Abstract:

Getting started in the architecture studies requires hard work on both students` and teachers` side. Students have to get used to a certain way of understanding the surrounding world and to develop the specific skills to do so. On the other hand teachers have to design this process by constantly searching the best ways and methods to achieve their goals. The first year design studio is the place where the guidance takes place, while developing small scale projects. Students are taught to observe the context, analyze it and design architectural objects in harmony to their environment. When dealing with the natural context, objective investigation is useful but usually not enough. It takes a lot of sensitivity to understand the full value of a place and to be able to increase it through architecture without altering its character. To be able to do this, a series of exercises in the Form Study Studio have been designed to help students develop their design skills. The assignments based on representation techniques used in the history of art gave students the opportunity to practice different ways of representation, to play with light and color in two and three dimensional works. The article analyzes these exercises from the draft of their requirements to their outcomes focusing on the relation with the design studio goals.

Keywords:

Architecture, design, experiment, study, form, students.