ARCH5110/6110K
Advanced Architectural Design Studio I & II – Eat-Design-Build
Target Students MArch1, MArch2
Course Term 1 & 2
Course Type Required
Venue Studio
Teacher(s) FINGRUT, Adam
This studio explores the role of technology and prototyping as a conduit for architectural design and construction methods. A rigorous series of ‘making’ exercises along with exposure to novel design and communication techniques will guide students toward developing their own architectural vocabulary for deployment at different scales, resolutions, and across media. At the heart of this studio is an interest in the crafting of beautiful drawings, objects, spaces, and buildings – each with their own unique story nested inside a broader design narrative of responsible material use and speculative inhabitation. Activities in this course are supported by a Teaching Development and Language Enhancement Grant (TDLEG) that financially supports costs associated with student prototyping materials.
We will gain exposure to a variety of tools and technology that will provoke students to reconsider their approach toward building design. Hands-on workshops in 3D scanning, AR, VR, computational tools, photography, film, and robotics will be provided alongside immersive visits to cooking and dining environments, exposure to culinary arts, and food preparation techniques. The studio will draw upon a semiotic relationship between culinary arts and architecture as the careful and deliberate design, configuration, and assembly of materials as part of human experiences that consider ergonomics, heuristics, and quality of space.
Sustainability, modularity, and economy are critical aspects of this studio and remain a theme throughout the research and design phases. Students will report on their (in)efficient material use, repeatability through modularity/serialism, and reflect on the relationship of work/waste ratio. We will ultimately strive and provide a case toward a minimal waste goal.
As part of our design process, we will observe, experience, and consider different F&B typologies in Hong Kong, and Tokyo. We will examine architecture from a material culture and seek phenomena that students can explore further in their own projects. We will place a special interest in the curation of intangible qualities (colour, smell, temperature, light, airflow, sound), and textures, tactility, softness, transparency, porosity as part of project definition.
Our design process will involve a series of open-ended design provocations pertaining to ‘a dining experience’. In groups, and based on knowledge gained from previous exercises, students will design and develop full scale prototypes. We will create design/build pavilions that bring together objects, surfaces, structure, envelope, and enclosure as part of an architecturally driven dining event constructed by students for invited critics. This process will consider aspects of efficiency, sustainability, modularity as part of the design, and serve as the basis for further architecture proposals.
Students will reflect on their design research and translate knowledge into building design proposals. They will work alongside invited guests and consultants for a F&B Tower – as stacked kitchens, service, and delivery that consider different users and experiences. Students will balance technical advice pertaining to structures, cores, envelopes, client needs, building systems, and safety standards to carve out original design opportunities. Design should draw heavily on student experiences throughout the course, their confidence in exploring a specific architectural vocabulary using material, graphics, models, technical knowledge, and assembly systems. We will heavily emphasize architectural model making, and drawing under three umbrella processes of scanning, designing, and building.
