Studio Foundations I

Abstract

What demands does today’s dynamic context, with its multifaceted challenges, place on future architects? A rapidly changing world in the wake of climate change calls for environmentally conscious, sustainable design and construction more than ever before.Studio Foundations addresses this growing complexity with an interdisciplinary first-year course.

Objective

Our learning objectives are: - Exploring different methods and tools of circular, sustainable and simple building practices - Independent work, critical thinking and reflection on one's own work - Familiarization with and understanding of an iterative design process of many interdependent factors. - Understanding of urban structures and sociology, scales, proportions and dimensions. Exploring the interaction between buildings and the environment as a starting point for the design. - Gain an understanding of the most important concepts and historical developments in architectural typology and form and their significance. Learning methods of analysis and the direct application of the findings in the project. - Recognizing spatial categories and exploring how materiality, dimensions, light and sound influence spatial perception. Developing a basic knowledge of materials and their influence on space and construction. - Understanding the most important principles of architectural construction through the various building systems, elements and materials. The focus is on the relationship between the building and the ground. - Practical work on the model, in the plan, using hand drawings and sketches as well as, digital programs for drawings and visualization as part of the design process.

Content

In the autumn semester, we will explore various locations along the Limmat; these range from the city center of Zurich to the agglomeration and differ in terms of topography, use, building structure, visitors and history. We analyze their context and develop an initial design idea, for a small intervention which combines public aswell as private spaces, based on our observations. The exploration of building materials, their technical properties, manufacturing processes and areas of application, as well as their influence on the spatial qualities, joining principles and construction inspire us in our design work and significantly influence the expression and setting of our project. The course introduces students to a wide range of analogue and digital architectural notation techniques. These include sketching, drawing plans and sections, building models, modelling in CAD, scanning, visualizing projects and programming - skills that are taught in the studio and contextualized and practiced through direct application in the design. In parallel, Studio Foundations’ teaches basic principles of architectural construction, helping students to understand architecture as a material practice from day one.

Resources