Project

We will focus on the demands of relating a building to a physical location being both very specific (site) and general (landscape) with regards to scale. We will examine the relationship between building and site first, using a series of abstract compositional exercises to both analyze, and create landscape with a small project integrated within the constructed landscape. We will then use a site in Marfa, Tx as a location for building upon an existing landscape, looking at both the building, and the idea of location at a much greater scale.

We will use pinhole photography and camera obscuras as a means of both viewing, capturing, and framing building and site.

You will make your own pinhole cameras, and will also process and develop your photographs in the School of Architecture darkroom. Instruction will be given.

There will be a field trip to Marfa.

More information will follow.

Expectations

Students are expected to be on time and present for all classes. More than three unexcused absences will result in a failing grade, or an incomplete for the course. The rninimum penalty for excessive absences and/ or late arrivals is a full grade letter drop in your curnulative grade for the course. Please contact me as soon as possible if you expect to be late or will not be attending class. You are responsible for coursework assigned in your absence. Your peers will be able to fill you in on what you missed. You can also contact me if more information is needed.

Extensions and incompletes will not be given in this course, except where there is documented evidence of a serious problem.

Besides desk crits, pin-ups, and presentations, various talks may be given in the course that serve as background to the studio projects. There may be from time to time guest speakers as well as guest critics.

You are encouraged to work in the studio. Architecture is an interactive discipline, not merely an individual pursuit. The criticism of and contact with your colleagues can be as significant as that with your studio critic.

Security is a necessary component for a studio that is accessible to you and your colleagues 24 hours a day, 7 days a week After hours, please keep doors to the studio and the building locked, so that it is a safe place to work.

Grading

Grading is broken into three components for each given mark: 1/3 pursuit (your ideas combined with an appropriate process of making), 1/3 product (the resolution of this process of conclusion) and 1/3 grasp (the understanding of the project at hand and its architectural implications). The notion of pursuit is the ability for you to add your own agendas and parameters to the project in addition to those required of the class as a whole.

Your projects will be graded throughout the semester and there will be some recognition of improvement or growth as the course progresses. Also, your participation in class exercises and discussions is expected and will be reflected on your final grade.