Conceived as the laboratories of experimental architecture, intellectual platforms for the development of scientific knowledge, and the test grounds for innovative urban idea(l)s, university campuses represent the influences of not only modern architecture but also modernist ideologies melted in regional realities. Iconic campus buildings including the Bauhaus building by Walter Gropius, in Dessau; "Collegi" buildings by Giancarlo De Carlo in Urbino; Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning Center by João Batista Vilanova Artigas and Carlos Cascaldi in Sao Paulo and campus plans developed by the modernist architects such as Pierre Jeanneret and Arieh Sharon, became influential symbols of modern architecture.

The course has been conducted for the last two years with the collaboration of a group of instructors at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment in the TUDelft. “Mapping” these campuses, understanding the reasons behind their establishment, interpreting their morphological and architectural formations and learning from their architectonic values at every scale, require an overarching methodology. The goal of this research, therefore, is the development of an operational research approach for the comprehensive study of the selected university campuses as the representations of a complex and international architectural culture.

Students will work collectively and the research will be presented in a series of drawings accompanied by a video documentation.

The goal of the research studio is to develop a series of creative relevant representation techniques to understand the architectural significance of these existing environments. Representations will reflect the decision processes in two different conceptual frameworks, namely “scale” and “architectural themes”. Scales to be addressed are: territoryIcity, campusIinfrastructure, buildingIstructure, detailsImaterials. The architectural themes could be taken as an incentive and are open for discussion during the course and suggested as: unity_diversity, monumentality_utility, distancing_connecting, processes_practices_resources.  

OUTCOME of the STUDIO

The research findings should be presented in the following series of final products (to be made in teams of two or three students)

a. A research folder: Archival drawings, research findings, transcript of the final video, a justification of the sources used.

b. A set of representations on the four before mentioned scales, addressing one or more of the mentioned architectural themes

c. A video with spoken commentary of around 5-10 min. that presents the project, making use of (historical) photographs, archival material, own drawings (see a. and b) and relevant data.