selected building and the surrounding context, students will create a 90-180 second film that documents an experience of the building through the course of a 24-hour day. The film will move through the context of three different scales that will produce a minimum of three different shots styles. The scales are listed below: 1. Haptic Scale (human touch, building detail, close-up shots) 2. Building Scale (relationship to light, pathways, moving shots) 3. City Scale (urban fabric, neighbors, wide angled shots) Video/Audio sources can be sampled from anywhere. You are required to compose a conceptual position regarding your selected building and a clear definition of the visual devices you are going to explore in an architectural way in the film. Requirements: § 1 - 11” x 17” panel: Storyboard (template supplied) § 1 - 8.5” x 11” panel: Treatment (template supplied) § 1 - 8.5” x 11” panel: Shot List (template supplied) § 3 - 8.5” x 11” panels: Digital Stills from your film describing beginning, middle and end § 1 - MP4 Format 90-180 second film uploaded your account at http://www.mymedia.library.utoronto.ca Suggested Work Schedule: Week 1: Pre-Production: Identify Building, Storyboard, 250-word draft Treatment, Video/Audio Sources Week 2: Production: Shot List, Shoot Week 3: Post Production: Video Editing, Final Video Upload

7


GENERAL EVALUATION Evaluation will be carried out in accordance with the University Assessment and Grading Practices Policy. Please refer to the policy found on the governing council website: http://www.governingcouncil.utoronto.ca/Governing_Council/policies.htm#G EVALUATION Due Date: Oct 6 Exercise 1 25% Due Date: Nov 3 Exercise 2 25% Due Date: Dec 8 Exercise 3 25% Due Date: Dec 15 PDF Folio 25% There is a PDF portfolio requirement due for this class during the first week of examinations. The purpose of the portfolio is to give you an opportunity to re-contextualize your work throughout the course of the semester, articulating the concept behind each project and evaluating the outcome while being in control of the editing and curating of the representations (textual or visual) of your own work. There is no standard page size for the required PDF but it should not exceed 48 pages in length. For a quick primer on formatting your portfolio, please see the tutorials on type history, graphic design, and InDesign in the course folder. UPLOAD FORMAT In addition to reviews on paper all work must be uploaded to both Blackboard and the project website. This includes final projects and your weekly progress work. While the work submitted to these sites may be similar, each site asks you to upload to different formats (see below). Website: All submissions to the course website should be submitted as high-resolution jpeg files (300pdi). These files should be named as follows: Lastname.Firstname.JAV101.Sec#.Post#. If multiple posts are needed within a submission, these should be named 1A, 1B etc. Example: Jay.Pooley.JAV101.Sec101.Post1A.jpg Blackboard: All submissions to Blackboard should be submitted as a high resolution combined PDF @ 300dpi. Please use the following file naming system when uploading: Lastname.Firstname.JAV101.Sec# RETENTION OF COURSEWORK Any coursework that a student submits for evaluation, excluding final examinations, is the student’s property. Note, however, that the Daniels Faculty retains the discretion to use coursework submitted for promotional and communications material (including but not limited to print and the web) as it deems appropriate. No personal or academic information will be released without a student’s consent. Students who prefer that their work not be used in any promotional or communications capacity should contact [email protected]. READINGS Baird, George. "The Eclipse of the Idea of "The Public" in Architecture and Urbanism at the End of the 20th Century." Public Space: Cultural, Political Theory: Street Photography: An Interpretation. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print. Baudrillard, Jean. The Precession of Simulacra. N.p.: n.p., 2001. Print. Crary, Jonathan. Suspensions of Perception: Attention, Spectacle, and Modern Culture. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1999. Print. Krauss, Rosalind. "Sculpture in the Expanded Field." October 8 (1979): 30. Web. Exercise 2 Recommended Bibliography: McGonigal, Jane, “Reality is broken; What exactly is a game”, Reality is Broken, (New York: The Penguin Group, 2011): 1-36. Boigon, Brian, “Design on the Outskirts of Town” in Log26, Cynthia Davidson, ed. (New York: ANYcorp., 2012): 76-85. Parkin, Simon, “The Secret to a Video-Game Phenomenon,” (Cambridge: MIT Technology Review, http://www.technologyreview.com/review/516051/the-secret-to-a-video-game-phenomenon/),2013. Casale, Andrea, “Surfaces: Concept, Design, Parametric Modeling and Prototyping,” NEXUS NETWJ-Vol.15, No. 2. 2013 (Milan, NEXUS, 2012): 271-283. Goldberg,Daniel. Larsson, Linus, Minecraft: The Unlikely Tale of Markus “Notch” Persson and the Game that Changed Everything, (New York, Seven Stories Press, 2013) Wired Magazine on line excerpt: http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2013/11/minecraft-book/ Zumthor, Peter. Thinking Architecture (1998). Desire, Composing in Space. (p.21-22) Exercise 3 Recommended Bibliography: Burch, Noel, “Spatial and Temporal Articulations”, Theory of Film Practice, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981): 3-16. Penz, François, and Maureen Thomas. Cinema & Architecture: Méliès, Mallet-Stevens, Multimedia. London: British Film Institute, 1997. Print. http://go.utlib.ca/cat/1590550

