DESIGN IMMERSION DAYS
SCI-ARC
sci-arc design immersion days
eric owen moss SCI-Arc Director hsinming fung Director of Academic Affairs Darin Johnstone DID Coordinator and Faculty Betty Kasis DID Faculty Paul Macherey DID Faculty Carlos Rodriguez DID Assistant Teacher Jesus Guerrero DID Teaching Assistant Evylen Tring DID Teaching Assistant Betsy Cole DID Teaching Assistant
Design Immersion Days was launched with seed funding from The Ahmanson Foundation and the Bowling Family Foundation. sci-arc press 2012
Design Immersion Days (DID) is an immersive fourweek summer program that introduces high school sophomores and juniors of varying backgrounds to the academic and professional world of design and architecture. This program is intended to inspire curiosity about the world of design, help students gain basic design knowledge and critical thinking skills, and familiarize them with the expansive architectural and design culture of Los Angeles. The city functions as both teaching subject and object of study for the course, as the students become immersed in the visual and structural landscape and its cultural context. The DID curriculum at SCI-Arc provides the students with a unique opportunity to experience Los Angeles through the lens of those most deeply engaged with shaping the cityscape, namely architects who call this city their home. The landmarks, the urban environment, and the world renowned domestic architecture of the city is both subject and object of a total immersion in the how and why of the role of architecture and design in the making of a city. This is a course about the city itself—how it is built, how it works, and how to understand it. DID is designed to be accessible to students interested in design and architecture to varying degrees—whether to build the foundation for a future career, or to enrich a visual curiosity and design appreciation. The instructors for this program are all practicing designers and architects who conduct design exercises with participating students as a way to both share their own creative design process and help cultivate the groundwork for individual ideas and expression. The DID educational philosophy is rooted in a collegial interaction between teachers and students in the studio, in the field, and in one-on-on mentoring. The course is broad in its range of discourse but specifically meaningful for each participating student. By the conclusion of the program, the students have received an engaging introduction to the rich architectural context of Los Angeles and will have begun to develop and refine their own distinctive approach to learning about design and architecture. hsinming fung Director of Academic Affairs
Design fills our world and permeates our everyday existence. Small objects, media, furniture, buildings, the city: nearly everything we use, live in, and touch has been designed. Who designs these things? How do they do it? How do they see the world around them and change it? This fundamental notion of design in the world around us and the questions posed here became the seed of an idea that is now DID. Architectural education and design education in general often begin with exercises in pure abstraction explored in austerity separate from the real. While this has great benefit, it was clear DID needed to be something else.
This introduction to design needed to be a bridge for students between what is and what might be. For that reason students in DID work on things they know as users; cities, everyday objects, and buildings. The program is structured to build on things the students have experienced in the world and encourage them to see things in new ways in order to re-imagine and transform them. Young students have an extraordinary capacity to imagine the new. DID was created to foster that spirit and give them the skills to show us all things as they might be. Darin Johnstone DID Coordinator, Design and Visual Studies Faculty
IMMERSION Architecture and design live and breathe in both the classroom and the world. DID is dedicated to exposing students to these realms through a series of lectures given by esteemed Los Angeles-based designers and field trips exploring the city of Los Angeles. In the classroom and in the city, students are introduced to fundamental ways of seeing, thinking, and doing that are essential for anyone interested in pursuing a career in architecture or design.
STUDENT VOICE
“The field trips really helped us get an inside look at architecture and sketching and taking pictures helped us formulate ideas.”
FIELD WORK In order to design things in the world you first have to be able to ‘see’ things in the world. While this may seem obvious, what is meant by it is not. By ‘seeing’ we mean actively participating in the creation of an understanding of the physical world. This means looking for very specific things and for a designer it often involves some kind of active documentation—sketching, writing, photography, video, etc.
DESIGN Design involves thinking and doing. The design exercises are intended to introduce the student to a working process that will allow them to think through making or unite thinking and doing. Real is real. One thing that sets DID apart from most other introductory programs in design disciplines is the idea that the students are always working on something real; a real quadrant of the city, a real object, a real space. Abstract principles are discussed, taught, and used but never practiced in a vacuum. DID is conceived as an introduction to design. For that reason we work through design explorations ranging in scale from very large to very small. A big part of this endeavor is to introduce students to a contemporary workflow involving writing/brainstorming, sketching, computer drawing, computer modeling and physical modeling or prototyping. Lastly and most importantly, design and the creative process is taught in a way that is open and fun. In DID every idea is entertained and we all work together to be design advocates and budding innovators.
DID’s Design Lab exercises help students explore the things they are encouraged to “see” in the world. DID’s Design Lab is a place where students work through assigned design projects. It is also an approach to the creative process and a design education. In Design Lab, students create projects that they discuss with SCI-Arc faculty in a process of one-on-one feedback. Students also present their work to juries of faculty and peers in a process of discussion-based group feedback, preparing them for the design school environment.
STUDENT VOICE
“The best thing I learned in DID was to look at objects in a completely new way and how to brainstorm my ideas.”
