spring 2006
ARC 560R:
Advanced Design
Campus Design/: Housing and Student Life Center
The semester's studio work will concern itself with the purposeful inquiry of two important concerns: the identity of an educational institution as embodied in its physical environment, specifically through whole campus planning and growth by the addition of new buildings, and issues related to academic housing for a specific (perhaps marginalized), student group and the potential relationships which have meaning for architecture.
We will work directly with the administration of a small, historically African American University (Huston-Tillotson) that is currently tackling these issues. The students will be asked to look at two inextricably interconnected issues: how the order of the whole (the existing campus and its surrounding context) affects the order of the part (proposed academic residences and supporting programs), and how architectural amenity and character are established (particularly in an already partially built institution).
The first half of the semester will be divided into several parts, each comprising of a series of readings and exercises that examine specific problems. While these projects are independent and discreet, each is to have an interconnectedness that you will direct as part of your personal concern. The later half of the semester will deal with the detailed development for a design proposal for campus housing and a student life center.
In this project you will work with a given building program as provided by Huston- Tillotson University. Other specific, not stated requests and understandings will be explored on behalf of the user/client. This is the point of departure, you will, of course be expected to address a full set of architectural issues including sensitivity to site and context and an examination of the objective determinates that affect and produce form. The initial phase of the project will involve looking at both the large and small scale simultaneously. Specifically this will involve analysis, evaluation and response to an existing campus as well as the designing of a very small "part" or piece of the building as a way of initiating the building design.
The project will involve direct correspondence with Huston-Tillotson University as clients/colleagues. We will explore the program as given to us by them, investigate and discuss the client/architect relationship, "stare down" the realities of building (code, structure, materiality, etc.) while infusing the project with personal and conceptual motivation. Some of the questions we will ask are: Where do the proposed programs fit in the overall structure of the University? What prototypes or innovations can or must be integrated and reflected in the buildings? What is the relationship of this University to the larger community, to this particular community, and what possible response does architecture have to this relationship? What role does this building play in the overall physical plan of the University and how are the stated goals of the institution reinforced or otherwise addressed by the addition of these buildings?
Analysis, evaluation and means of reporting and revealing information will be particularly important in your work and will include extensive descriptive studies done in drawing, photographs, models and other media, both virtual and physical. You are to examine design values within issues concerning materiality, technology and construction and the way they shape and make architectural form.
"Just as the urban or landscape context informs the design of the single infill house, in a proactive way, the design of a prototypical house embodies a latent urbanism. In other words the house produces the form of the city. In this way, the house embodies at a grassroots level, the aspirations or pessimism of a people, a place or an age."
MacKay-Lyons
Basis for Evaluation
There are several important criteria that will particularly apply to the work you do this semester. They are: effort, pursuit, invention, product, craft, grasp and personal progress and advancement. Effort is enormously important and vigorous engagement in all your work goes a long way towards producing your best work possible. Craft refers to an attitude and an outcome, a desire for precision in approach and result.
Assignments are expected to be complete and on-time.
A (90%-100%) Outstanding
Projects are investigated and complete at all levels- i.e., pursuit, process, representation, etc. Each of the criteria must surpass expectations in terms of pursuit, inventiveness, product, craft, grasp, effort and personal advancement.
B (80%-89%) Very Good
Projects are investigated and complete at all levels. Each level is done thoroughly, is well researched and is diligently pursued. This is the expected level of performance for advanced studio work.
C (70%-79%) Average
Not all levels- pursuit, process, representation, grasp, etc., are developed equally and the criteria are inconsistent. For example, an indifferent attitude, weak effort, inconsistent development, etc.
D (60%-69%) Not Very Good
Not all levels are present; some of the requested components of the project are missing. Either care or attention is missing or basic skills, logic and concentration are not developed adequately.
F (below 59%) Unacceptable Work
X Excused Incomplete
Can only be given for legitimate reason, such as illness or family emergency. Simply not completing work on time is not an adequate cause for an incomplete.
Studio attendance is crucial to your advancement and is therefore mandatory. Full participation is expected. Three unexcused absences will result in the lowering of your final grade for the course. Please contact me prior to the beginning of class if you are going to be late or will not be attending class. There is great benefit in working in the studio and you are expected to do so.
I will have a mid-semester review and discussion with each student.
DISABILITIES
Please notify your instructor of any adaptation you may require to accommodate a specific physical need. You will be requested to provide documentation to the Dean of Students' Office, in order that the most appropriate accommodations can be determined. Specialized services are available on campus through the Services for Students with Disabilities, also found via the web at http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/ssd/.
SECURITY, SAFETY AND THE STUDIO
The studio is an exceptional learning environment. Since it is a place for all, it necessitates the careful attention to the needs of everyone in it.
Please see me if there are any problems (music, visual pollution) that you are unable to resolve on your own.
All spraying of fixative, spray paint or any other substance should be done in the shop.
A note on safety and security: After hours and on weekends please keep the doors to the studio and especially the building locked and do not prop open building doors.