OPEN DESIGN ACADEMY II – potentials of creative educational environments in Paris
Continuing on the subject of creative learning environments, the summer term design studio aims to research and develop an OPEN DESIGN ACADEMY in order to demonstrate the potential of architecture for interdisciplinary creative learning. A site in Paris will serve as a testing ground to facilitate a change in thinking in regard to the typology of an open educational institution for art, architecture and design.
The world is changing rapidly and the design profession is transforming with it. The fields of design are required to cope with perpetually changing environmental, social, technological and economical realities. The design education and its environment should therefore provide a suitable framework for the multitude of creative responses.
Furthermore, the austere specialisation of creative professions has drastically limited conceptual thinking and design education during the last decades. The OPEN DESIGN ACADEMY aims to return to understanding design similar to the mid-Century approach promoted by Milanese architect Ernesto Rogers - who sees the role of the designer stretching "from the spoon to the city" - articulating the desire and devotion of many architects and designers to cross scales and disciplines.
The programme aims to dissolve the disciplinary boundaries of architecture, art and design and therefore calls for architectural proposals with the capacity to evoke specific spatial experience, stimulate participation and spark creative interaction among the variety of users.
The research of existing historical and contemporary art and design institutions will set the grounds to perceive and understand how creative educational environments evolve and interact not only with the creative life of students and faculty members, but also with the wider public. This will provide guidance in order to propose an improved typology for an interdisciplinary educational institution for art, architecture and design that weaves into the public fabric.
Design experimentation and intensive research will merge the explicit concern of spatial organisation and materiality with the socio-political potential of its architectural form through a large scale city-like educational structure transcending the notion of building on a currently empty site close to the notorious rim of the Paris – Périphérique.
The initial research of existing university facilities dedicated to creativity will be expanded with an excursion to Paris in April, including a visit to the office of Lacaton Vassal Architects. These experiential explorations will focus on atmospheres for creativity with the potential to challenge the architectural typology of the design academy. Material that has been assessed and acquired during the Open Design Academy course of the winter semester 2018/2019 will serve as a foundation. Specialists and students of the last semester will share their knowledge and experiences with us in discussions. Following questions will be posed during the semester and in depth: how can architecture influence pedagogy? How does architecture form a certain creative person? How do these typologies communicate with the urban context; are they intimate and secluded, or open and exchange-inducing typologies? How do they interact with the urban fabric and which sociopolitical identity do they seize?
In parallel to the conceptual and structural design-process, the development of spatial qualities and certain atmospheres that correlate with specific pedagogical concepts or proposals will play a vital role. The architectural design will be developed and presented intensely using models, plans and images.
