COURSE DESCRIPTION FOR THE AY 2021-2022
Simplicity in plan, epiphany in space…
Foyer at the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain
Architect: Frank O. Gehry
“There is the short distance runner architect and there is the long distance architect… [The] long distance runner gets better with age, his distance is extended; his architecture at once becomes sparser and richer. He captures the long abandoned sounds of architecture. He celebrates the ancient laws and mysteries off the rites of construction. He brings forth through his knowledge of materials and detail the density of brooding stone, the dark soul of steel, the calmness of wood, the softness of earth and the crystallization of air. He is the architect of pewter. He polishes architecture with the palm of his hand and places it in a landscape with the care that the painter Giorgio Morandi gave to his still life.”
John Hejduk
Between dream and reality, an aesthetic experience of daily life…
The ambition of the design studio will focus on a series of open-ended questions surrounding the “design of space” and “the setting in space of ideas” within the discipline of architecture. As both individuals and as a collective group, we will explore how ideas, concepts, and themes can help conceive architectural spaces and places. Most importantly we will focus on how to give them physicality, which has been one of the most important ways to legitimize our role as leaders within the built environment.
During this year, we will study the discipline of architecture as a process that involves an acute sense of creativity both at the intuitive and rational levels of design. Hence, the education of an architect will be framed as part of a larger series of questions surrounding concepts pertaining to the body of history and theory, abstract and real context, structure and construction, art and urbanism from which key design strategies can be extracted, understood and redirected toward the creation of your own work.
Your second-year design experience constitutes the basis for introducing the fundamentals of architecture, a journey that will balance tradition and innovation, theory and pragmatics, design and construction. A number of suggested design projects and punctual charrettes will test your creative energy.
Fall 2021: tentative projects
- How do you see and express yourself? the design of an ex-libris (brand)
Charette interlude - How do you see and understand? case study analysis project (precedence)
Charette interlude - How to you see and interpret? the free-section project (space), and
- How do you see and design? the wall house project (design)
Spring 2022: tentative projects
- How do you see the past and present? an urban loft renovation (urban design);
Charette interlude, and - How do you see and build? a contemporary café/restaurant (campus design)
The broader intention of this lab is not only to fulfill a series of curricular requirements but most importantly to pursue an architecture in search of poetry and spatial delight. Past second year visual archives are to be found under https://atelierdehahn.com/current-academic-year-2019-2020/
Student learning outcomes
By the end of the academic year, students will have acquired the following:
- Awareness of the potential of an architecture in search of poetry, differentiating building from architecture;
- Understanding what constitutes an idea, a concept, a partie, and a design strategy;
- Ability to distinguish between what appears to be real and its representation, what is essential and what is exceptional;
- Ability to attribute to a project a clear set of theoretical premises and defined strategies;
- Understanding the filiation of the five basics 20th century spatial configurations of architecture,
- And an appreciation that research leads to the coherence and authenticity of any design project –YOUR project in particular.
I invite students interested in this pedagogy to read select blogs of your interest. Many of them were created in response to the past years student cohorts and feature fundamental design themes, often accompanied by work conducted directly in the studio context by my students: https://atelierdehahn.com/blog/
Materials to purchase for this year’s design studio
Please click to view the requested materials that will need to be purchased for the second day of class.
Note
I have selected a number of blogs that might highlight process and pedagogy offered in my second year design studios.
Architectural Education: Some thoughts on teaching. Part 1
Architectural Education: First steps in a student’s design process
Architectural Education: The nature of being -Shaker architecture, Rainer Marie Rilke, and Louis I. Kahn
Course syllabi and program briefs
Course Syllabus 1
Course Syllabus 2
Schedule
FALL 2021
Project 1: Case study analysis project assignment
Student artifacts
Project 2: Wall House project assignment
Student artifacts
Spring 2022
Project 3: Loft renovation, NYC
Student artifacts
Charette 1: Architectural Promenade
Student artifacts
Charette 2: IKEA Kitchen design
Student artifacts
Charette 3: Cabinetwork
Student artifacts
Charette 4: Art and Furniture
Student artifacts
Charette 5: Axonometric drawing
Student artifacts
Essay 1: Personal comments on blog
Essay 2: Loft description
Essay 3: Loft description
Essay 4: Loft description