Studio Exercise One; Naskhi Kufi 7 Days
UNiversité Tunis Carthage Year One
Studio Exercise One: NasKhi Kufi 7 Days
The first of three short exercise designed to introduce beginning architectural students to the basic elements of design as well as to encourage the students to explore urban architectural and landscape relationships during the very first days of studio. It also introduced basic 3D digital media in the form of SketchUp and graphic presentation systems in the form of InDesign.
The world of design seems to be constantly exploring two opposite tendencies, one based upon the vegetal world of curves found in nature, the other constructed by man out of the straight lines found in descriptive geometry. Civilizations explored both extremes, often moving over time from one disposition to the other, separating or combining them at will.
Exercise Two: Thin Wall Thick Wall
UNiversité Tunis Carthage Year One
Studio Exercise Two: Thin Wall Thick Wall 7 Days
The second of three short exercises is designed to introduce the beginning student to space making through the manipulation of a single thin or thick wall. Extrusions of the wall combined with overhead beams and further manipulations of the ground define potentially rich urban and architectural spaces.
The wall is ever present in architecture, defining space structurally as well as giving character to what is behind as well as in front of the wall. In Tunisia, a wall traditionally constructed of stone and rubble provides privacy as well as shelter from the hot desert sun. When surmounted by vaults or domes, the wall often requires counter-forces or buttresses to resist lateral structural forces. The beautiful mosques of Djerba demonstrate these structural forces as well as provide shade. This exercise provides an opportunity to explore the Thin Wall (1m deep by 5m high) or the Thick Wall (5m deep by 5m high) that can be played with, eliminated in part or extracted ‘pulled out’ to provide structure and shade. Ultimately, both variations of the exercise can construct exterior landscapes that further define the very process of making architectural shelter, urban fabric and the interweaving of the landscape.
Le mur est toujours présent en architecture, structurant l’espace et donnant du caractère à ce qui se trouve devant ou derrière lui. En Tunisie, un mur traditionnel construit de pierres et de graviers procure de l’intimité à l’espace et un abri de la chaleur du désert. Quand il est surmonté par des voûtes ou des dômes, le mur requiert des appuis ou des contreforts pour résister aux forces structurelles latérales. Les belles mosquées de Djerba témoignent de ces caractéristiques tout comme elles offrent de l’ombre. L’exercice ‘Thin Wall or Thick Wall’ offre une opportunité pour explorer un mur fin (1m x 5m) ou un mur très épais (6m x 5m) à modéliser en soustrayant quelques parties ou en procédant à des extractions pour créer des éléments de structure, de l’ombre et probablement pour définir un paysage extérieur construit qu’on peut explorer à une échelle architecturale et urbaine.
Critics: Manel Hassine Safa Jelizi Belghith Derouiche George Martin Stanley Hallet
Exwercise Three: Kit of Parts
UNiversité Tunis Carthage Year One
Studio Exercise Three: Kit of Parts 14 Days
The third of three short exercises explores the making of architectural space through the manipulation of a basic kit of architectural parts consisting of the wall, the column, the floor slab and the vault.
A modular grid provides the game board for eventually combining a garden retreat with a simple architectural program. SketchUp modeling combined with enhanced plug-ins further enhances the resulting architectural and landscape proposals.
To explore a game of space making, we have assembled a kit of parts. The basic kit contains thick and thin columns, small and large beams, a set of joists or shading devices and a wall that can be extended to any length. A second kit contains the traditional floor slab, vault and dome. The game is played on a terrain that measures 36.50m by 52.50m by 3m deep. The surface contains a square ‘tartan’ grid .50m by 3.5m. During the first five days the students will explore with these simple components a variety interrelated spaces of varying density and enclosure. During the second week a modest program will be assigned to two groups of students and the game of spaces will be redefined to accommodate a tea garden (group a) or a water pavilion (group b).
Pour explorer un jeu de production d’espace, on a assemblé un kit de parties. Le kit de base contient des colonnes fines et épaisses, des poutres petites et larges, un set de solives ou d’éléments d’ombre et un mur qui peut être étiré à n’importe quelle hauteur. Un deuxième kit contient le terrain traditionnel, des voûtes et des dômes. Le jeu tient place sur un terrain de 36.5m x 52.5m x 3m. La surface contient un carré en grille de 0.5mx3.5m. Durant les 5 premiers jours, les étudiants vont explorer une variété d’espaces enchevêtrés de différentes densités. Durant la deuxième semaine, un programme sera affecté à deux groupes d’étudiants et le jeu d’espace sera redéfini pour accommoder un jardin de thé (groupe a) ou un pavillon d’eau (groupe b).
Critics: Manel Hassine Safa Jelizi Belghith Derouiche George Martin Stanley Hallet
Exercise Four Échecs Chess
UNiversité Tunis Carthage Year One
Studio Exercise Four: Échecs Chess 7 days
Some believe the game of Chess originated in China over 1500 years ago. We know it was played in India where soon after the game moved on to Persia (Iran). Once the Arabs conquered Iran, the game spread throughout the Arabic world and Europe. This studio exercise asks the student to construct a chessboard and table, design the six types of pieces and play a game in 3D Sketchup.
