Teaching Beyond the Curriculum
Abstract
The design studio offers a dynamic environment to experiment with exploratory design research while building skills and interpersonal relationships. The vertical studio intends to challenge the traditional sequence of design studios by promoting the interaction of students at different developmental stages of study to work together around a studio-based project or topic (Barnes 1993). This presentation focuses on the approach applied at the University of Connecticut’s Landscape Architecture program aimed to foreground the design process as a multifaceted environment. We discuss the application of vertical studio charrettes in two community-based projects in the second-year and third-year design studios during the spring semester of 2023. The projects began in the second-year studio site analysis class, bridged by a week-long charrette that enabled cross-year engagement as the work transitioned to third-year students in the program development studio. The question guiding our research was: How can the vertical studio experience further curricular experimentation in the integration of cross-year collaboration and service-learning in landscape architecture? The results from this experience support a hybridized approach to design studio teaching that combines group work between classes and across year levels in the program and individual work within the same year levels. We discuss how this approach adds to recent scholarship on the use of vertical studio models in design teaching (Smith et al., 2017; Smatanová et al., 2020; Young and Segura-Bell, 2021; Tuztasi and Koc, 2022) and offer a critical reflection on the process of pre-planning the curriculum, hosting charrette events, and final products, drawing from participant observation and student survey responses to this vertical service-learning approach to the design studio.
Dr. Smachylo’s research and practice are situated at the intersection of critical urban theory, political ecology and landscape studies, and focus on making visible largely unseen processes shaping the built and unbuilt environment. Her research connects urban landscapes with multi-scalar processes of environmental stewardship, with the goal of contributing to ongoing efforts to generate more holistic and socially responsible approaches to design intervention. Julia teaches advanced digital graphics, studio and landscape theory at the University of Connecticut.
Dr. Fragomeni’s research focuses on climate adaptation and decision-making, particularly on heat vulnerability. She has expertise in urban climatology, human bioclimatology and urban design, and often relies on collaborative and interdisciplinary research at the nexus of urban climate and urban design/ planning, which are linked with human health and well-being. Mariana currently teaches the third-year program development studio, as well as site engineering and professional practice at the University of Connecticut. She incorporates bioclimatic design in her research and teaching.
10:30 am - 12:00 pm
Wednesday 15th November, 2023