VISUALIZATION Design is doing and thinking. DID’s Visual Studies program emphasizes the doing by introducing students to a range of basic skills essential to exploring, discovering, and describing design work. The coursework covers freehand sketching, computer drawing, physical model making, and computer-based 3D modeling. Students are introduced to processes and workflows that allow them to move freely between physical and virtual realms.
REVIEW The culmination of most design studies involves a final presentation of the work in a gallery format and setting. Invited guests come to hear the student’s thoughts, see the student’s work and engage them in discussion. DID is no exception to this. In addition to the final review being structured as a learning event, it is also a celebration of each student’s design accomplishments.
STUDENT VOICE
“I especially enjoyed the final exhibition. That ending was a great culmination of our work, really giving us a new perspective at what we had accomplished throughout DID.”
PORTFOLIO For anyone interested in any field of design or creative production, a portfolio is essential. Every student applying to architecture or design school is required to submit one. The culmination of the DID program is a one-day comprehensive portfolio workshop, which is designed to introduce beginning design students to the concepts, techniques, and strategies necessary to complete a successful design portfolio. DID alumni currently attend colleges like Cooper Union, RISD, Pratt and SCI-Arc.
SUMMARY
DID Mega / City Scale In the first week of the program we introduce students to the idea of design at the mega or city scale. In the field we explore both the organization of the city and the buildings within it. In the classroom we work through ways of ‘seeing’ the city to ideas about design at an extra-large scale. FIELD TRIP Mega LA: Seeing the City The first field trip begins at the Griffith Observatory with an exploration of the city from above. There, students are taught to actively ‘see’ the overall organization of the city through observation, sketching and photography. This is followed by a walking tour of downtown where students are taught to actively ‘see’ significant architectural responses to the city organization.
DESIGN EXPLORATION Blankcity For the first project in the design exercise series we look at the city of Los Angeles and begin asking questions. What is the city? Why is it the way that it is? What could it be? What should it be? Each student is given a quadrant of downtown Los Angeles. Through drawing they are asked to record building edges, street edges, infrastructures, and zones. They draw existing patterns of use and figure ground conditions all in an attempt to discover and construct the DNA of the city. They are then given an inspiration image in the form of a natural pattern and asked to work with a partner in an adjacent quadrant to re-imagine and design that part of the city.
SUMMARY
DID Micro / Object Scale In the second week of the program we introduce students to the idea of design at the micro or object scale. In the field we begin to explore relationships between what things in the world look like, what they ‘do’ and how we ‘see’ them. In the classroom we work through ways of ‘seeing’ everyday objects to ideas about design at a small scale. FIELD TRIP Micro LA: Seeing Objects In the second field trip we visit a series of exhibits in museums on the Miracle Mile. Through discussion, photography and detailed sketching we teach the students to actively ‘see’ relationships between an object’s form and geometry and what the objects are intended to do in the world.
DESIGN EXPLORATION Object: Design on a Dollar For the second design exercise we begin with a trip to the 99¢ Only Store where each student selects and purchases an everyday object to be redesigned. Design on a Dollar! In the studio the small scale objects are mined for clues about the way they were designed and made. From there the students work to transform the objects. And start by asking basic questions: Why does this look the way it does? How does it work? Does it work well? Could it look different than it does? Could it be combined with another object? Could it serve more functions than it does? That is followed by research and documentation of similar objects in the form of silhouette studies and culminates in the one to one prototyping and orthographic drawings of the new design proposals.
Weeks 3+4
SUMMARY
DID Macro / Building Scale In the third and fourth week of the program we introduce students to the idea of design at building scale. In the field we explore relationships between a building’s form, geometry, materiality, site, and program. In the classroom we work through ways of ‘seeing’ architecture to ideas about designing it. FIELD TRIPS Macro LA: Seeing Architecture The third and fourth field trips are comprised of visits to some of the many iconic architectural projects in and around the city of Los Angeles. We continue to use discussion, photography and sketching to teach the students to actively ‘see’ the built relationships present in significant works of Los Angeles architecture. Additionally, we visit prominent Los Angeles architects’ offices to introduce the students to architectural design culture and production.
DESIGN EXPLORATION Make Room! For the third and final design exercise we begin with a space the students are familiar with. The space of the school: SCI Arc. For this exercise we ask the students to find and document a small scale space within the school and then transform it based on a set of formal operations and a simple given program. Students select spaces based on volumes and qualities they find appealing. They are asked to look at volume, light, air, and the way the space changes throughout the day. They are asked to find a space they think is wonderful, alluring, challenging or provocative. The students field measure, draw and model the chosen space. Then they are given a simple program and a set of operations to transform it. They enter the field of architecture at this moment by working, shaping and transforming their own space.
student voice
“The best thing that I have gain how to allow myself to think b Being able to use my imaginat design the present and future.
ned from this experience is beyond what I know as normal. tion to the fullest, in order to .�
SCI-ARC
DESIGN IMMERSION DAYS