ARCH 2010
The overall objective of ARCH 2010 is to introduce the American city as an opportunity for design and strategic planning as we enter a new renaissance of city life, revitalization, and design.
Course Name
ARCH 2010 | Introduction to Urban Architecture
Course Type
Foundation Studio 2
Instructors
Alex Wall (coordinator)
Manuel Bailo / Ryan Carbone / Charlie Menefee / Luis Pancorbo
Semester
Fall 2015
Institution
University of Virginia
The assumption of the studio is that architecture reacts to, and creates, the conditions of its urban context.
We will avoid the common design process of moving linearly between scales (from small to large, or large to small). Instead we will use a sinusoidal scalar process, where we will examine the city up close, then from afar, then zoom in again, and back and forth. The design process will be research-based and the tools of understanding will be drawings, models, and hybrid representations. The ultimate goal of the studio is to propose an urban architectural project that uses building and the urban landscape as catalysts for change within the city. The architectural proposal should be a strategic and thoughtful response to the previous research and urban design, and it should support public life within a densely layered environment.
The first part of the semester is organized around a series of projects that are designed to develop your ability to recognize and understand complex systems, energies and potential transformations for the city. These include interpretive analysis, synthesizing information, concept building and design strategies from which a final project can emerge. The main project will be sited in Lynchburg, VA; a city with a rich cultural and industrial past that provides a framework that is representative of current urban shifts taking place across the nation.