Elective Course
Credits: 1-12-5 (5 semester hours)
Type of Course: Architectural Design Studio
Instructors: Varies
Prerequisites: ARCH 4011
Course Overview
Fourth year design studios are comprised of two projects, each extending the full length of the semester. This allows each project to have the following two characteristics: 1) they are comprehensive, allowing components of research, design, development, and full presentation of the work to be developed; and 2) they are critical, allowing adequate exploration of the theoretical, programmatic, contextual, and material basis of the work, both through the studios and through the concurrent seminar format. The content of the two studios is differentiated, in the fall, by emphasis upon the generative role of construction, and in the spring, by the generative role of the urban context.
The fourth year studio sequence is optional, acting as one of the 10 semester hour "cluster" options that a fourth year student may elect as partial fulfillment of the Bachelor of Science degree. This sequence provides the context within which design skills and potentials of the student may mature in preparation for entry to a graduate professional program in architecture or may be broadened in preparation for alternative careers in allied fields. The studio sequence is offered at Georgia Tech and as part of the Paris study-abroad program.
Learning Objectives
Arch 4012 is an introduction to urban design as an important part of architectural theory and practice. It has three objectives: 1) to understand the role of the public realm, which defines and signifies the framework and relationships among buildings, sites, and uses and to develop a familiarity with the processes and vocabulary of urban design, planning, and development; 2) to be able to situate a building project in relationship to its surrounding context, with regard to an understanding of the relation between the public and private realms and with knowledge of fundamental urban building types; and 3) to broaden the knowledge of site design, including the influences of topography, infrastructure, zoning and subdivision regulations and environmental issues, for both buildings and exterior spaces.
This studio is comprehensive and consists of three parts:
- Research and analysis - generally the analysis of a specific place or urban district utilizing both quantitative and qualitative measures.
- Design of an urban framework - which defines the relationship of the public realm to the component parcels of the private realm; through physical characteristics and / or through regulatory controls.
- Specific design proposals within the framework - to test the framework and / or the interrelationship of multiple proposals within the framework
Course Requirements
Each design assignment includes explicit due dates and minimum requirements which must be met. Project presentation requirements include explanatory descriptions of the project (analytical and conceptual diagrams, axonometrics, models, site models, written texts) technical descriptions (site plan, plans, sections, elevations, construction details), and experiential representations (perspectives; color, shade-and- shadow, material studies). In addition, work is evaluated in terms of design process and methodology (which must be explicitly recorded) and in terms of the quality of execution. The course includes weekly seminars and lectures on issues of topical relevance for the design studio. When readings are assigned for the seminars, students are responsible for the readings and are expected to actively participate in the seminar discussions. At the end of each design project, students make public, oral presentations of their design work and engage in class wide discussion of the design approaches manifested in the work. Participation in these "juries" is required. At the end of each academic term, the design instructors formally review the compiled work of each student for that term for purposes of grading. Students are responsible for preserving their work (drawings, models, etc.) and organizing it in a design portfolio for purposes of this review. Students are given a written evaluation of their work both at mid-term and term-end. Attendance to all design studio sessions and seminars is required. Unexcused absences from more than three classes may result in a deduction in the course grade.