Required Course
Credits 3-0-3 (3 semester hours)
Type of Course Lecture/Seminar
Instructors Varies
Prerequisites ARCH 6151 and ARCH 6152
Course Overview: The course focuses on the nature of critical positions as frameworks of inquiry and the process of formulating one with supporting arguments. Students are asked to situate and apply their critical position toward a defined research problem in the development of a thesis proposition.
In advance of the fall term, Master's Project faculty prepare a Master's Project Studio Research Framework, consisting of five parts: 1) a description of the research area and expertise of the faculty; 2) a description of a ‘current research problem’ within the context of the research area; 3) a description of research topics and questions, with references and readings; 4) a description of the study area and characterization of the range of individual sites suitable to the research problem; 5) a description of project types in size and complexity suitable to the research problem and study area.
The framework provides a common and comparative structure in setting forth the direction of research in each studio section, albeit with enough latitude to permit the range of student strengths to situate an individual thesis proposal, as well as to enhance the development of each Master’s Project studio.
Learning Objectives: The objective of the course is to gain a working knowledge and skill at constructing rigorous interpretations of theory, critical thinking, and verbal argumentation, analyzing the relationship between precedents of critical positions and related critical architecture, and constructing a general form of a thesis proposition.
Course Requirements:
1) an oral presentation that conveys the clarity of the thesis proposition, evidence of thesis research, and suitability of the project proposal.
2) a graphic presentation that illustrates the necessary qualitative and quantitative evidence of research to support the thesis.
3) a critical positions report that consists of three parts:
a) Thesis Proposition: A concise statement of the project thesis, including the context and nature of the design-research problem, a question in relation to the problem, a brief summary of the project intentions, site, program, and research. Quotes/references to authors, texts, projects, and/or buildings are typically integrated into the thesis abstract.
b) Thesis Research: Thesis research refers to any number of research types and methods (e.g. theory research, field research, applied research, etc.) generalizes and codifies knowledge for practical action or use, and that which helps challenge conventional ways of thinking about problems. The context and content of a thesis problem must be situated in relation to specific discourses.
c) Project Proposal: The project proposal consists of three inter-related parts: 1) project site documentation and analysis, including site selection, context, photos, dimensions, features, etc. and initial site strategies of the project; 2) project programming, including a program narrative, quantitative summary and programmatic strategies; 3) precedent documentation and analysis, including case studies that correspond to one or more dimensions of the project.
4) a bibliography organized with primary texts and secondary texts. The format of the bibliography is the Chicago Manual of Style.