Travelling Studio C (Portugal)

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2012:

This subject is a quota subject and places are limited. Students may provisionally enrol via the Student Portal, but places are not guaranteed until selection is completed. You will be notified in writing by the Student Centre if you are selected.

240 hours

Entry into the Melbourne School of Design or approval of the subject coordinator.

For the purposes of considering requests for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.
The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

Travelling studios are working laboratories for design thought and production and involve the exploration of complex, real-life issues. They expose students to unfamiliar cultures, places and people, and stimulate their ability to define and solve problems while thinking creatively yet systematically.

Specifically, the Portugal studio will encourage integrated learning in design and construction by asking students to adopt established methods of practice in Portuguese architecture. A travel component, organised in partnership with the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto and in collaboration with Lusiada University, will run during the Semester 2 break. Students will be examining the work of the Portuguese School, particularly its two contemporary masters, Pritzker Prize winners Alvaro Siza Vieira and Eduardo Souto de Mora, against the changes brought in recently by OMA’s practice in Portugal. By examining technological choices and detail design strategies in different building markets, from single family to social housing, transport infrastructure to institutional complexes, the Portugal studio will provide students with a critical view of the possible relationship between craft and building design.

Pre-trip briefings, research and seminars will precede the travel component of the studio. The studio will incur travel costs, in addition to tuition fees. Faculty subsidies will, however, be available to each enrolled student.

1. To encourage students to identify and engage critically with specific cultural practices, industrial contexts and socio-technical traditions.
2. To stimulate systematic/creative thinking and problem solving within students through their experiences of how local issues govern planning, design and construction processes in a particular location.

• 1 x Report (2,000 words), due weeks 1 - 6 (20%)
• 1 x Model (equivalent 2,000 words), due weeks 1 - 6 (20%)
• 1 x final design project, (equivalent 6,000 words), due 3rd week of Nov (60%)
• Pinup for exhibition (non assessed), due 3rd week of Nov

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

• Interdisciplinary teamwork.
• Understanding and navigating social and cultural differences.
• Knowledge transfer.
• Organisational collaboration.
• Managing risk.