fall 2005
ARC 393/394:
Vertical Studio
Course Description
What is it for? How is it built? What does it look like? Three Questions, three Approaches, one Goal.
Responsible architects, as professionals, must take into consideration different areas of responsibility to produce their work. Today, these areas of responsibility are remarkably similar to the three components of the architectural project that Vitruvius identified in Rome 2,000 years ago as Utilitas, Firmitas and Venustas.
Utilitas, deals with the use of the building: What is it for?
Firmitas, deals with the methods of construction: How is it built?
Venustas, deals with the building as an object of art: What does it look like?
To respond to these questions good architects must "wear different hats" to cover the areas of responsibility of every project:
The architect-thinker is interested in theory, dwells in the nature of the project, its use, its meaning.
The architect-builder is interested in construction and methods of assembly, in materials and details.
The architect-artist is interested in form making, in sculpture, in creating beautiful objects.
There is an all encompassing "fourth hat" that architects must wear: the architect-citizen is interested in the public realm, social issues, sustainability and the improvement of the environment.
Many times, architects are particularly interested in one of these areas of the project and, accordingly, their strategy to develop a project starts heavily influenced by one of them.
This semester you will explore these different strategies with the ultimate goal of producing your own design for a building that responds successfully to all areas of responsibility of architecture.
Class Structure
1. First Part: Precedents
Working in teams you will develop in-depth analysis of three pairs of architects that relay heavily in one of the areas of responsibility discussed above:
- Architect-Thinkers: Rem Koolhas and Peter Eisenman
- Architect-Builders: Renzo Piano and Peter Zumthor
- Architect-Artists: Frank Gehry and Santiago Calatrava
2. Second Part. Two Buildings in the Park
You will design two small buildings to be located in Town Lake in Austin. One will be a place to eat and drink (although not a full restaurant) next to the rowing facilities, right on the shore of the lake.
The second will be a rest room, changing room facility near the tennis courts close to the MoPac bridge at Town Lake.
For each one of these two projects you will choose one of the architects you studied in the previous exercise and develop a scheme based in that particular architect strategy for design. In other words, you will work on the project as if you were Renzo Piano, Eisenman or Calatrava.
This exercise will start with an analysis of Town Lake, the physical context of the projects.
3. Third Part: the Design of the Austin Running Center
The last part of the semester will be devoted to the design of a building to be located at the southwest intersection of Lake Austin Boulevard and MoPac, where the RunTex store is located right now. More specifics of The Running Center of Austin will be discussed later in the semester. For this project you are expected to incorporate ideas and methods developed in the previous exercises, however for this project you will produce your design with your own strategy to address the different areas of responsibility of architecture discussed during the semester.
Studio Culture, Collaboration
You will work in collaboration with you classmates in specific exercises, but in general I expect a general spirit of collaboration among everybody in the studio at all times. The studio is a great learning environment and we must take advantage of it.
Books
The studio will maintain a library of the books that are used for research during the semester. These books should be made available to classmates and you are encouraged to look at and discuss new books that other students are bringing to the studio. In general, be curious, ask questions and discuss with your classmates.
Grading
The individual components of this course have the following value:
- First Part: 20%
- Second Part: 40%
- Third Part: 40%
Each project will be graded by the following breakdown:
Quality and Integrity of Pursuit: 1/3
Quality and Integrity of Product: 1/3
Quality and Integrity of Grasp: 1/3
Office Hours
By appointment. My office is located at GOL 4.116, my telephone is 471-0182, if you want to set an appointment the best choice is to send me an email, you can also leave a note at my mail box at school, or simply let me know at the studio. My email is jmiro@mail.utexas.edu.
Bibliography
The following texts are general reference books that you may want to incorporate in your own library.
- Architectural Thought: The Design process and the Expectant Eye — Michael Brawne
- Architecture: Form, Space & Order — Ching
- Architectural Graphics — Ching
- Experiencing Architecture — Rasmussen
- Learning from Las Vegas — Venturi
- The Poetics of Space — Bachelard
- Why Buildings Stand Up — Salvadori
Materials
For those of you new to architecture, the following list include the essentials you need to start your career in architecture.
- Box of clear plastic head pushpins
- 6 medium binder clips
- 18"x20ys. wide roll of Canary Yellow Tracing Paper
- Roll of Vellum 18 x 10 yds
- Roll of drafting tape
- Drafting brush
- Scissors
- X-2000 knife and #11 blades (100ct)
- cutting mat
- 1 triangular scale rulers (architect's)
- 36" metal straightedge with cork backing
- 42" (minimum) Mayline(R) parallel bar with rollers/wheels under the bar
- 14" 30*/60* triangle and 10" adjustable triangle
- circle template
- 2 Ebony(R) pencils
- Pencil sharpener
- 3 lead holders
- Graphite drafting leads: 2H, H & 2B + 4H
- Erasing shield
- Kneadable eraser
- Vinyl block eraser
- Compass w/ arm extension box set
- 16' measuring tape
- 12ct Box o' drawing pencils H-B and find a sketchbook (approx. 8"x11" with white pages)
Art/Architecture Stores: University Co-op, Miller's Blue Print, Asel's Art