Workshop for an Imaginary User. Studio 101, 2014

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STUDIO: 1st Year Core Architecture Design Studio (APH 101)

INSTITUTION: School of Architecture, University of Cyprus UCy

PLACE/TIME: Nicosia, Cyprus, spring semester 2014

TUTORS: Christiana Ioannou, Christos Papastergiou

Special thanks to our crits this semester: Christos Chadjichristos, Popi Iacovou, Socratis Stratis, Elias Kranos, Andreas Savvides, Tereza Tourvas

Students: Andreou Christina, Georgiadi Nastasia, Giannakopoulos Kyrkos-Pavlos, Dimitriou Evagellia, Kaimakliotis Eleftherios, Kleidara Erene, Kolliandri Giannos, Kyprianou Stefanos, Kyrizi Nicos, Komodromou Paraskevi, Konstantinou Andreas, Konstantinou Spiros, Maragou Christina, Messios Kyriakos, Nastou Eftihia, Nikolaou Anninos, Panagiotou Andreas, Pavlou Katerina, Polyviou Pavlos, Prodromou Maria, Spanou Ioanna, Spanoudi Drosoula-Rafaella, Stavrinidou Andrea, Tziourrou Panagiota, Toskas Filippos, Tsaggari Marianna, Charilaou Andria, Chatzipierri Ioanna, Christodoulou Eleftheria, Christodoulou Kyriaki

A small workshop in the walled city of Nicosia

During the second semester studio we asked the students to design a workshop for an imaginary user. The studio introduced two important aspects, that successively determined two important parts of the studio methodology.

The first aspect was the site where the proposed workshop would be placed, which is the walled city of Nicosia. This is the old part of the capital of Cyprus that is continuously inhabited since the beginning of the Bronze Age at 2500 BC and has been successively occupied by Francs, Venetians, Ottomans and the British, while, since 1974 half of the city is occupied by Turkish troops. There are many historical layers that coexist at the site, while the site has a long tradition of hosting artisan workshops. During this first part we provided the students with predetermined characters that the students should impersonate in order to understand and interpet the site: the archaeologist, the scientist, the geographer, the explorer, the acrobat, the technician, the gastronomer, the forensic investigator and the collector. The characters equipped the students with a specific view to the site, while the tools and techniques that each of the character actually uses provided the students with tools for mapping the site.

The second aspect was the nature of the imaginary user of the workshop, which had to be specified by the students themselves. By using the first part of the site analysis along with their imagination, the students had to determine the user as a character. They had to determine his/her needs, routines, obsessions, and eventually his/her personality, in ways similar to the ones that a writer predetermines the main characters of a story. The students then had to specify the scenario, the routine and eventually the programme of the workshop; what would the workshop produce, what kinds of devices and tools it would use, how activity would unfold in the workshop, how visitors would be involved?

The purpose of these two parts was the generation of concepts with spatial qualities that would feed the development of the design project. The students had to define at least three spatial concepts that would then hierarchize, combine and investigate further during the third and last part of the studio. During the third part the students had to develop a coherent design strategy and investigate issues of activity, movement, structure, form, materiality, and atmosphere. During the third part the students also had to develop their ability to investigate a design issue through models and drawings, to communicate clearly their design intentions and to interpret materiality and activity with the use of architectural means.