MSc 3/4 Design Studio

AT HOME IN THE CITY

(Re)search for new concepts for dwelling

The graduation studio At Home in the City focuses on contemporary and future urban architecture on the scale of both the dwelling and the city.

Against the background of the changes of the urban pattern, of changing social patterns, emerging technologies and the urgent need for sustainable solutions in housing, we have to rethink and rework existing architectural concepts in order to enable city dwellers to feel At Home in the City. How to match the configurations of urbanization and architecture with the changing patterns of everyday life? How does one live between the places of work, home, school and consumption? These questions call for an investigation into new building typologies, for spatial explorations and programmatic variations, as well as for different ways of materialization and technical innovation.

As a location, Amsterdam is the experimental field of our studio. You may choose between several dynamic sites, which consist of new residential areas within the city as well as transformation of existing area.

In the first week of the semester there will be a workshop in which we elaborate the problematic of ‘At Home in the city’ on the background of the situation of Amsterdam today. We will visit Amsterdam and the sites. Lots of planned projects are stopped at this moment and the building spots ask for creative solutions.

Main studio issues

Density, typologies, identity and lifestyles, spatial explorations, transformation, mixed programmes, sustainability, new materializations, and new technical concepts

The studio offers space for students who aspire to develop new ideas and designs fitting to the city of Amsterdam as a place of transformations, for contemporary and future lifestyles in a globalizing world. Essential requirements are an interest and engagement in studying inspiring examples, spatial models, new materials and technical solutions to develop new ideas and designs for At Home in the City of Amsterdam.

At home in the city is an open invitation to explore and experiment, to try and make a promising leap forward in the housing design arena.

 

RESEARCH METHODS AND TUTORIAL

Research

Within the graduation studio of Architecture & Dwelling students undertake various kinds of research projects as to further deepen their design project, ranging from the classic plan analysis of historic and contemporary precedents, to the more speculative kind of research aimed at generating design proposals.

Main research topics

Research topics are related to the main issues of the design studio ‘At Home in the City’. Depending on the students’ fascinations these may range from studies into density, typologies, identity and lifestyles as well as topics related to the city of Berlin, such as historic and contemporary precedents, which make up the rich, architectural and urban legacy of the German capital.

Lecture series

Parallel to the studio and the students’ research work, there will be two lecture series during the first half of the semester: one general series called Research Methods, for the whole department of Architecture, and one specific tutorial, open only for studio participants.

The general lecture series RESEARCH METHODS (AR3A160) highlights various general aspects of scientific, architectural theory and research, while the studio tutorial (AR3A180) deals with urgent issues in the field of dwelling, among those being the mixing of functions, density in relation to public and private space, and lifestyle changes. Architects and researchers alike will present key cases to the seminar.

Assessment

The assessment of the students’ research work consists of three moments.

At the end of the first half of the semester you will present the final research results within the MSc 3 studio by way of a ppt presentation and booklet of your problem statement (AR3A180 - 3 ects), research report (AR3A170 - 6ects) and a separate essay (AR3A160 - 6ects). The studio supervisor defines the format of the research presentation as part of the final graduation presentation.

 

COURSE INFORMATION

Studio Coordinator is Birgit Jürgenhake: b.jurgenhake@tudelft.nl
Studio tutors are Birgit Jürgenhake, Dirk van den Heuvel, Paul Kuitenbrouwer and Karin Theunissen

Design Studio AT HOME IN THE CITY - code AR3Ad130-1 - 15 ECTS

Research Methods and Tutorial - code AR3A160/170/180 - 15 ECTS