ADVANCED DESIGN STUDIO ONE

I have to say that one my favorite experiences in college is learning from multiple professors, each of whom has a different perspective on the same subject. This allows students to interpret and analyze various ideas and views, and adopt some as their own. Advanced Design Studio One is a great example of a multi-disciplinary course. The class was structured in a way which made me think about design, not as a single entity, but rather a diverse intellectual process.

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We as designers have the ability to manipulate the built environment- space which is used by many. Thus, architecture must be viewed in a much broader scope; we must realize that our work will have a direct impact on people’s lives. Advanced Design Studio One taught me that architecture must be designed with a few key concepts in mind; they should always include humanism, contextualism, and environmentalism. The class itself was divided into a series of tasks, all of which added and built upon the last. Through these exercises we closely looked at planes, light, shadow, pattern, color, texture, procession, recession and site. Although these are all notions learned early in our architectural education, they served as a reminder on how important they truly are.

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The final task was that of an adaptive reuse project. We were prompted to adapt an existing handball court in Detroit’s historic Palmer Park. Working closely with the parameters that the organization “The People for Palmer Park” provided, we designed a multi-use community center. The building program called for an outdoor amphitheater, residence studio, catering kitchen, public and private restrooms, gallery space, and a few community classrooms. What I took most from the class is that architecture is timeless, and that which was once beautiful can easily be adapted, and reused.