Drawing structures - Docta Manus

AR-408 / 4 crédits

Enseignant(s): Baur Raffael, Fernandez-Ordoñez Hernandez David Carlos, Guaita Patricia

Langue: Anglais

Withdrawal: It is not allowed to withdraw from this subject after the registration deadline.

Summary

The Unit will introduce drawing as the key tool for communication between engineers and architects, and as a mediator between construction and the student. Through drawing, we will analyze selected structural projects that embody an exemplary interaction between space and structure.

Content

Drawing constitutes a very powerful and critical tool of conceptual design. Drawing constructs thought, it acts as a communication interface between the work and the mind and between different disciplines; it is the most powerful language of communication in the working together between architects and engineers.

The UE Drawing Structures will introduce the basic drawing techniques (sketch, plan, section, elevation,axonometry). Based on these techniques, we will further investigate analytical drawing methods capable of exploring structural concepts and their architectural solutions.

Through hand drawing we will analyse selected projects that embody an exemplary interplay of architecture and engineering. Our main focus lies on the load bearing structure and its tectonic and spatial articulation as common intersection between architecture and engineering. Through analysis, students will enter into dialogue with construction in a direct way. They will get a sense for the adequacy of tools and refinements of solutions. We will investigate proportion, material innovation and tectonic articulation in relation to the structural idea and become aware of the importance of detail. Analysis will take apart and make transparent the parameters and dependencies of the design process and will open the work into a condition of possibility.

We will draw by hand, as this is the most direct and immediate way of becoming aware of technique in relation to intention (it forces to take decisions). Drawing by hand is a cognitive process where the dynamic relation between doing and thinking is essential. That is why `the more you draw, the more you see' and vice versa. The construction of points and lines on a sheet of paper will sensitize students to the notions of scale, size, proportion, transparency and composition. The learning hand will build up tacit knowledge.

Each student will analyzed one out of the selected projects, exploring adequate scales, drawing types and techniques to understand the project's structure and construction principles. The drawings thus include dimensioning and fabrication notes up to catalogue of elements, mounting principles and sequence. The careful construction of layers of information by hand builds up into tactile working drawings that embody the spatial and tectonic ideas as well as the construction process of a structure. These 'meta-drawings' allow the observing eye to survey from one detail to another in a synchronous manner while integrating all information into the mental construction.

Keywords

Hand drawing

Structures

Analysis

Tectonics

Tacit Knowledge

Global South

Learning Prerequisites

Required courses

- To understand and master the basic drawing techniques: sketch, plan, section, elevation, axonometry, structural sketch, structural plan.

- To understand the geometric logic of two-dimensional drafting planes and their implications in three-dimensional space;

- To analyse the structural and tectonic logic of a given project by means of an adequate analytical drawing method;

- To understand key structural concepts and their material solutions;

- To develop an understanding of material limits, material innovation and mounting principles;

- To become aware of the enhanced potential of a project designed on the basis of a dialogue between architecture and engineering;

- To develop a coherent argument through drawing.

Learning Outcomes

Analyze
Construct
Compare
Reconstruct
Investigate

Transversal skills

Communicate effectively, being understood, including across different languages and cultures.
Demonstrate a capacity for creativity.
Demonstrate the capacity for critical thinking
Take feedback (critique) and respond in an appropriate manner.

Teaching methods

Ongoing evaluation; students will be evaluated on the basis of the objectives stated in learning outcomes and their engagement (critical thinking, participation, initiative, collaboration).

Expected student activities

ability to work in drawing by hand as construction;

capacity to use analysis as a means of advancing an architectural and structural idea;

collaboration (communication, team work, flexibility within different roles);

engagement (participation, initiative, responsibility)

Assessment methods

Supervision

Office hours	Yes
Assistant.e.s	Yes

Resources

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)

Bibliography

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