If you copy, you will be caught and a mess will remain : the role of formal precedent in Design Studio

Abstract

It has been eight years, or nearly two generations of students, since the last classical studio was run at Unitec. In the six-week vertical studio, the students got a valuable addendum to their regular design studio education. The point of departure from contemporary studio is the absolute reliance on formal architectural precedent in the students’ design methodology and consequently, their final presentations. The primary learning objective was not necessarily how to design a classical building, but the experience of designing in a paradigm where explicit formal references were demanded, not as a starting point, but as an integral part of the design process. After the site analysis and understanding the functional and spatial requirements of the brief, every other decision the student makes could be – or at a beginner’s level, should be – informed by an architectural canon established 4500 years ago that has since spread to all continents. This paper reflects on an alternative approach of design studio teaching at the Unitec School of Architecture. As the only architecture school in New Zealand that has run a classical studio, it can be een as a point of difference with the other architecture schools, and indeed a confirmation of Unitec’s ‘real-world learning’ philosophy