Making and thinking

Website tutor: Vibeke Gieskes
Website tutor: Femke Bijlsma

Title
Making and thinking

Context
The scale of the detail, the building, the city and the landscape.

At present a fundamental debate is going on that focuses on the future role of architects and spatial designers. At the heart of the debate is the question how these designers can contribute to form the future society. In the course ‘Making and Thinking’ in which the practices of theory and making will be combined, students are encouraged to formulate and shape their own ideas about their profession and the position of architects and designers in the society of tomorrow.

Participation
Supervision of the project takes place once a week. In the first weeks the coaching is done classically, at a later stage, individually. The project teacher will emphasize the importance of communicating through images and models, the theory teacher will encourage design thinking through researching and writing. At given moments in the project, a combined presentation of progress and process of the essay and of the project will be given.

Educational philosophy
The teachers play an important role in helping the students formulating their own assignments, eliminating doubts and guiding them in the process of making, doing research and thinking. The project will follow a tight and well-defined schedule.

Methodology
The assignment of the course is free and will be composed by the students themselves. It will be deriving from the design statement, the student has been writing in theory class during the first semester. Held in the second semester of the second year, the project serves as a preparation for the graduation year.
During the first lessons each student will formulate an own assignment for the project. The subject will be closely linked to the assignment; writing, doing research, formulating a concept and making will go hand in hand. At some points more energy will be put in writing, at other points the focus will lay on designing and making. This interdisciplinary way of working will provide new insights and new impulses during the process. Considering the process, the Making and Thinking course serves as a prelude to the process in the graduation year.

Result
The end result will be twofold:
– An essay of 1500 words based on research, literature and other sources and;
– A spatial project resulting in a prototype and scale models and also showing the other means of communicating within the process of the project, such as: drawings, mockups, concept models and detailing