4.2 STUDIO CULTURE POLICY


 

 

 

Design Studio Culture Policy

University of Oregon Department of Architecture

 (DRAFT August, 2006)

 

The first architecture school in the United States to abandon the highly competitive beaux arts model, the University of Oregon Department of Architecture champions a constructive, collaborative studio work environment. The 1923 University Catalog asserts the departmentπs emphasis on ≥honesty of thought and expression, and the stimulation of a spirit of cooperation.≤  We remain committed to this approach, one that simultaneously respects the intellectual freedom of individuals and the need for a congenial studio community. While the attitudes and aspirations of our community are diverse and responsive to the changing needs and circumstances of the architecture profession, our design studio culture policy reflects and affirms enduring principles of fundamental value.

 

Creative collaborative engagement
Studio learning should be rewarding, exciting, interactive, spirited, and joyful. Shared studio projects become common ground for open discussion and creative design explorations.  We encourage all members of the studio community to offer constructive criticism and exchange opinions, knowledge, techniques, and experiences. In the intermediate level of our studio sequence, students with different types and levels of experience are intentionally grouped together so they can both teach and learn from one another.

 

To support peer teaching and encourage a spirit of sharing, studios are graded on a pass/no pass basis only. This eliminates competition for grades and promotes a culture of mutual support and collaboration. Studio instructors conduct individual exit interviews with students and document their evaluations of each studentπs performance in objective written assessments that address both process and product with emphasis on the growth and development of student designers. Students have the opportunity to evaluate design studio faculty. Through this evaluation process, we promote honest communication while working to improve the success of future studios and the success of individual students and faculty members.

 

Every student admitted to the program has the opportunity to succeed, and, if successful, a guaranteed place in the program until graduation.  There are no gates or internal application processes designed to reduce the number of students graduating or limit any studentπs access to program completion. Success in the program is a personal responsibility. Students must meet all design studio performance expectations and take an active role in their own development as designers by maintaining a portfolio of design work and making efforts to respond to the feedback they receive from their studio instructors.
 

Sensitivity to context

We celebrate the architectπs responsibility and capability to improve human conditions and environmental quality. In the design studio we understand the context of our endeavors as complex, where physical, ecological, social, and cultural concerns demand acknowledgement, and where diverse stakeholders deserve a voice. Studio projects explore many kinds of places and building types while addressing the individual and collective needs of the people for whom architecture is created. With two campuses, one in Eugene and one in Portland, and opportunities for studios to travel beyond the region and internationally, we are committed to exploring approaches to architecture that make meaningful, appropriate contributions to diverse physical and cultural contexts.

 

Comprehensive design integration

In founding the School of Architecture and Allied Arts, Ellis F. Lawrence envisioned the study of architecture in close association with the study of related building arts. We remain committed to the highest standards of tectonics and beauty, to understanding how works of architecture are assembled, while continually exploring the meaning of craft in the context of increasingly sophisticated practices and technologies that characterize contemporary society. We are pragmatists and idealists, viewing design as a form of research, with innovation the consequence of tenacious studio exploration and continuous dialogue. We encourage intellectual inquiry as the basis for design exploration, and we seek design excellence without dictating a specific design aesthetic or ideology.

 

Our studio culture is based on a tradition where studio teaching serves as the primary means of integrating all the meaningful design issues--social and behavioral, cultural, environmental, site and context, technological, theoretical, economic, political, and professionalãnecessary for meaningful design solutions. At the University of Oregon all members of the architecture faculty contribute to design studio teaching and all areas of expertise have equal status in the design studio so that students are exposed to the diverse knowledge base of the faculty and can therefore develop a more comprehensive vision of practice.  We also value the lessons we learn and the contributions we make to the university community through design studios that undertake interdisciplinary collaborations.

 

 

Recommended design studio practices

 

Working in the Studio

We encourage that work take place in the studio during studio meeting times and, when possible, at other times when informal interaction among studio members can take place.  It is essential that studio participants respect the property of their peers and the university and maintain a professional work environment that supports the creative pursuits of all members of the studio.

 

Collaborative Design

We encourage design studios to include collaborative learning experiences that prepare graduates for professional teamwork.

 

Involvement with Others

We encourage the involvement of other disciplines, outside professionals, and client representatives who contribute knowledge and alternative perspectives to our design investigations. We also encourage students to take a design studio in an allied discipline and faculty members to consider team teaching design with colleagues from other programs at the university and at other institutions.

 

Integrating the Real and the Ideal

Studio investigations that draw from the conditions of particular sites and the needs of the people who occupy them help us to understand diverse constituencies and places in all their richness.  The department encourages approaches to design-based learning that engage students in meeting the needs of real communities and learning from the world.

 

Diversity of Approaches

We support a diversity of approaches to studio instruction and offer a broad range of studio experiences in our curriculum. Faculty teaching studios are encouraged to support student interest in diverse approaches to design, and students are encouraged to bring forward and take interest in approaches that are new or unfamiliar.

 

Sustainable Design

All studios, regardless of emphasis, are encouraged to incorporate methods for enabling students to address sustainable design.

 

Human Scale and Activity

We encourage studio projects that include the development of spaces of appropriate human scale that support clearly articulated human activities. Our concern is not only buildings but the spaces around and between them so as to ensure legibility and identity throughout the built environment.

 

Experimentation with New Methods and Media

We encourage speculative, innovative approaches to studio education as well as new design methods and media that may prove effective in addressing contemporary needs and concerns.

 

Involving GTFs and TAs in Studio Teaching

We consider graduate teaching fellows and teaching assistants to be important members of the design studio community. Many will become future design teachers. We encourage opportunities to involve them in various aspects of design studio education.

 

Challenging Every Student

The studio learning experience should challenge every student at an appropriate level supporting individual student strengths and helping to remedy weaknesses.

 

Time Management and Reasonable Workloads

As members of active learning communities, students taking studio are entitled to an appropriate balance between design studio and their other curricular and extra-curricular responsibilities.  Design studio education should address time management strategies that help students achieve success in all their endeavors. If studio meetings outside of scheduled class times are needed, they should be developed collectively with the consent of all members of the studio community and instructors of other courses that may be affected.

 

Interactive Reviews

We view reviews as learning experiences that foster an open two-way dialogue between students and reviewers with diverse perspectives. Students should be active participants in the reviews of their peers.  Faculty members who are new to the department are encouraged to experiment with the ≥Oregon review≤ format. (An Oregon review resembles a poster session in which all students simultaneously exhibit their work while invited reviewers meet with individual students or student teams at pre-arranged appointment times.  In this kind of review there are several scheduled critique discussions taking place concurrently, and students generally have more than one discussion over the course of the review.  Between their scheduled critiques, students visit the exhibits of other studios, participate in one anotherπs critiques, engage in informal discussions about projects, and present their work to visiting friends and professors.)

 

Academic Advising in Studio Exit Interviews

The exit interview is an opportunity for both student and faculty member to review the studentπs progress toward completing his or her degree programs and to develop an individualized strategy for addressing any weaknesses identified.

 

Maintenance of the Design Studio Culture Policy

This policy statement and the recommendations it contains will be reviewed periodically in open forums that invite the participation of all students and faculty members.