Studio Curriculum

Architectural Design 3 is an exploration of the influence of history and culture on design decision-making and the resulting architectural product. I engage the students with a hermeneutic method of learning; architectural scholarship that is focused on interpretation of cultural constructions. This method requires a substantial amount of research. I require reliable sources of information that must be cited.

By situating the research in a study of cultural artifacts such as ancient architecture the process of uncovering and interpreting scholarly material becomes adventurous. Students are required to do research in which an accumulation of materials that support an understanding of the cultural artifact are assembled. The students use inductive reasoning; moving from observations to generalizations and finally theories concerning the interpretation of artifacts. At the same time they are constructing experimental, analogous, three-dimensional spatial constructions designed to according to their theories. The theories focus the research and the spatial construction and guide them as they create a “revision” to the ruin. This revision (intervention) is based on a hypothesis about a specific artifact and its probable use. This hypothesis is centered around the student's development of an invented client  and a narrative program, both associated with a specific Mayan artifact. Each student posts their writing and constructions to the class blog and presents periodically during the semester. In this forum the ideas and their spatial forms are tested by the professor and studio peers using verbal inquisition and critical discussion. Assignments are given to cause incremental changes and development. The progress of the work is iterative.

The topic for this semester is the Mayan ruins at Uxmal on the Yucatan Peninsula.
Please visit the Assignments and Guidance page for specific information about the day to day direction of the studio.