Objectives and competences
The aim of the course is to achieve a critical attitude in the understanding of public buildings and space. In the available time of the seminar, on the basis of a specific project task, students create a comprehensive author's architectural design of a more demanding public building, which includes the user's requirements, specific conditions of the space, basic technical and legal frameworks, and achieves the developed architectural expression
Content (Syllabus outline)
The course focuses on public buildings and examines their future and role in the built environment by presenting new spatial formulas, programmatic articulations, structural and material expressions. The course puts public buildings in the foreground, which, in the role of realizing socially significant factors, improve the quality of life and act as city catalysts. The course thematizes the understanding and meaning of existing typologies and explores their development in new architectural manifestations such as hybridity, density and diversity.
In the phenomenon of abandonment of monofunctional public buildings, when buildings with dominantly oriented functions disappear, course deals with the study of the interaction between different domains, such as – cultural and commercial, individual and collective, private and public, with the aim of fulfilling the ever-increasing need for hybrid forms of public and semi-public functions. The design of mixed typologies and the inclusion of public space creates a wide range of spatial solutions that students test in their projects, such as hybrid structures, social condensers, flexible prototypes.
The intertwined relationship between economic, cultural and formal factors determines the design of public buildings, the course responds with new spatial solutions that support flexible programs, enable functional diversity, encourage productivity and seek climate-resistant solutions. The process in finding solutions is based on testing and pursuing methods and creative design. It includes theory and practice, analysis and imagination as inseparable components and as a means to assist in the design and development of architectural ideas. Research is a form of design, and design is a form of research.
The course runs for one semester and includes individual and/or group project work. It deals with the holistic approach of the project development, in the introductory part, from the analysis of the space, the determination of the urban components, the analysis of the context. In the central part, students develop a project on the basis of a project assignment, and through the design process they research the shape of public buildings. The final part is followed by the concretization of the project solution and the presentation of the project.
The final project is created at the level of conceptual design or competition project, which includes the following parts:
- written explanation of the project
- explanatory diagrams, schemes, architectural drawings, collages, etc.
- situation plan M 1:500,
- floor plans, sections and facades M 1:200,
- typical facade section M 1:20
- 3D
- model in appropriate scale
The final project is concluded with a public presentation. Submitted in an A3 folder and on a 70x100cm poster. The model is made according to the mentors' instructions.
Learning and teaching methods
Individual studio work is accompanied by lectures and site visits that illuminate the content of thematic spheres and their meaning, as well as by individual presentation of initial ideas, working versions and final projects, discussed by other seminar participants
Intended learning outcomes - knowledge and understanding
After completing the course, the student will be able to:
- identify four basic groups of criteria that define good architecture
- explain the division of labor and the role of the architect in the interdisciplinary process of architectural planning
- develop and design a consistent architectural part of a more complex building project
-evaluate his/her project and compare it with other students' projects
- accept architectural planning as his/her personal interest and social engagement
- act non-conflict, responsibly, ethically and in accordance with his own beliefs
- imitate the established ways of graphic/spatial and verbal presentations of an architectural project
Intended learning outcomes - transferable/key skills and other attributes
Transferable / Key Skills and other attributes:
The ability to accomplish a comprehensive project in a limited time.
The skill to use the representative techniques on a real case (written description, 2D drawing, 3D rendering, model making).
The ability of a clear, structured, professional and attractive oral and graphic presentation of own work and the ability to defend it by arguments.
Readings
– Plowright, P.: Revealing Architectural Design, Methods, Frameworks and Tools, Routledge, London and New York 2014
– Frampton, K.: Modern Architecture, A Critical History, Thames&Hudson, London 2007
– Venturi, R.: Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture, MOMA, New York 1979
– Pallasmaa, J.: Oči kože. Arhitektura in čuti, Studia humanitatis, Ljubljana 2007
– de Bono, E.: The Use of Lateral Thinking, Penguin Books, New York 1967
– Koestler, A.: The Act of Creation, first published Hutchinso & Co 1964
– Moussavi, F in Kubo, M.: The Function of Ornament, Harvard University, 2006
– Schittich, C.: Building Skins, Birkhäuser, Basel 2006
– Steadman, P.: Building Types and Build Forms, Matador, Leicestershire 2014
– Revija Detail
Prerequisits
Basic knowledge in Architectural design
Additional information on implementation and assessment Type (examination, oral, coursework, project):
- seminar project
- oral and graphic presentation
- collaboration in the study proces