This short exercise was developed to provide the student with a better understand the Sketchup 3D model, the use of components, the role of layers (calques) and the basic steps in 3D modeling. It asks the student to design the individual chess pieces in SketchUp as a scale that will permit the student to enter the three dimensional model and play a game with a fellow student in the studio.
The state of the game is displayed at three stages, the initial game board, during the game and finally at the point of check mate.
The final design of the chess pieces and state of the game n a series of three perspectives is presented in a new A1 studio layout so that the individual solutions can be compared within a consistent presentation format
Critics: Manel Hassine Safa Jelizi Belghith Derouiche
UNiversité Tunis Carthage Year One
Studio Exercise Five: Kit of Parts 14 Days
The third of three short exercises explores the making of architectural space through the maniplation of a basic kit of architectural parts consisting of the wall, the column, the floor slab and the vault.
A modular grid provides the game board for eventually combining a garden retreat with a simple architectural program. SketchUp modeling combined with enhanced plug-ins further enhances the resulting architectural and landscape proposals.
To explore a game of space making, we have assembled a kit of parts. The basic kit contains thick and thin columns, small and large beams, a set of joists or shading devices and a wall that can be extended to any length. A second kit contains the traditional floor slab, vault and dome. The game is played on a terrain that measures 36.50m by 52.50m by 3m deep. The surface contains a square ‘tartan’ grid .50m by 3.5m. During the first five days the students will explore with these simple components a variety interrelated spaces of varying density and enclosure. During the second week a modest program will be assigned to two groups of students and the game of spaces will be redefined to accommodate a tea garden (group a) or a water pavilion (group b).
During the first five days the students will explore with these simple components a variety interrelated spaces of varying density and enclosure. During the second week the game of spaces will be redefined to accommodate a tea garden or a poets retreat.
Pour explorer un jeu de production d’espace, on a assemblé un kit de parties. Le kit de base contient des colonnes fines et épaisses, des poutres petites et larges, un set de solives ou d’éléments d’ombre et un mur qui peut être étiré à n’importe quelle hauteur. Un deuxième kit contient le terrain traditionnel, des voûtes et des dômes. Le jeu tient place sur un terrain de 36.5m x 52.5m x 3m. La surface contient un carré en grille de 0.5mx3.5m. Durant les 5 premiers jours, les étudiants vont explorer une variété d’espaces enchevêtrés de différentes densités. Durant la deuxième semaine, un programme sera affecté à deux groupes d’étudiants et le jeu d’espace sera redéfini pour accommoder un jardin de thé (groupe a) ou un pavillon d’eau (groupe b).
critics Manel Hassine Safa Jelizi Belghith Derouiche George Martin Stanley Hallet
UNiversité Tunis Carthage Year One
Studio Exercise six: UNder Over 14 Days
The first year studio decided to explore the second year exercise Under Over. The exercise explores the radically different processes inherent in digging versus assembling, of negatively carving space out of a solid versus constructing space by combining basic architectural elements. It also contrasts a retreat below the earth’s surface to escape the heat of day with above ground constructs open to the cool winds of the night.
In the south of Tunisia the combination of a dry hot climate, the cultural need for privacy of the family and the presence of a soil of limestone (calcaire) that is easily molded and carved or dug into has led to a particular form of courtyard housing that relates well to the inhabitants. During the hot summer days, the interiors of the rooms carved into sides of the court are always comfortable, yet during the cool evenings and nights, the inhabitants can take refuge on the ground above. This movement of people from below the earth’s surface during the day to above the earth’s surface at night will be explored in terms of how it can effect architectural as well as urban form and could be applied not only to housing but also to problems of varying scales such as hotels, schools and even centers for manufacturing goods. This exercise will explore the general problems of digging into the ground, construction above the ground and access between these two elevations of habitation and use.
Dans le sud de la Tunisie la combinaison d’un climat chaud et humide, des besoins culturels intimité de la vie familiale et la présence d’un sol calcaire qu’on peut facilement modeler ou creuser ce qui offre des formes particulières d’habitations à patio qui correspondent au mode de vie des usagers. Durant les jours chauds de l’été, les intérieurs des chambres creusées dans le sol et qui ouvrent sur le patio sont toujours confortables, pourtant durant les soirées et les nuits fraiches, les usagers peuvent se réfugier à l’étage. Le mouvement et le déplacement des usagers depuis le sous-sol durant la journée vers l’étage durant la nuit affecte la forme architecturale et aussi urbaine ; il pourrait cependant être appliquée non seulement au logement mais aussi à d’autres usages tel que les hôtels, les écoles.
