VIRTUAL New Schools of Thought

Abstract

In contrast to static systems, contemporary design methodologies require mechanisms capable of integrating systems based on transdisciplinary approaches. A project is not just a matter of centered design but of transversal operational strategies. The design laboratory of the Master’s Degree in Architecture at the Universidad de los Andes has tested tools and instruments that diversify research processes through the architectural project. To develop these methodologies, the experience integrates design thinking approaches with transversal readings on theories and strategies of project thinking in architecture. Four modules have been tested that are transversal to the architectural project: Images, Diagrams, Analogies, and Tactics. Each of these modules implies a transdisciplinary approach to architectural design. The image is a research tool and a creation methodology. The diagram is a strategy for coding and defining operational structures. Analogy is a method of approaching non-architectural references. Tactics is a proposal for a systemic approach. These intertwined systems are a project in themselves. The result is a methodology of dynamic processes synthesized through compression, abstraction, and simulation. Transforming project strategies means transforming the way we look at the classroom; secondly, it means seeing design and architecture as an assembly of extensible capacities and energies and not as inert, moldable objects. Today, the figure of the designer and the architect is no longer formulable only in terms of a producer of objects but in terms of a strategist on design processes. Classrooms can become laboratories for the production of knowledge.