I. The Public Realm: Composition and Tectonics

1. Theme: Public buildings play a paramount role in the built environment: they organize and structure the city and act as points of orientation –not only due to their physical presence but also because of their important social, cultural, economic, political and symbolic role.

2. Practice: Within the theme of architecture, context and modernity, the Studios Public Realm address the contemporary meaning of the public domain as realm of (ex)change in an urbanized society, as ‘place where strangers meet’. Specifically, they focus on the question of how new architectural and urban models, typologies, programmes, and design strategies can be developed to meet a diverse and open society’s cultural, social and political needs in the beginning of the 21st century.

3. Method: The Studios Public Realm consider the architectural project as the basic unit for research and design. The architectural project is held to be the entity that reflects theoretical knowledge (savoir) and practical skills (savoir faire) and forming the working material and craft of architects.

The Studios Public Realm combine theoretical investigations into sociological and philosophical notions of the public realm with reflections upon the physical implications for public building. Panoply of research and design methods, as well as drawing techniques –ranging from experimental to more conventional, like typological, typo-morphological and plan analysis— is developed to address these issues.

II) Border Conditions and Territories

1. Theme: 
Architecture can be regarded as the discourse on space. In this context, borders are means to define space as well as one of the most important instruments that determine our perception of space. Borders can be physical, psychological, socio-economic, and/or political. An investigation into the specific characteristics of contemporary border conditions gives an insight into contemporary spatial practices, while simultaneously providing tools to question the positioning of our discipline.

2. Practice: the Border Conditions studio’s provide the means, environment, and dialogue necessary for students to pursue in-depth architectural investigations, while simultaneously encouraging critical reflection upon possible relations between developing projects and the contemporary questions of the discipline. The BC studios adopt a broad inclusive perspective toward the notion of design, with a strong emphasis on process-oriented (in contrast to object-oriented) investigations. The primary emphasis is on navigating a specific course while remaining open for unforeseen discoveries. This approach stresses the importance of projecting the design process into tectonic and spatial constructs, all of which form an important basis in the understanding of a project.

3. Method: In order to capture the complexity of contemporary urban border conditions and to relate them to the socio-political contexts in which they are situated, we will use tools and techniques of sampling, cataloguing, cartography and navigation. The map is a means to investigate the local (situated within the global) as a field in which various elements and forces on various scales exercise their influence. Mapping introduces a specific technique of urban analysis that engages the multiplicity of conditions that surround the architectural object. It also reveals different levels of complexities from conventional analytical architectural drawings. As such, the critical and operative function of mapping offers a typical spatial ordering that is developed through a system of notations.
 

The Relation between Research Portfolios and Design Studios

The research program determines the formulation of problems and design assignments of the Master studios 1, 2 and 3/4. The choice of the individual assignments within a collective site is preferably also connected to the fascination of students for current events. In the design studios research is carried out by small groups of students in order to achieve more depth and width. Offering the same themes, program and sites during a longer period of time offers the possibility for students to continue the research of their predecessors and to be able to truly develop new methods and insights.