​Bachelor of Science (Honor) in Architecture

Design Studio 2

 

This unit is a continuation from Architecture Design Studio 1.

 

Students will undertake a series studio based exercises and assignments that introduce the principles and methods of analysis, abstraction, and synthesis in design thinking that are common to many design fields, including building and architecture.

 

Semester 2, themed “User and Context”, investigates the relationship of user to the natural environment. It

aims to inculcate awareness of architectural solution in relation to context and time (basic construction and

technology).

 

Students will undertake a series of studio-based exercises, beginning from a simple shelter to a

small free-standing building.

 

The first project requires students to design a shelter within unique and distinctive natural landscapes (the cliff, the beach, the lake, forest…). Students begin the project by ‘learning from precedents’ relating to the History of Modern Architecture lectures. Emphasis is given to the elements of architecture and architectonics that generate architectural form and space, produced by drawing and making. Subsequently, students are required to translate it into a simple shelter for individual habitation within the natural landscapes.

 

Subsequently in the final project, through vigorous prototyping from Project 1, students are required to design a small free standing dwelling (which has one significant room) for a particular user in a simple context. Emphasis is given to the interpretation and synthesis of the user, simple site and function in architectural design. This is the first attempt where students tackle a complete building, a proper architecture.