This website contains information about the second-year design studio at Iowa State University. ARCH 201 is the first studio of the professional B.Arch program.

For more information about our work please navigate the links above.

Overview

This semester we will explore architectural design through studio projects that focus on the issues of human need, the environment, and the elements of architecture. You will learn about the importance of research and analysis, design conventions, and representational strategies.

We will introduce the ‘site’ as a fundamental design parameter and the ‘environment’ as a concept that includes not only the site but also the larger physical, social, and cultural contexts in which we build. This interdisciplinary approach to design goes back to ancient times before architecture as a discipline became codified into a sanctioned contemporary design practice.

When we think about the production of architecture, we must take into account not only purpose or function, materiality, and production processes but also such issues as climate, physical conditions of a site, the status of political and social institutions, historical memories and traditions, the client’s or institution’s motive for commissioning the work, as well as opportunity and initial cause for the work. Finally your own ability and individual character are also quite important. Given the multiplicity of influences on design, we expect your studio work to engage with the complexities of these interrelated forces that generate your concepts and ideas and ultimately lead to a proposal.

During the semester we will place special emphasis on representational strategies of design conventions, since these are the fundamental building blocks you will need to employ as a designer. Therefore the studio and the Design Communications course ARCH 230 are coordinated, and ARCH 230 is conceived to support your studio work as much as possible. The other required courses, ARCH 221 and ARCH 241 are also coordinated with studio (some content and test-taking synchronization), but tend to follow their own internal logic of content delivery. This does not mean that they are unrelated or that any course is more important to your overall development than any other. You are responsible for integrating what you learn in all your classes into the work you do in the design studio.

The pedagogical strategy for the studio involves an incremental approach to design. The semester consists of two main projects joined by a shorter intermediary transition phase that follows our fieldtrip to Kansas City in September. In the first project, the Precedent Study and Analysis you will research an existing building and learn to create from that information a physical model (Phase One), and develop vertical and horizontal sections as well as a series of diagrams using existing drawing conventions (Phase Two). After the completion of Project 1, we will visit Kansas City where you will gather information for the transitional phase. This intermediate project will teach you how to represent an existing design based on your own experience of a complex space, in this case the Nelson Atkins Museum and its Steven Holl-designed addition, the Bloch building, www.nelson-atkins.org. The final project, where you have to create your own design using the skills developed in the first part of the semester, involves the design of a house at the ISU Horticulture Research Station north of Ames.