Design Studio Spring 2022 - Informal Learning Spaces II

Next to Studio Altstetten, this spring the NEWROPE Chair is also organising another design studio in collaboration with the Chair of Architectural Behaviorology of Prof. Momoyo Kaijima. Titled 'Informal Learning Spaces II', the studio builds on the experiments and insights that were generated in the previous semester in the context of Studio Informal Learning Spaces.

Teaching and learning methods are evolving. The complexity of our lived reality demands new sets of skills and competencies to be integrated in education, especially in architecture, which is changing from a competitive model based on individual authorship to a complex, interdisciplinary challenge. Real-world problems urge universities worldwide to invest in pedagogical approaches that support exchange and reflexive learning, i.e. constant self-reflection based on our own experiences and positions.

Experimenting, testing and taking strong, sometimes diverging positions need Safe Spaces that offer professional and emotional stability to turn confrontations and discussions into productive dialogues. These include informal spaces that invite a diversity of uses, where students and staff meet, exchange and inspire each other. In order to precisely integrate collaboration, self-management, positionality and collective evaluation into the teaching and learning methodology, we need spatial configurations that enable and promote diverse and flexible behavioural settings. For this reason, we collectively aim to transform and integrate informal learning environments in three existing situations at ETH Zürich.

In our second semester, we will build on the previous work on all three learning environments of ETH and develop the spatial interventions according to the respective needs, spatial conditions, as well as regarding the specific processes of change.

A) The first phase of the studio will be about getting acquainted with the 3 sites, about a critical assessment of the work done in the previous semester, and developing the research on the 3 sites into a further level of understanding.

B) The second phase is about the design of both the process and the spatial interventions in all 3 sites. Students will develop adequate formats to communicate co-creative processes of change, while simultaneously testing interventions in 1:1 scale on site

C) The third phase is about translating the research material and spatial intervention into a Research Report, finalizing the design proposals, and creating a collective exhibition in the studio space.

– Announcement
– Design Studio FS22
– 22 February - 01 June 2022
– Studio team: Prof. Momoyo Kaijima and Prof. Freek Persyn, Grégoire Farquet and Charlotte Schaeben
– ONA, Neunbrunnenstrasse 50, 8093 Zürich
– Contact: farquet@arch.ethz.ch, schaeben@arch.ethz.ch