Hi Chris,
How do you go about costing compared to other courses?
Studios are an expensive way of teaching - public purse and all that.
Cheers,
Terrry
-----Original Message-----
From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related
research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Chris
Brisbin
Sent: Saturday, 5 April 2008 9:58 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Teaching and Research in/for/through the Design Studio : : The
Scholarship of Unitisation
Dear listers,
I have a query that I am not sure is best posted on this list, but hopefully
the collective knowledge pool of the list might be able to steer me in the
right direction... ; )
Architectural education within Australia is undergoing, in some instances,
dramatic and fundamental change as a result of the wholesale introduction of
professional coursework Masters programs across the country in lieu of
traditional 5x year undergraduate bachelor degree structures. The emerging
model being a 3-2 or 4-1 Undergraduate Degree to Masters ratio. This is
intended to bring Australia into line with other institutions in the US and
Europe and reflecting the goals and ideals of the Bologna accord.
This cultural and structural shift has provided us at QUT with a critical
opportunity to re-evaluate the content and structure of our teaching within
the undergraduate and postgraduate design courses. As I am sure you can all
empathise, there are very few opportunities in which to affect any
substantive changes to existing educational structures without sufficient
external agency driving the change. As a prelude to this moment of critical
reflection, staff teaching in the Third year Architectural Design Studios at
QUT began to experiment in laboratory like studio settings. Building upon
the existing curriculum, these design studios were built upon staff research
expertise, offering a series of selective design research projects that each
student applies to based upon their own interests. It provides a
foundational learning vehicle for undergraduate education whilst also
providing an effective vehicle through which to advance the expertise of the
theme leader through the processes and outcomes of the ŒSelective Design
Studio¹ project. It builds upon, and strengthens, staff expertise providing
students with an opportunity to be informed by cutting edge research, whilst
simultaneously providing them with a diverse range of educational
experiences that reinforce the School of Design¹s established research
domains; Sustainable Systems and Design Tools.
At QUT the School of Design consists of Architecture, Industrial Design,
Interior Design, and Landscape Architecture. Although the change in pedagogy
is restricted only to the Architectural discipline at this stage, we are
considering a wholesale change across the entire school to allow more
opportunities for inter-disciplinary studios for students, and for potential
inter-disciplinary research for staff through these studios.
One of the major challenges of this proposition is to address the apparent
confusion that exists between design disciplines as to what constitutes
design research; what it is, and what its scholarly outcomes might be.
According to L. B. Archer, ³Design Research is a systematic inquiry whose
goal is knowledge of, or in, the embodiment of configuration, composition,
structure, purpose, value and meaning in man-made things and systems.²
Design Research accepts as a keystone assumption that the act of designing
itself is a form of research such that processes and methods can be
formulated, understood, and acted upon. The premise being that design is a
research activity in which outcomes, based on a research question or
hypothesis, can be clearly linked to research methods, processes and data.
In some instances the design [as artefact] may be the outcome of research
experimentation requiring an exegesis on the wider implications of the work,
in other cases research enquiry through design [as process] may need
documenting and reflecting upon relative to the practise of practice in
order to validate it as research. In this way research is not restrained to
ideas and concepts formed through text and language, but is also concerned
with making and experiencing directly through Œdesignerly¹ activities within
the design studio and within design practice. Blah, blah, blah...
None of these issues are necessarily new to any of you, however there is
emerging friction in the school between some of the design disciplines whom
are unwilling to even engage in dialogue about what the potential benefits
that this emerging pedagogical model might provide. They have fairly
entrenched, some might say dogmatic, approaches to design activity, and as a
result, design research. I genuinely want this endeavour to be an inclusive
and rigorously debated proposal that brings the disciplines together through
a common vision of design, but I only have first hand knowledge of how this
model has been instigated within my own discipline of Architecture. There
are a number of design/architecture schools around the globe that use a
similar pedagogical structure to the one I am suggesting, often referred to
as Œunitisation¹. Institutions such as RMIT, the Bartlett, and the AA to
name but a few. One of the primary benefits that I see in the ŒSelective
Design Studio¹, or through models informed by the Œunitisation¹ model, is
the advancement of research and the generation of new knowledge as key
components to its structure. It directly encourages the development of
emerging researchers and research questions that will hopefully catalyse a
whole new generation of design researchers and design academics.
So what¹s my question to the list ?
I am aware of Œunitisation¹ being used in the Fine Arts, Landscape
Architecture, Architecture, and Interior Design at a variety of institutions
around the world. I am wondering what experience members of this list have
had with Œunitisation¹? Are there any other design disciplines out there
that are also using a Œunitisation¹ model for teaching and research ? If so,
where, how, and why?
Regards,
: : c h r i s b r i s b I n : :
B. Des. Studies, B. Architecture [ hon I ]
Lecturer in Design [ Architecture ]
Doctoral Candidate of the ATCH Research Group UQ [
architecture/theory/criticism/history ] http://www.architect.uq.edu.au/atch/
Research Member of the AMDM Research Group QUT [ arts/media/design/modernity
]
personal web site
http://web.mac.com/christopherbrisbin/
s-architecture web blog
http://s-architecture.blogspot.com/
downloadable e-print publications
http://eprints.qut.edu.au/view/person/Brisbin,_Christopher.html
[ postal ]
School of Design
Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering Queensland University of
Technology
2 George Street, Brisbane 4000
[GPO Box 2434]
CRICOS No. 00213J
[ e ] [log in to unmask]
[ p ] +61 7 3138 2903
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