Design and Prototyping Studio

This course forms the main design track in the minor, it runs during the full semester. Students work in groups on the main design assignment.

In the Design and Prototyping Studio course students explore the possibilities for dynamic, interactive spaces in which people and environments engage in a mutual relationship with each other. The course structure is built around a group project assignment of an interactive social space, consisting of autonomously operating intelligent building components and smart products forming an architectural ecosystem.

In order to design and engineer successful interactive environments it is necessary to integrate knowledge of different disciplines in order to address not only technological, but also cultural, social, structural and aesthetical aspects of such systems that are all inherently interdependent on each other. Considering buildings to be dynamically performing entities, engaging multiple users and external factors in interactive exchange of information means that architecture has to be treated as a complex system.

Therefore students from different disciplines work together in multidisciplinary groups that design, produce, and deploy unprecedented interactive spatial installations. In this course students are encouraged to formulate challenging design visions. Those visions are subsequently realized and tested in form of robust, fully operational and full-scale prototypes. In process of building the prototypes the student will acquire practical knowledge needed to undertake this challenge. Specialists from all involved fields provide professional guidance. In addition the student gets direct, hands-on access to cutting-edge technologies provided by affiliated educational and commercial partners. This knowledge ranges from creative design strategies through project management skills to technical and technological means of physically constructing an interactive structure.

Work is going to be assessed on overall group grade. Apart from the three-weekly bodycheck, an intermediate evaluation will take place at the end of the first quarter. Final evaluation will take place at the end of the semester and will take into account earlier intermediate evaluations. Throughout the process the group creates posts on the blog summarizing the work and achievements including representative images or video.

Assessment is based on the quality of the teams output (e.g., design, report, presentation) and their group processes (e.g., ability to meet deadlines, contribute fairly, communicate effectively). When considering the quality of the prototype construction, use of materials, level of detailing and finesse, use of technology (both hardware and software and use of media) contribute to the grade.