M’Arch Studio 1 Brief: Design is Research.
Studio Position
The studio will focus on an investigation of the spatial, material and compositional language of architectural design. The question of how we design, the choices we make and the languages through which we make those choices material will be central to our agenda.
Students will be asked to develop projects through formal and material exercises in which design and research are seen as synonymous. ‘Making’, in the form of large-scale pieces of architecture, will be an integral tool in an effort to ground architectural thinking in the act of design and its material expression.
Working initially without a traditional brief, we will develop architectural approaches at the scale of the detail, the facade, the plan and the decorative or symbolic surface. These formal and material investigations will be developed through a series of workshops taught by leading contemporary practitioners. The results of these workshops will be displayed publicly at a Work In Progress exhibition half way through the year.
In parallel with this exploratory work, students will be asked to identify sites on the Sussex coast for their main project proposals. The seaside, with its connotations of pleasure, escape and hedonism, will form the context for the development of rich and varied architectural languages.
Workshops
Each workshop will last one day and will aim to develop specific skill sets. The workshops will comprise:
1. Detail: Charles Holland
2. Order: Timothy Smith and Jonathan Taylor (Smith & Taylor)
3. Colour, Ornament and Decoration: Lara Lesmes and Fredrick Hellberg (Space Popular)
4. Character and Composition: David Kohn (David Kohn Architects)
Teaching Team:
Charles Holland and regular studio critic Holly Lang