8


MATERIALS Sketching: - 3 black pens in three lines of weight, roughly: 0.5mm, 1.0mm, 1.5mm - 1 red pen 0.5mm weight - 3 other pens in your favorite colours - White Out Pen - 3 pencils in three grades: H, HB, B - Pencil Eraser - 3 sticks conte in three colours: Black, White, Red - 1 sketch pad minimum size 3.5” x 5.5” - Drawing board (masonite or similar) roughly 11” x 17” with 2 steel clips to hold paper Model Building: - Olfa Knife + Blades - Steal Ruler with cork back - Weldbond Glue - Self-Healing Cutting Mat Drafting: - Lead Holder + Assortment of Leads (B, HB, 2H) - Drafting Triangles (30/60 & 45/90) - Imperial & Metric Architects Scales - Lead Sharpener - Eraser + Erasing Shield - 3M Blue Masking Tape - Roll of Tracing Paper LATE WORK All assignments are due in class at the specified time and date. Late submission will result in a 2% deduction (of each assignment’s total grade) per business day (excluding weekends). In the case of illness or other special circumstance, notification should be given to the Instructors and the Registrar as soon as possible and before the deadline in question; where required, the official University of Toronto Verification of Student Illness or Injury form must be submitted. FINAL DUE DATE Due dates are set by the Course Instructor in the schedule and evaluation sections of this outline. All term work must be submitted on or before the last day of classes in the course concerned, unless an earlier date is stipulated by the Instructor. Students who for reasons beyond their control are unable to submit an assignment by its deadline must obtain approval from their Instructor for an extension within the term. The last date of the term is December 22, 2015. Any work submitted after the stipulated deadline and before the end of term without an approved extension will not be accepted. Students will be required to petition for an extension if they will be unable to submit their work by December 22, 2015. Students expecting to graduate in the June 2016 convocation period should note that submitting work under the auspices of an approved petition may have an impact on their ability to graduate at that time. PREPAREDNESS AT U OF T Students are advised to consult the University’s preparedness site (http://www.preparedness.utoronto.ca) for information and regular updates regarding procedures regarding emergency planning. ACCESSIBILITY NEEDS Accessibility Services provides academic accommodations in collaboration with students, staff and faculty to support students with documented disabilities in equal opportunities to achieve academic and co-curricular success. If you are a student who identifies with one or more of the broad categories below, we encourage you to register with Accessibility Services (http://www.accessibility.utoronto.ca/). For any questions or assistance, please see your Registrar. • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) • Autism Spectrum Disorder • Brain Injury and Concussion • Chronic Health • Deaf and Hard of Hearing • Learning Disability • Mental Health • Mobility and Functional • Low Vision / Legally Blind • Temporary Injuries

9


ACADEMIC INTEGRITY Academic integrity is essential to the pursuit of learning and scholarship in a university, and to ensuring that a degree from the University of Toronto is a strong signal of each student’s individual academic achievement. As a result, the University treats cases of cheating and plagiarism very seriously. The University of Toronto’s Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters (www.governingcouncil.utoronto.ca/policies/behaveac.htm) outlines the behaviours that constitute academic dishonesty and the processes for addressing academic offences. Potential offences include, but are not limited to: In papers and assignments:

1. Using someone else’s ideas or words without appropriate acknowledgement. 2. Submitting your own work in more than one course without the permission of the instructor. 3. Making up sources or facts. 4. Obtaining or providing unauthorized assistance on any assignment.

On tests and exams:

1. Using or possessing unauthorized aids. 2. Looking at someone else’s answers during an exam or test. 3. Misrepresenting your identity.

In academic work:

1. Falsifying institutional documents or grades. 2. Falsifying or altering any documentation required by the University, including (but not limited to) doctor’s notes.

All suspected cases of academic dishonesty will be investigated following procedures outlined in the Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters. If you have questions or concerns about what constitutes appropriate academic behaviour or appropriate research and citation methods, you are expected to seek out additional information on academic integrity from your instructor or from other institutional resources (see www.utoronto.ca/academicintegrity/resourcesforstudents.html). For accepted methods of standard documentation formats, including electronic citation of internet sources please see the U of T writing website at: http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/using-sources/documentation. ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND WRITING SUPPORT The University of Toronto expects its students to write well, and it provides a number of resources to help. Please consult the University of Toronto writing site (http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/) for advice and answers to your questions about writing. Please pay special attention to: Advice on Writing: Academic Writing Reading and Using Sources: How Not to Plagiarize The University of Toronto’s Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters states that: “It shall be an offence for a student knowingly: … (d) to represent as one’s own any idea or expression of an idea or work of another in any academic examination or term test or in connection with any other form of academic work, i.e, to commit plagiarism.” The Code also states: “Wherever in the Code an offence is described as depending on ‘knowing,’ the offence shall likewise be deemed to have been committed if the person ought reasonably to have known.” The Writing Centre at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design (http://www.daniels.utoronto.ca/resources/writing-program ) is a resource for Daniels students seeking assistance with academic writing through tutorials and individual consultations. Students may access the online appointment booking system at: https://awc2.wdw.utoronto.ca/awc-login/

jav101h1.syllabus.2015

Documents

course work

design themes

design brief

theories of design

digital design

design process

problem of design

discipline of design