Architectural Design

1st ProofTitle: BA: Architectural Design

Job No: PD0710-67/4028

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Development and detail

The design project

The student experience

This section describes the activities of a group of architecture

students during the last six weeks of a 12-week design

studio project. At this stage they were expected to develop

their design for an outdoor theatre in detail.

Development

At the interim review each student presented their process

work (early sketch ideas and analysis) and orthographic

drawings of their proposal to scale and in context. This

allowed the visiting critics and fellow students to understand

the proposal, as well as the reasoning behind it, and to

give feedback. The discussion focused on ways to develop

successful ideas further; strategies to edit projects where too

many ideas were making them confusing; issues to consider

that had been neglected; and advice on whether to reject or

rethink ideas that were flawed.

Students were encouraged to increase the complexity

of their initial proposal. They tried different design tools

and used overlay paper to work on their existing drawings.

Design was interrogated at small scale (‘where should

the entrance to the building be located?’) and large scale

(‘what route will the audience take to arrive at the theatre?’).

Students were asked to develop and use their concept to

bring hitherto unconnected elements together.

Detail

Students’ ideas about materials had begun to form early

on through model making, drawing and from looking at built

precedents. They were also able to use their knowledge of

structures, environmental science and construction to help

to answer questions raised by their project (such as, ‘how

will it stand up?’). Each designer was encouraged to develop

certain areas in more detail, focusing on those that were

best understood and most closely related to the concept

(for example, ‘in a project about light, how should the

windows be designed?’). The resulting design detail informed

further design work on the rest of the building, which in turn

informed further decisions. It was also important to learn that

technology, which can be viewed as a constraint, also has

the potential to generate architectural concepts.

Model montage of tea house

Outdoor theatre for Romeo and Juliet

by Rodolfo Acevedo Rodriguez. In

order to best represent the reality of

the project on site before it has been

built, the designer montaged a model

on to site photographs.

Materials study

A Midsummer Night’s Dream,

by U Ieong To. The materials, their

quality, source and application have

been represented in this study.

Text

1st ProofTitle: BA: Architectural Design

Job No: PD0710-67/4028

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