ARCH 250: Architectural Design 1

Course Objectives
The objectives of  this course is to develop students' skills in two and three dimensional composition. This is done through exercises which allow the students to deal with the elements of composition: lines, plates, masses, colors, proportion, scale,  tone value , texture,  patterns,  rhythm, space and balance.

Excercises
There will be 8 to 10 exercises in the semester; the duration of each exercise is a week and half.  We will work in the exercise for one week. In the next class we have a group discussion in which students evaluates each other's work.  In this class we also discuss the requirements for the next assignment, so that students come to the next class with the materials they need to use in the exercise.
Working in the Studio
It is expected that the student comes to the studio with all the necessary material and equipment.  In the studio the student tries his ideas, either thru sketches first, or by playing with the materials directly by cutting, attaching and fixing.  It is recommended that the student tries several ideas before settling on one.  It is unlikely that a designer reaches a good design from the first trial, no matter how attractive it appears to him.  The student should fully comprehend this fact and not get attached to the first idea that comes to his mind.  During the development phase, the student will benefit from getting feedback from his fellow students and his professor.  Nevertheless, the responsibility rests fully with the student regardless of suggestions and comments offered by others.  The student should be aware that people differ in their appreciation of works of art.  It is important that student accomplishes most of the exercise in the studio.  Works that have been done totally outside the studio will not be accepted, as one cannot be sure that it is his work.

Evaluation of Student's Works
There are no exams in this course.  The student's grade will depend totally on the exercises. It is important to submit exercises on time.  Late work will be downgraded by 5 marks automatically.  For example a B+ work will be given a B mark if submitted late.   The student will be allowed to resubmit any work whose grade is not to his liking.  The re-submittal should take place in a period of two weeks after the original submittal.   The better grade will be recorded for this exercise.  The aim of this policy is to encourage students to improve their works.  The final grade in the course will be the average grade for all the exercises.
 
Criteria for evaluating work
1.  Is there sufficient amount of visual stimulation?  This has to do with the number and variety of components.
2. Are the components well related to each other, or is the work a group on unrelated components?
3. Colors and textures. Do they enhance the work or degrade it?
4. Is there a "central point of attention"?  While this is not required all the time, its presence makes it easy to comprehend the work.
5. Does the work offers the viewer different views when seen from different direction, or is it so symmetrical that no matter which direction the viewer looks from, the view is the same?
6. Is the base of the sculpture, or frame of a 2d work, suitable for the work itself, in terms of size, shape, area and color?
7. Quality of craftsmanship, the care with which the work has been executed.
8. The suitability of the work to the subject matter of the exercise.
 
Material
Students can use any material. There are absolutely no constraints with regard to materials used in 2d or 3d exercises as long as serve the purpose of the exercise.

Objective of the exercises
In all the exercises except the last one, the objective is to produce a work that it visually enjoyable.  This requirement is dropped in the last exercise where the objective is to express a certain idea, emotion, event, story, regardless of being visually enjoyable. .  In the case of 3d exercises, the sculpture should be of 50 to 80 cm in height.  In case of 2d plates, the dimensions should between 50 and 80 cm. 
Exercises

First Exercise: Lines
In this exercise, student are asked to produce a sculpture in which lines are the predominate elements.  This does not mean the exclusion of other elements such as plates or volumes.  Lines are defined are three dimensional elements in which one dimension is much larger than the other two, to the point that they seem trivial in comparison to it. Rods, wires, ropes, strings are examples of lines that can be used.
 
Second Exercise:  Plates
As in the first exercise, the aim here is to produce a visually enjoyable sculpture of the sizes described above.  However, the predominate elements should be plates.  A plate is any matter in which one dimension is trivial compared to other two.  Paper, cloths, cardboard, aluminum foil are example of plates.

Third exercise: Volumes
A volume is three dimensional object in which all three dimensions (length, width, and height) are significant.  Any object which is not a plate or a line is considered volume.  Students can use readymade household materials such as cans, cartoon boxes, balls, stones or any 3d material.  Again, here volumes should be the predominate materials, which means that lines and plates are not necessarily excluded.

Fourth Exercise: Transparency
Materials vary in terms of transparency that is their ability to allow light to pass through them.  Some are opaque, such as metals, some are translucent (allow some light to pass but one cannot see through them) such as thin paper and frosted glass, while other materials such as clear glass and wire mesh are transparent: they allow both light and view to pass through them with a varying degree of clarity.  In this exercise we should exploit the contrast in transparency among different materials to produce visually enjoyable sculptures.

Fifth Exercise: Abstraction
When one takes an object, alter it in a way that preserve its essential character, one gets an abstraction of that object. In this exercise, the student is asked to choose a form, a cube for example, and alter it (by subtraction or addition) while preserving the idea of being a cube.  Here we work with the idea of abstraction to obtain visually stimulating sculptures.

Sixth exercise: Lines in 2d work
We now switch from sculptures to 2d work, i.e. plates that can be hung on the wall of an office or residence to give visual interest to that wall.  This exercise is similar to the first exercise, except we are working on 2d. Lines can be drawn on paper, which requires a certain amount of dexterity.   Alternatively, strings, rods, or wires can be glued to paper to obtain lines.  Lines can also be cut from paper and attached to paper. Here again, shapes are not necessarily excluded.  Lines should be the predominate source of visual interest.

Seventh exercise: Shapes in 2d
This exercise is similar to the second exercise, except we are working now on 2d. Shapes, regular or irregular,  can be cut from different material and attached to the plate.
 
Eigth Exercise : Texture
 Different materials have different textures. Here we explore contrast in texture of materials as a tool to produce interesting plates.  Possible material includes paper, cloth, carpet, wire mesh, aluminum foil, sand paper, glass, and plastic.

Ninth Exercise: Expression
This is the final exercise. It is different from the rest. Here the aim is to express an idea, emotion, event, or story using a sculpture or plate of similar size to the one we have been using before.   The student can use any material.  Visual stimulation is not the object of this exercise but the eloquent expression.