Since most of the students enrolled have just entered the L3 level studios, the first discussion was about the difference between L2 and L3 studio. Last two L2 semester studios were Office training and exchange programme. Coming into L3, The points of focus change from a fixed point to multiple points or a point of one’s own choice. Taking a strong stand or a position and following through to reflect it in design is the major aim. The tutor would only help in making us understand the premise of taking decisions.
The discussion moved to the content of the studio i.e.The reason for addressing urban housing. 80-90% of the built environment today consists of developer driven projects that are aimed to generate profit. If we are to solve larger issues after stepping out of the academic realm, this is a very challenging and widespread scenario.We as architect’s are failing to see it from a developer’s lens to generate profit keeping quality of space in mind.
There are two types of architect’s:
1)The manager of Space 2)The Indulgent Architect
The challenge is to find the right point between these two ends of the spectrum, i.e The manager of space and The Indulgent architect, to come up with solutions.
Moreover, we fail to understand ‘Monotony’. It isn’t solved by bringing variations visually, but is rooted much deeper. The society is crumbling with the changing times.As a society we are getting increasingly dependent on each other. But the dependency is on an anonymous person where physical proximity is not a necessity. This questions the systems in place today.
What is Oikopolis? If broken down into two basic words ‘Oikos’ and ‘Polis’, the most basic meaning is ‘home’ and ‘the city’, but the more appropriate breakdown is ‘ A household- The most basic economic unit’ and ‘A system put in place to maintain harmony’.
The Studio aims at students learning to be ‘Decisive’, ‘Agile’ and ’Strategic’. The studio has several Time Problems placed throughout the semester to learn and practice these three key skills.
The Studio session ended with an introduction of a Time Problem exercise.
The exercise: The eight blocks dada saheb na pagla society are going in for redevelopment owing to their proximity to the metro line. A developer approaches you to suggest a scheme. The developer intends to select an architect based on your presentation.