This studio aims to deepen the students understanding of the relations between man and space and broadens the interpretations and design possibilities of spaces and their qualities. The studio’s approach emphasizes design as a multistage process and prioritize the creation of space from elaborated concepts to the specific and intended spatial experiences.
Drawings and model making are the fundamental investigative tools of the design process and are the best conveyors of the students’ thoughts and their critical interpretations.
Two exercises are proposed: a short exercise researching an architectural precedent and a longer project targeting the design of a medium-scale project.
From a preset list of canonical projects, each student explores in depth one chosen interior design precedent and unveils the main spatial concepts and theories used as well as the design solutions and materials found. The resulting study is represented in drawings and a large scale sectional model.
A guest house is envisioned in a decaying building near Beirut’s old light house (Al Manara). Through the design process each student pursue a critical and personalized point of view from the observation and documentation of the site to the analysis and interpretation of the location’s specificities. These culminate in the realization of a functional interior space that reflect the student conceptual intentions. At the project’s core is an understanding of space as oscillating between private and public. The boundaries imposed are minimally permeable and flexible and provoke a reflection on the relation with the surrounding society and environment.