1st ProofTitle: BA: Architectural Design
Job No: PD0710-67/3184Chapter 1 final_.qxd:layouts to chapter one 7/23/10 8:51 PM Page 32
The design studioChapter summaryThe principle behind design-studio projects in education
is that of ‘learning by doing’. It is a practical way to test
and strengthen design skills and an immediate way to
reinforce what is being learned.
The problem with this method is that it can be difficult for you
to predict what you need to learn. For example, you may
wish to develop the internal space of a building but are not
sure whether it should follow the external form, burst out
of it or express an entirely different form. What is the right
answer? You may imagine a few possibilities to explore that
seem in tune with the concept so far. This seems like a very
inefficient way of doing things: surely one answer must be
better than another. Probably, but you will only find out by
trying them. Once you have explored and begun to commit
to certain directions, this will lead you to make subsequent
moves in related directions.
If there is no such thing as one right answer to any
architectural problem, how do architects make decisions
about the right answer for their project? Knowledge gained
from past experience is certainly one part of the solution.
However, the architect must also use their critical judgement.
At this point, the individual’s value system helps them to
distinguish between competing demands: a beautiful and
radical ‘object-building’ may galvanise civic pride and
stimulate local regeneration but possible risks associated
with innovative construction methods may undermine the
client’s confidence to proceed with the project.
Publicity, feedback, criticism, dialogue and the sharing of
ideas are absolutely essential to architecture. They provide
a control mechanism for the quality and direction of unbuilt
work and proposals. They also maintain the debate about
what architecture could and should be. There will never be
consensus. On visiting different architects’ offices and
architecture schools it is clear that they are tremendously
diverse. Every design studio has its own sub-culture but this
is still linked, however tenuously, to the rest of the profession.1st ProofTitle: BA: Architectural Design
Job No: PD0710-67/3184
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