R and D Studio: Analysis and Design of Urban Form

Content of Q1: Analysis and Design of City Form: Low Lands.

• Design Studio;

• Method workshops and seminars;

All information is presented in the Quarter Guide available on Bright Space.

Dealing and designing with the growing complexity of a city requires a good understanding of the basic structure and key urban elements and the ways they work.

Low Lands, the quarter 1 design studio of the Urbanism master track aims to develop students' critical reading, understanding and projecting of urban structure, form and functioning at different scales. Through a sequence of analysis and design exercises, students get familiar with the urban design language and the urban landscape's key structural components and fabrics. The studio approaches design with site sensitivity by emphasising the cultural values and environmental qualities of the specific place.

Around the globe, Low Lands are seen historically as places with the highest degree of urbanisation. Their highly dynamic landscapes and high level of exposure to the effects of climate change question historically developed urban centres and the idea of the urban project. The studio takes the condition of the Western part of the Netherlands as exemplary for such Low Lands to rethink forms and places of urbanisation and urbanity, the commons and public good.

The Research and Design Studio puts the following interrelated lenses central:
• the landscape and site;
• the settlement structure and urban typo-morphology;
• the spatial condition of the urban environment as a place of coexistence for society and natural processes, constantly (re-)shaping urbanity.

These perspectives on the design of the urban environment will be introduced and discussed in the lectures and workshops on History and Theory of Urbanism (AR1U121). The content of the lectures is a crucial input for the work in the Studio.

Students will analyse and compare the structure, form, and space of three Dutch places in this studio. These locations are each year related to one of the three main physical conditions in the Low Lands: coastal, riverine, and reclaimed land. Students work in groups of three-four with one tutor on one of the Low Land conditions.

Each student will work individually on an atlas and one to two design perspectives for one of the three places in the Low Lands. The atlas comprises the diachronic and synchronic spatial mapping of the functional and material layers across different scales for their chosen perspectives. The 3-4 students working on one place per tutor group jointly synthesise their design perspectives in a structure plan, thereby formulating future forms of inhabitation and urbanity in a designerly way.

Lectures, debates, and workshops support this quarter's individual research and design assignment. The complementary workshops enhance skills in critical thinking, representation techniques, and the formation of narratives and introduce legal guiding spatial plans.

The students' different products (atlas, projection, exhibition) require different working attitudes. The various forms of education activate the learning process and advance the level of knowledge, skills and academic attitude.