Architectural Technicities Design Studio

In the Architectural Technicities Design Studio we examine how humans relate to and transform their environments through technology, and how these relations transform humans, technology, and the environment in return. We refer to this relational process as technicity.

The design studio investigates how different modes of urban development correspond to radically different architectural technicities, and how these produce different urban subjects. In our studio we will focus on architecture as a mechanism that produces culture and ideology, reverting the conventional understanding that sees architecture as a product of culture.

The studio complements architectural and urban methodologies that emphasize typological assumptions by bringing architectural discourse into the domains of philosophy, media theories and affect theories.

Every academic year the specific themes and design assignments vary, but they always depart from a focus on action, instead of program or functional requirements. A focus on action foregrounds the potentials of architectural, technological and environmental agencies that are involved in design processes.

The studio considers the material aspects of theory as practice. The emphasis is on experimentation and a 'hands-on' approach to architectural problems. Students who are curious and interested in exploring unfamiliar themes, pose non-obvious questions and raise innovative architectural problems will find this elective design studio the ideal setting to experiment with ideas, concepts, and methods that will help them to render their design practice and skills more agentic and meaningful.

This MSc2 elective design studio is assessed with:

• midterm presentations (analysis: research, argument and conceptualization)

• final design project presentations

• studio report (multiple media are allowed)

The course will offer formative feedback through weekly interactions with tutors and experts.

This course will be evaluated via two moments of summative assessments:

• midterm presentation | analysis, research, argument and conceptualization | assessment will be offered as formative feedback and cumulative assessment using qualitative indicators (insufficient, sufficient, good, excellent)

• final presentation | assessment will be given numerically (5-10) | marks are gradients of learning objectives and course rubrics

The deliverables that will be assessed are:

Studio Report: collective (team) compilation booklet documenting both, group work and individual research. Multiple media formats are welcome.

Final Presentation: individual or team projects, presentations and exhibition material.

Repair

The design project is awarded a grade that is a whole or half number between 1.0 and 10.0. Students pass the course with a 6.0 or higher. With a grade below 6.0: students who presented assessable work during the course are allowed to do a repair to change the grade into a ‘pass’. The repair is unsupervised and needs to be completed within 2 weeks after the end of the course. When the repair is unsuccessful, the student needs to follow the entire course again.