The second studio of second-year Masters of Architecture students is being taught by Marc Tsurumaki of LTL Architects. This studio requires a design for a site situated along the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, directly adjacent to the Culver Viaduct and the Smith and 9th Street subway platform. As an integrated design studio, the goal is to take students through all the aspects of architectural design – from conceptual idea to the networking of systems (structural, mechanical, etc.) within the design. In simpler terms, the goal is to create an architectural design in which the integration of the building systems augments the architectural concept, rather than simply coexisting abstractly beside it. The studio thus stresses the complex and profound interaction of use values, environmental consideration, technological systems, site conditions, and economics and their influence on the architectural practice. One of that studio’s students, Lucas Greco, shares: “We are currently working through initial designs of an Urban Maker Lab and Market. The challenges include rectifying the needs of the project brief with the specificities of the machinery, material flows, public engagement, and site-unique conditions.” Students are given the opportunity to more specifically define the program of their design based on their individual analysis and on ideas about the demands for fabrication space in the emerging “Brooklyn Maker” culture. Midterm review for the LTL studio is quickly approaching and designs are being strategically formulated and specified – we will share an update and student work following the review.
Lucas Greco and Nick DeMaio presenting their work during a critique.
(photo by Luke Erickson)