Design Research Seminar/Workshop: a Structure of Active Studio for the Teaching of Design Aided by Typology and Commercial Software

General outline: Typology has provided architects basic design resources in the past. Repertories have been created by comparing and establishing relations among a multiplicity of examples: these repertories have been used as the basis for new inventions. Research on type establishes the foundations for organized knowledge that can be accumulated, shared, and enriched by successive designs. We are testing our assumption that CAD is a specially adequate tool for the transformation and manipulation of type in the early stages of the design process. Goals: Our Seminar/Studio gives those who take part in it a renewed vision of type as a basic disposition that can be subject to dynamic transformations. The use of CAD will allow the participants to experiment and verify design decisions on the grounds of a systematic use of typological precedents. Methodology: Starting with definite examples of contemporary architecture and the design theory backing the examples selected, the seminar/ studio is developed in eight studio sessions, exploring different dimensions leading to the “parti”. It is meant for experienced designers, both advanced students and graduates. The first experimental seminar of two sessions took place in November 1999. A more developed version is under way in August, 2000