Unfinished Work

Last studio, students addressed the question of knowledge space, and how such spaces facilitate the generation and dissemination of information. The interest of the studio was as much about the approach to design, and how surprise, repetition, proliferation and systems thinking can open up new opportunities and generate new design outcomes.
 
Our research agenda will broaden this and we will look at the relationship between architecture and emerging modes of production. Drawing from experiences in technology companies, professional service firms, communications agencies and other practice based organizations, this studio and research agenda will explore how changing ideas about work alter the demands and performance of space.
 
Students will select a new method of production (eg. iterative development, rapid prototyping, co-creation, agile approaches, design thinking) that is reshaping the work environment. Case studies will look at how these models alter the ways in which people work, communicate and solve problems. Tandem research will explore the impact of emerged and emerging work models, and their concentration in ‘knowledge cities’ (Barcelona, Bangalore, San Francisco, for example). The end product will be the visual representation of the production process as it applies to a singular building program, and the design of a working environment that encompasses the principles, values and attributes of the new method studied.
 
Research and student work will culminate in a book about how architecture can facilitate and respond to emerging ideas about work in this inventive economy.

 
Schedule:
This class will meet on an irregular schedule.  Studio will meet Thursdays and Fridays every other week.  Additional crits will be held as needed.