Urban Design Studio - MN

Semester & Location:	Summer 2024 - DIS Copenhagen
Type & Credits:	Core Course - 6 credits
Major Disciplines:	Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban Design
Prerequisite(s):	Enrollment at a professional school or department of architecture or design at the junior, senior, or graduate level, and completion of a minimum of two spatial design studios prior to arrival at DIS.
Faculty:	Michela Nota (current students please reach out to faculty via Canvas Inbox)
Time & Place:	See Canvas calendar below for dates and times - V10.A22

Course Description

Using Copenhagen as a laboratory, you solve realistic problems using analytical and design methods specifically devised for urban design and landscape issues. Some sections focus on issues of human scale, temporary use, and sustainable design. Studio groups combine students of different levels and backgrounds. This course is taught vertically, and expectations relate to you as an individual student.

The Studio is the core course of the summer program, and required for all AD students. Design projects are the basis for learning in the studio and will be the basis for discussions, presentations, and the development of individual design skills. The studios at DIS emphasize the awareness and knowledge of designing for a context outside your own and use Copenhagen as an ‘urban laboratory’ for exploration and precedent study. Project work will be done both individually and in teams.

Learning Objectives

To enhance the individual student’s

Design Knowledge
Building an understanding of the Danish and Scandinavian architecture and design tradition - historic as well as contemporary - through the work on assignments, and the study of precedents and case studies in-studio.

Design Experiences
Exploring Danish, Scandinavian and Northern European architecture and design on field studies and study tours as well as through the exposure to Danish, Scandinavian and European faculty in-studio.

Design Skills
Studying and working with Danish and Scandinavian architecture and design methods and philosophies shaped by democratic, humanistic, and contextual aspirations.

• Democratic: We believe design matters to society, its well-being and progress, and our common sanity
• Humanistic: We believe design must care for people, at all levels, in their common and individual everyday, and for the environment as the habitat for human activity
• Contextual: We believe design connects us to what we share – the common ground, history, identity, and eachother

Faculty

Michela Nota
M.S.c Landscape Architect, Genova University (2013). Consultant, Landscape Architecture studios in Italy. Created an organization based on redevelopment of abandoned landscape and environmental education (META). Intern at Jac Studios, consultant at the urban design firm CITITEK. Now she is co-founder of COurban design collective. With an interest in co-creation, data collection and data analysis Michela is committed to applying human scale approaches to the physical design of urban spaces. With DIS since 2016.

Required Texts

Reading material for studio will be distributed by the studio faculty on Canvas.

Approach to Teaching

Studio instruction is a combination of one-on-one tutoring, discussions, and occasional lectures. The studios are organized as vertical studios, meaning that students of different levels will be taught within the same studio. Expectations will therefore relate to each individual student and their respective level of experience.  Studio work will include individual as well as team assignments, both of which are considered important as preparation for later work in the profession. 

Field Studies and Study Tours

The field studies and study tours of the Architecture and Design Program at DIS form an integral part of the learning process. We travel to places to learn through experience and through analysis. We travel to places to understand and ultimately, to become better architects and designers.

Field Studies
During the summer you will go on faculty led field studies to sites relevant for your studio assignment. These field studies will allow you to study and analyze architecture in and around Copenhagen and are integral to your individual design development as well as to the advancement of your studio project.

Long Study Tour
The week-long study tour will expand your frame of personal experience from Copenhagen to include other countries in Scandinavia. This is an opportunity to compare what you have studied thus far in Denmark with a larger Scandinavian context and in turn with your previous experiences from your home country. Visits will be to both contemporary and historical sites to provide background for understanding the design context you experience today.

Exhibition

An open house exhibition is held at the end of the semester. Works from all Architecture, Graphic Design, Interior Architecture, and Urban Design studios, as well as from the Furniture Design in Scandinavia program are exhibited. Details issued in due time by your faculty and on Canvas.

Expectations of the Students

You are expected to be fully engaged in the studio discourse, be prepared for each individual desk critique, be present in studio during all sessions, be present throughout the presentation sessions, and to invest time outside of studio hours developing projects.

Students are expected to check DIS Canvas daily. The most current schedule including last-minute changes will be maintained here. Readings and other relevant course material will be posted here for downloading.

Design Community

On Design Community on Canvas, which you have also been given access to, you can find department-wide resources, links and communication. Remember to check resources and announcements issued on Design Community throughout your time at DIS.

Evaluation & Grading

Evaluation is based on daily work in studio and on final presentations. Assignments are generally presented to a panel of jurors including the student’s own instructor. Grades are given by the instructor in accordance with other jurors.

To be eligible for a passing grade, you must complete all of the assigned work.

The final grade is determined as follows:

Assignment	Percent
Assignment 1 - Process	40%
Assignment 1 - Presentation	60%

Evaluation Criteria for Assignments

Studio Process - Evaluation in studio is based on the following:

• Approach: Student is motivated, positive, engaged in the project and in all studio activities, attending and prepared for every session in studio, inquisitive, self-critical, receptive to input from both faculty and fellow students.
• Production: Student is diligent, productive, continuously engaged in sketching, prototyping, model making, and other forms of physical/digital design development, to support the progress of the project and the dialogue with faculty.
• Innovation: Student is creative and experimenting, continuously willing to push the project forward, exploring different design opportunities, oriented towards generating unique design solutions.

Final Presentation - Evaluation is based on completion of design goals agreed upon by student and studio faculty, and the criteria presented below:

• Completeness: Student presents the required deliverables - well-crafted drawings, models and other visual presentation material - to convincingly communicate the scope and content of the project in a meaningful and creative manner.
• Delivery: Student orally presents the project in a well-prepared and organized way, communicating the project intentions in a professional manner and engaging in a receptive and reflective dialogue with critics.
• Design: Student presents a final product of high artistic quality that convincingly shows a conceptually clear and well-motivated design solution where the elements of the brief have been explored thoroughly and creatively.

Academic Regulations  

Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on: 

• Course Enrollment and Grading  
• Academic Expectations and Honor Code 

DIS - Study Abroad in Scandinavia - www.DISabroad.org