 | Students in the School of Architecture's advanced studios prepared for their work overseas by studying in great detail the sites for which they will be creating designs in Saqqara, Egypt; Istanbul, Turkey; Shanghai, China; Rome, Italy; and London, England. |
The world has become a classroom — literally — for students at
the Yale School of Architecture, who have fanned out across the globe, from
Shanghai to Rome, to visit sites they have been studying intensely on campus
for weeks.
— By Dorie Baker
T H I S
Students fan out overseas
for architecture studios
The field trips are part of School of Architecture advanced studios, a kind of
master class led by such architectural notables as Leon Krier, Peter Eisenman,
Tod Williams/Billie Tsien and Joshua Prince-Ramus, in which students are charged
to plan a project specific to a particular site. All of the third-year master’s
degree architecture students are taking part in the overseas venture, as are
some students from the school’s two-year program.
The projects, which are not necessarily intended to be built, range from devising
a re-development plan for a derelict district in London to creating a “dialogue
center” for a Louis Kahn-designed business school in Ahmedabad, India.
Though such far-flung sites might seem to have nothing intrinsically in common,
they share a pedagogic purpose: to hone the analytic and creative skills of student
architects while expanding the breadth of their understanding.
Before beginning their project designs, the students must become completely acquainted
with the unique characteristics of the site, from its physical properties, history
and scale to the social, political and economic conditions that affect it.
When developing plans for a research center to be located on a landmark funerary
complex at Saqqara in Egypt, for example, students need to understand its rich
architectural history. Designed around 2650 B.C.E. by the legendary — and
by all accounts, first — architect Imhotep for King Djoser, the burial
complex is the first construction in stone, contains the first Egyptian pyramid
and is the first building on which the architect’s name is inscribed. Imhotep,
who was also a physician, scribe and high priest, is credited as the innovator
of such architectural details as ribbed columns and capitals that are unique
to Egyptian art.
“Saqqara is where all Greek architecture begins,” notes Timothy Newton,
a faculty member who provides hands-on instruction for the studio of designer/scholar
Massimo Scolari, the William B. and Charlotte Shepherd Davenport Visiting Professor
this year.
In addition to planning the research center for this historic site, the students
will have to design a chair for the center’s reading room.
Designing a new opera house in Istanbul — the project of the studio taught
by Prince-Ramos and Erez Ella, of the innovative design firm REX — challenges
students to address the dual identity of the site. The Turkish city was chosen
precisely for its contrasting properties, says Frederick Tang, a faculty member
who assists in teaching the studio. Straddling two continents and bisected by
the Bosphorus River, Istanbul is a “hybrid” of Eastern and Western
culture, Christian and Muslim religions and secular and religious politics, notes
Tang. The role of opera in a society in the throes of a cultural identity crisis
is one of the fundamental issues students will need to address in considering
the project, adds Tang.
Student Pierce Reynoldson observes that Prince-Ramos and Ella, the Eero Saarinen
Visiting Professors at Yale, are more interested in the process of evaluation
than the project the students will eventually propose. Though the development
of a new opera house is under consideration by the municipal government of Istanbul,
Reynoldson says, once he and his classmates have visited the site, they might
conclude that a new opera house shouldn’t be built at all — and still
pass the course.
For a decade, urban planner and full-time Yale faculty member Alan Plattus has
been taking his advanced studio class to Shanghai, and during that time, the
city has experienced explosive growth, largely due to an unprecedented influx
of global capital. Addressing the realities of globalization in one of China’s
most rapidly developing cities can be particularly valuable to his students,
says Plattus, who notes that half of the students in his class hold foreign passports.
Collaborating for the eighth year with architecture students and faculty from
Hong Kong University and Tongji University, Plattus’ advanced studio team
will consider a design for a million-square-foot city block in the rapidly changing
historic French Concession. A central issue that students will have to consider
in proposing a plan for this eclectic district is how to balance local architectural
traditions with principles of contemporary design.
“Exploring the site will give us the opportunity to see what’s happening
in Shanghai and what might loom in the future of China,” says Plattus.
The EUR quarter, a district on the outskirts of Rome, originally planned as a
model city and the site of the 1942 World’s Fair (which never took place),
is a possible dueling ground of ideas to be played out by students in the studios
of Krier and Eisenman — respectively, the William B. and Charlotte Shepherd
Davenport Visiting Professor and the Louis I. Kahn Visiting Professor at the
School of Architecture. The two men have famously espoused opposing theories
of architecture and planning. Their differences in style are illustrated by the
fact that, in his written description of the advanced studio, Krier presents
the syllabus as a “work menu,” from anti-pasto to dessert, while
Eisenman’s course description offers an in-depth examination of part-to-whole
relationships, with a digression on the theories of the architect of deconstructionism,
Jacques Derrida.
Students in both studios will consider how to incorporate the extant structures
of the EUR quarter into a design for a new urban development to serve as the
southern extension of the ancient city. Their proposals are not necessarily expected
to reflect the differing approaches of their master teachers.
The studio that will bring the architects-in-training to London to design a redevelopment
plan for a long-abandoned section in London is jointly taught by Sean Griffith,
Charles Holland and Sam Jacob of the United Kingdom design firm FAT (Fashion,
Architecture, Taste), all of whom are Louis I. Kahn Visiting Assistant Professors
at Yale, and by Nick Johnson of the development firm Urban Splash, who is an
Edward P. Bass Distinguished Visiting Architectural Fellow.
The architects’ instructions to their students regarding the London project
sum up the philosophy of the entire advanced studio program:
“We want you to look at all kinds of different things: social, economic,
physical, cultural things, and at how these are manifested in architecture. We
want you to look at how architecture communicates with its audience and who that
audience is. We want you to tell us what you might put there and why. We want
you to think hard about what it looks like and who would like it. We want you
to tell us who it’s for. All of them.”
W E E K ' SS T O R I E S
Yale, Peru forge ‘model’ collaboration on Machu Picchu
Foster + Partners to design new SOM building
NIH grant aims to speed development of alcoholism treatment
‘Quiet on the set!’: Scenes for DeNiro-Pacino movie shot in employee’s home
ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIPS
Anderson comes to Yale as Lanman Professor
Harries appointed as first Ragen Professor
Nägele is first incumbent of Mohr Professorship
Smith has been named to Wells Professorship
Scholars named to joint posts at MacMillan Center
Abigail Rider to manage Yale’s real estate
Exhibit chronicles slavery and emancipation in Jamaica
Activist and author Gloria Steinem to visit as Chubb Fellow
Art, music of Tibetan monks to be featured in campus events
Architect-designed housewares produced by Swid Powell . . .
Award-winning play about conjoined twins to be presented
Brownell: Food addiction and nutrition
Part one of two-part conference will explore ‘Frontier Cities’
Tribute to Cleanth Brooks examines the topic ‘What is Close Reading?’
Show features paintings of city scenes by Constance LaPalombara
Getting saucy
Look at ‘Past Year in Admissions’ . . .
Campus Notes
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