Studio Design 2

This course is a continuation of Design 1. Students are introduced to principles of proportion and scale with an emphasis on the relationship between the human body and three dimensional space. The refinement of the design process is also emphasized.

 

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The Thick Wall

A wall may be seen as the most basic architectural element – a structure that delineates a space, carries a load, or provides shelter or security. It can define a threshold – a transition from one place to another – an it can easily demarcate and exterior and an interior.

The student is asked to design a boundary wall and an entrance into a small cemetery in Miami. The wall would be located on a 75′ by 200′ lot and must contain some functions.

Precedent Analysis 

Sert House in Cambridge by Josep Luis Sert

Fundamental to the education of a designer is the awareness of what has come before, so that one may identify works that have evolved in similar programmatic, conceptual or formal circumstances. Abstraction and analysis of those precedents, however, is necessary so that pure imitation is avoided. analysis can be seen as the breaking down of a work into parts in order to examine a subject from multiple perspectives and to uncover what may have been the strategies for a project’s design. The most common systems separated during the analysis are the project’s structure, circulation, exterior envelope, major vs. minor spaces, public vs. private spaces, solid vs. voids, repetitive vs. unique, serving vs. served spaces, and geometric/proportional orders.

Models: Plaster | Mold

 

Diagrams: Glass vs. Solid | Circulation vs. Skin

 

 

The Artist House

For the final project, students had to incorporate what they already learned in the two previous exercises about spaces, thresholds, circulation, public and private spaces, etc.

For this project, I has to design a house for the Brazilian artist Lygia Clark. Personally, this project was very challenging for us, since we not only that the house was located in a slope but also that we were designing this house for a specific client.

Program: Areas to sleep, shower, eat, cook, entertainment, art studio, exhibit art, parking space, a garden, and a swimming pool.

This painting in particular was my main inspiration when designing a house for the artist.