INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

Art Center College of Design, Department of Environmental Design, Spring, Summer 2001, Fall 2003

This class will...

- include the following:
sketchbook: 11x17 / make yourself / different papers
powers of ten exercises: 4 connected projects / from material to community
animal study: student research & presentation / animal habitats
slide lectures: survey of 20th cen. architecture and design / by instructor
reader: book of architecture and design readings / weekly discussions
research on designer: independent study throughout term / final
final portfolio: 11x17 / cumulative presentation of all course work

- introduce the essential formal vocabulary and breadth of scale in environmental design...

formal & material manipulation
object
image
openings
surfaces
space
structure
landscape
path
community

- show how environmental designers communicate, and provide a foundation in those skills...

in drawings:
diagrams
gesture drawings
sketches
perspectives
isometric drawings (plan, section, elevation and axon)
storyboards

in models:
material studies
massing models
site models
full scale prototypes

in photography:
collage
documentation of student work
photo exercises

exercises: power of ten
This expanding sequence of exercises will reveal the breadth of environmental design. The basic concepts and forms of communication in design will be introduced through working on a broad range of projects. Each exercise is separate. Most are connected.

(small)

01. material & form
take a container from the trash; study material & form, experiment, transform
(tin can, paper bag, plastic cup....)

02. object & utility
take experiments; design and build a functioning object
(any object that has a use...)

03. image & representation
take the object; 2d visual communication, make images & representations
(plan, elevation, collage, photo, gesture, sketch, diagram...)

(medium)

04. opening & void
take an activity & a person; make an opening for them
(a space to move through, let light in, provide view...)

05. the five senses
take the activity & person & opening; create environment for the 5 senses
(touch, smell, sight, sound, taste...)

06. space & enclosure
take the person & activity & environment; make an enclosure for them
(surface, protection, proportion, scale....)

(large)

07. community & context
select a "site" for the person and activity, study the place
(history, culture, maps, relationships, terrain, climate...)

08. structure & mass
take the person & activity & place, design a structure
(massing, solid/void, enclosure, connections & relationships, in/out..)

09. path & connections
take the deign; make a connection
(pedestrian, car, train, bike...)

10. landscape & vegetation
take the design; spread to the land
(artiface/natural, connection to the outdoors...

research on a designer:
On the first day of class each student will be assigned a 20th century environmental designer, artist or architect to study in depth throughout the term. You will be responsible for collecting books, articles, essays, biographies, images and information by and about this person and their body of work. You should set aside some time every week (or day) to read and study this material (i.e...have it in a pile by your bed to go over before going to sleep). By the end of the term you should a have a deep understanding of this person, their work and the meaning behind it. You should also develop your own personal insights, interpretations, and reactions. On the last day of the term you will be assigned an essay to write during class on this person. This environmental designer, artist or architect may include, but is not limited to:
alvar aalto
shigeru ban / tadao ando
marcel breuer
achille castiglione / ettore sottsass
pierre chareau / jean prouve
droog design / joop von lieshout
charles & ray eames
buckminster fuller
frank gehry
zaha hadid / greg lynn
donald judd
le corbusier
rem koolhaas
gio ponti / carlo mollino
mies van der rohe
eliel saarinen / eero saarinen
carlo scarpa
rudolf schindler / richard neutra
the shakers
gerrit rietveld / de stijl
robert venturi & denise scott brown

animal habitat research:
As a companion to our study of 20th century environmental design, we will also be looking at the shelters and structures that are made by animals. In these creations we will learn from their purity of manifested intentions, their honest use of materials with a true connection to land and site. The student will act as a reporter, going out to find information, images, stories, make conclusions, and report back to the class. Read as much as you can on the subjects and gather images that support and describe your findings. At the beginning of each Wednesday class a student will present their findings to the class. (THE INTERNET IS ONLY A PLACE TO START - you will have to go beyond what you find there!) Presentations should be around 20 minutes, which will be followed by questions and discussion. Topics may include, but are not limited to...
-weaver bird nest
-bower bird nest
-swallow nest
-termite tower
-beaver dam
-bee hive
-ant colony
-leaf-cutter ant nest
-hermit crab shell
-nautilus shell
-spider web
-water spider bubble
-coral reef
-trap-door spider hole
-mole den
-groundhog hole

some suggested reading:
Josef Albers
"Interaction of Color"
Reyner Banham
"Theory and Design and the First Machine Age"
Leonardo Benevolo
"History of Modern Architecture" books I and II
Deborah Berke and Steven Harris
"Architecture of the Everyday"
Jan Birksted
"Relating Architecture to Landscape"
Kent Bloomer and Charles Moore
"Body, Memory, and Architecture"
Geoffrey Broadbent and Charles Jencks
"Signs, Symbols, and Architecture"
Italo Calvino
"Invisible Cities"
Alan Colquhoun
"Essays in Architecture: Modern Architecture and Historical Change"
Le Corbusier
"Towards a New Architecture"
Kenneth Frampton
"Modern Architecture: A Critical History"
E.H. Gombrich
"Art and Illusion"
Karsten Harries
"The Ethical Function of Architecture"
George Hersey
"The Monumental Impulse: Architecture's Biological Roots"
Henry Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson
"The International Style"
Isabelle Hyman and Marvin Trachtenberg
"Architecture: from Prehistory to Post-Modernism"
Johannes Itten
"The Elements of Color"
Louis I. Kahn
"Conversations with Students"
Rem Koolhaas
"Delirious New York"
"OMA: S M L XL"
Agnes Martin
"Writings"
Lewis Mumford
` "Sticks and Stones: A Study of American Architecture and Civilization"
"The City in History"
Kate Nesbitt, editor
"Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture"
Cesar Pelli
"Observations: For Young Architects"
Steen Eiler Rasmussen
"Experiencing Architecture"
Colin Rowe
"Collage City"
Aldo Rossi
"The Architecture of the City"
Andrew Saint
"The Image of the Architect"
Denise Scott Brown, Robert Venturi and Steven Izenour
"Leaving Las Vegas"
Vincent Scully
"Architecture: the Natural and the Man Made"
Ben Shahn
"The Shape of Content"
James Steele
"Architecture Today"
Scott Swank
"Shaker Life, Art, and Architecture"
Manfredo Tafuri
"History and theories of Architecture"
Bernard Tschumi
"Architecture and Disjunction"
Robert Venturi
"Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture"
Andy Warhol
"The Philosophy of Andy Warhol"
Lawrence Weschler
"Seeing is Forgetting: The Name of the Thing One Sees: Robert Irwin"
Mark Wigley
"The Architecture of Deconstruction"
James Wines
"De-Architecture"
Frank Lloyd Wright
"The Future of Architecture"
mid-term review:

essay on designer:
Discuss your favorite project by the designer you studied this term. In your own words, write a personal response to this design. Keep in mind the issues, themes and concepts that were discussed in class, and that were guiding your design project (i.e. how openings, surfaces and spaces are made, spatial relationships to humans and activities, relationship to landscape and terrain, meaning of materials, form, movement.....etc.). You do not need to describe the project, unless you are making a specific point. You should offer your personal interpretation of the design, it's meaning, and the driving concept behind it (ie. what do you think this architect's project statement would be). Diagrams and sketches may help to support your ideas.