Showing posts with label studio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label studio. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Interim Deadline Looms...
As the deadline approaches for the Interim, there is an increased occupation of the studio, workshop, and CAD lab. Please keep in mind that others work in these environments, so it is advisable to keep your spaces relatively clean (and odour-free) so that others feel comfortable drafting/modeling/sleeping in the spaces.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
A Note on Third Places
The nature of the Third Place is increasingly bastardized in the studio. If not that, then it is a demonstration of students' lack of effort or willingness to take initiative and actually complete the assignment. With the former I would much rather have students be honest and admit that they have not consulted resources (online or otherwise). To simply annex huge swaths of the ground floor under the generic label of "Third Place" is an insult to instructors and reflects poorly on the student; doing so demonstrates a failure to understand the Oldenburg concept. Even in the instances where students are able to articulate the ambiance they wish to create in their Third Place designs, it is imperative to do more than simply state that the components as autonomous elements. Ambiance and functional elements are not mutually exclusive in proposing a Third Place.
Third Places are more than a sum of its parts. Designers do not claim that their home designs (or First Place) are defined by their washrooms, bedrooms, or even kitchens; nor do designers present proposals solely on qualities such as "homely", "warm", "comfortable, etc. Similarly, students should neither be describing their Third Place as "interactive", "engaging",etc. nor defining their Third Place by generic programming such as "coffee shop", "lounge space", or "hangout area". It is the combination of programmatic elements plus a well defined design approach in creating a desired ambiance that creates a truly successful Third Place. Though the Oldenburg definition casts a wider net in its taxonomy of place to include commercial enterprise such as pubs and coffee houses, strong students are able to recall the fundamental concepts behind the Third Place.
Students in this assignment are asked to design a Third Place - not simply allocate area for one. If an architect were asked to design a house and simply rough in areas for kitchens and entryways, then one must ask whether what was proposed was functional programming or truly architecture. This is not a space planning exercise. It is incumbent on students to actually design their buildings both inside and out. An inability to understand this demonstrates a failure in an awareness of the responsibilities and tasks under the purview of an architect.
Rest assured that there will be projects that will fall prey to any one of the three criticisms I have raised in this commentary: ambiance, functional elements, and responding to the assignment. If by the end of the term these projects remain unable to properly address these issues, it is the responsibility of instructors and peers to communicate this flaw. Fortunately students spend far more time with each other than instructors so it is everyone's responsibilities, most notably students, to be critical both with themselves and each other.
Third Places are more than a sum of its parts. Designers do not claim that their home designs (or First Place) are defined by their washrooms, bedrooms, or even kitchens; nor do designers present proposals solely on qualities such as "homely", "warm", "comfortable, etc. Similarly, students should neither be describing their Third Place as "interactive", "engaging",etc. nor defining their Third Place by generic programming such as "coffee shop", "lounge space", or "hangout area". It is the combination of programmatic elements plus a well defined design approach in creating a desired ambiance that creates a truly successful Third Place. Though the Oldenburg definition casts a wider net in its taxonomy of place to include commercial enterprise such as pubs and coffee houses, strong students are able to recall the fundamental concepts behind the Third Place.
Students in this assignment are asked to design a Third Place - not simply allocate area for one. If an architect were asked to design a house and simply rough in areas for kitchens and entryways, then one must ask whether what was proposed was functional programming or truly architecture. This is not a space planning exercise. It is incumbent on students to actually design their buildings both inside and out. An inability to understand this demonstrates a failure in an awareness of the responsibilities and tasks under the purview of an architect.
Rest assured that there will be projects that will fall prey to any one of the three criticisms I have raised in this commentary: ambiance, functional elements, and responding to the assignment. If by the end of the term these projects remain unable to properly address these issues, it is the responsibility of instructors and peers to communicate this flaw. Fortunately students spend far more time with each other than instructors so it is everyone's responsibilities, most notably students, to be critical both with themselves and each other.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Monday, February 4, 2013
Section ONE
These are the members of Section ONE from ASC401 during the Winter 2013 term.Over the next few months these students will use this platform to showcase their design work as it evolves from concept to developed design proposal. The collective pool of their research, insights, and design iterations will ensure that their respective designs will be as robust and developed as possible.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)