Cet exercice explore la question de l’architecture en creusant dans le sol et la construction au-dessus du sol et la relation entre ces deux formes d’architecture et l’usage.
critics: Manel Hassine Safa Jelizi Belghith Derouiche Stanley Hallet
UNiversité Tunis Carthage Year One
Studio Exercise seven: The Urban HOuse and Garden 21 days
The design challenge is not to construct a monument to the simple dwelling but rather to redefine for today’s inhabitants a contemporary but modest and efficient courtyard house in ways that still respond to the climate, living outdoors, and privacy of the family.
The interior courtyard is the basic component of most traditional buildings in especially hot dry climates where for reasons of cultural privacy and security the walled court becomes the dominant negative space in a dense urban fabric. From the courtyard garden houses of Morocco (the riad) to the caravan serais of Iran and Afghanistan, a great diversity of sizes, programs and wealth have been beautifully accommodated. Basim Salim Hakim’s book, the Arabic Islamic City, makes great use of examples from the medina of Tunis to demonstrate a variety of court configurations, from house to palace, from secular warehouse depot to sacred mosque. Even the paradise garden explores the vegetal opposite typology of the constructed dwelling. This exercise explores possible contemporary uses for such a tendency to define urban habitable spaces.
This exercise will explore a tightly confined courtyard house in an urban setting in Tunis to hold a family of four and a possible small additional structure for a live-in grandmother or grandfather. The additional space could also be used for a workspace or studio. Most important, the student’s proposal should explore the use of garden within the compound walls (2 meters in height) as an opportunity for living outdoors under shaded structures to temper the hot summer sun. Overhead shelter for no more than one car will be constructed at the rear of the site where private automobile access is found
critics Manel Hassine Safa Jelzi exercise by Stanley I Hallet, FAIA
UNiversité Tunis Carthage Year One
Studio Exercise Eight: The open Market 21 days
This exercise explores the Urban Design of a critical site in Tunis open to the public (trucks, merchants and pedestrians) as well as Urban Landscape issues related to the use of the site during all hours of the week, the Architectural Program consisting of a small commercial building and its related collection of interdependent kiosks and finally a Furniture-scale Problem requiring the invention and detailed fabrication of the 30 kiosks that could be designed to adapt to multiple commercial and recreational uses.The design of the Open Market and Cafe combines an understanding of the materials and details of assembly required at the scale of furniture design with a sensitivity to working at the opposite larger scale of the urban fabric, the public landscape and the bustling food market. The challenge is to see how the resulting urban space can be used when the market is not active, possibly 3 to 5 days per week.
With a renewed interest in fresh farm produce, urban open markets have been gaining in popularity. The challenge is to see how the resulting urban space can be used when the market is not active, possibly 3 to 5 days per week. Although the location the market is urban, the scale of the market stalls is similar to furniture. The student is encouraged to explore a prefabricated (in part) kit of components that will provide the farmers with space to store and display their produce as well as provide shelter from the hot sun or rain. Water and electricity should be made available to each ‘stall’ to support day as well as night activities. Your design proposal will consist of 30 stalls approximately 4M by 4M in covered space sheltering 1M by 4M in display table or counter space. The project should also include a small cafe that sits 20 people inside and more than 40 people outside as well as provide public bathrooms and possible storage for all or parts of the market stalls when not in use. Landscape portions of the site should also be addressed to provide shade and support other ‘park’ activities when the stalls are not in use, such as picnics, family gatherings, games of chess, etc.
Cet exercice a pour intérêt d’explorer le design urbain d’un site critique à Tunis ouvert au public, ainsi que le paysage urbain lié à l’utilisation du site durant toute la semaine, le programme architectural est constitué d’un ensemble commercial composé de plusieurs kiosques indépendants, une réflexion sur les détails de fabrication et l’échelle des mobiliers urbains sera demandé afin de créer 30 kiosques pouvant avoir des utilisations commerciales variées.
Avec le nouvel intérêt porté aux produits frais de la ferme, les marchés urbains en plein air ont gagné en popularité. Le défi est de voir comment l’espace urbain qui en résulte peut être utilisé lorsque le marché est fermé, peut-être 3 à 5 jours par semaine. Bien que le marché se trouve dans une espace urbain, l’échelle des stands du marché est similaire à celle d’un mobilier. L’étudiant est appelé à concevoir un kit préfabriqué (des pièces) pour fournir aux agriculteurs un espace pour stocker et exposer leurs produits. Ça sera aussi un abri contre les intempéries. L’eau et l’électricité doivent être mises à la disposition de chaque stand durant la journée ainsi que pour les activités nocturnes. Votre proposition de conception sera composée de 30 stands d’environ 4m x 4m dans un espace couvert et 1m x 4m de table d’exposition ou d’espace de comptoir. Le projet devrait également contenir un petit café, des sanitaires publics, un espace de stockage et un parking de 20 places pour des camionnettes à proximité des commerces. Des parties du site doivent également être couvertes pour fournir de l’ombre pour les activités prévues quand le marché est fermé telles que des pique-niques, des rassemblements de famille, parties d’échecs, etc.
critics Manel Hassine Safa Jelizi Belghith Derouiche George Martin Cindy Nguyen additional critic and exercise by Stanley Hallet