Contents & Contexts
In the second year of the education of an architect, the focus turns to human need, physical function and site condition as the three primary influences on the making of interior and exterior space. In turn, the interwoven relationship of these influences begins to describe architectural form. The processes by which design decisions are made in the second year studio are directly informed by the various issues of scale and proportion, site and context, material and light, and their impact on our understanding and perceptions of space and place.

Based upon the belief that design is both a public act and civic responsibility, this sequence explores the range of possibilities inherent in design disciplines that are at the same time private and communal. Oscillating between the various strategies of observation, analysis, and synthesis, each student explores the proposition of design as a holistic activity.

Studio Objectives:

1. Employ a variety of appropriate representational media to convey essential design elements as well as overall design strategies.
2. Apply basic organizational, spatial, structural and construction principles to the conception and development of interior and exterior space, building elements and components.
3. Further develop an awareness of theories and methods of inquiry that seek to clarify the relationship between human behavior and the physical environment.
4. Respond to the natural, built, and basic socio-cultural contexts embedded within a given site.
5. Begin to develop basic design responses that are grounded in a critical analysis and interpretation of these various and often disparate site conditions.

For examples of Second Year Studio work, feel free to explore the links under “More Information.”