Integration of Section and Model: Reflections from a Studio Practice

This text discusses an experimental pedagogical method coded as from ‘section-model to space’. The theory of the study is the integration of basic design exercises and the architectural project studio. Instead of the disconnected understanding of the architectural project studio with basic design exercises, outputs of the two studios are integrated and design processes come to the fore as a new learning setup. The main idea of the method is to find transformations from basic design models and to benefit from basic design principles in an architectural design of a building. Methods proceed through the various design variables by giving the architecture students a fixed design resource that includes practicing the space through a sectional model. The fixed variable in the design research is the output of basic design exercises. Sectional models, which are open to continuous improvement, are experimental tools that initiate a formal organization. This experiment was adopted with a ritual of repetitions; at the end of the process, practical and survey-based inquiries were carried out to test the theory. As a result, the method leads architecture students to analyze spatial design in terms of relationship between the third dimension and tectonic content. Also, it has been observed that the process offers opportunities for empirical research. It was found that the interaction in the studio environment increased with all these models.