Architectural Design

1st ProofTitle: BA: Architectural Design

Job No: PD0710-67/4028

Chapter 3 final (3.3)_.qxd:layouts to chapter one 7/26/10 8:45 AM Page 122

The design project

Initial ideas

The student experience

During the first six weeks of the 12-week design studio

project, the students were asked to develop the client brief

for an outdoor theatre and to analyse the site. Their response

to this generated initial ideas that were developed into sketch

design proposals.

Initial ideas

At the beginning of a project it is necessary to develop the

brief and understand the site while also searching for ideas

that will provide the basis for an architectural concept. The

students were asked to make a small stage-set model of the

site and place their chosen Shakespeare play in that location.

By choosing a play the students were able to introduce an

element of their own interests as designers. This task linked

the available factors that could form the basis of an emerging

architectural concept: the brief, the site and the designer’s

own sensibility. By finding a concept that is relevant to the

constraints and possibilities of the project, the designer is

able to turn these factors into something positive that will

also help them to choose from the multiplicity of possible

directions at the initial ideas stage.

Without a willingness to think the unexpected it is very

difficult for a designer to generate creative ideas and test the

potential and ambition of the project. Some students enjoy

the multiplicity of possible design directions and generate

many creative proposals (but can find it difficult to commit to

an idea when deadlines loom). Other students find this stage

uncomfortable and this spurs them on in the search for a

brilliant solution that they are satisfied with (but may need to

reject later on in favour of a better one, having worked hard

on the original solution).

Students were encouraged to record and reflect on their

design decisions; each designer began to experiment with

different design methods and tools such as diagrams,

modelling and film making in order to develop their initial

ideas into design proposals. At the interim review, students

presented process work and showed the proposal to scale

in context. This was an important opportunity for students

to recognise the potential of their project to develop fully

through further iteration.

right:

Journey model montage

Outdoor theatre for A Midsummer

Night’s Dream, by U Ieong To. This

early sketch model, describing an

idea for the journey through the

building, has been montaged on

to a conceptual drawing describing

the sound and atmosphere of

a performance on site.

Text

1st ProofTitle: BA: Architectural Design

Job No: PD0710-67/4028

Chapter 3 final (3.3)_.qxd:layouts to chapter one 7/26/10 8:46 AM Page 122