Teaching and Experimenting with Architectural Design

316 EAAE no 35 Teaching and Experimenting with Architectural Design: Advances in Technology and Changes in Pedagogy

Introduction

This paper suggests a novel framework for teaching architectural design by investigat-
ing a graduate design studio at MIT in which sophisticated digital tools were employed.
Form, which was the central concern of the studio, was not understood as a decon-
textualized abstract entity, but rather as an object that is shaped by a multiplicity of
fields. In critique of the contemporary digital design culture that privileges abstract
form making, the studio aimed at making students more aware of the parameters that
control the form generation process. The notion of “high performance” was used as
a vehicle to investigate the topic of the studio.
This paper will be divided into three sections that correspond to the process of
design generation and evaluation used within the studio environment:
The first section illustrates the pedagogical framework that was followed along
with the digital tool-sets that were developed and used.
In the second section, I will describe one of the student’s early exercises and final
project. The student whose work is presented in this paper is Becca Edson.
Finally, in the third section, I will evaluate the success of the pedagogical approach
undertaken by the studio in terms of a) the student’s engagement with the tools and
the program and b) a critical evaluation of the final projects to assess the goals of
the studio.

High Performance

"High performance" has long become a ubiquitous expression used in the context of
both cultural production and consumer goods including the design of sports equipment
and apparel, vehicles and engines, hardware and software, materials and methods,
stocks and bonds, etc. The notion of high performance is challenging within a design
mentality as it promotes the maximization of output along with the minimization of
resistance; maximum control along with minimum risk. It responds to both variables
and consistencies, incorporating variation along with continuity. It seeks to establish
balance between rigidity and flexibility, to harness opportunity while diminishing
weaknesses, and to transform liabilities into assets. High performance is the optimiza-
tion of redundancy in order to render it no longer redundant.
One of these objects of high performance is the bicycle helmet which responds
to the different criteria of aero-dynamics: structure, weight, ventilation, ergonom-
ics, as well as branding and aesthetics. The result is an articulated but non-uniform
object sculpted as each different criterion changes across the surface and volume of
the helmet. Consequently, changing any one criterion will impact all of the others.
To increase the impact strength, for example, may require the addition of material
or new ribs that would then adversely impact ventilation or the aerodynamics and
necessitate further volumetric counter-manipulations until a new form with the desired
“balance” is achieved.