The Practice

Design studios are usually centered around a ‘design project’ in which aspects of site and program context have a larger bearing on design decisions. In practice, however, the ideology and structure of the office has an equal impact on design decisions. This studio attempted to address the impact of aspects of practice on design. In the first half of the studio, students designed their architectural practice based on book readings, personal reflections, an experimental collaborative project and visits to 15 architectural practices. In the second half, students attempted two projects simultaneously. The first project was proposed by the student as a ‘dream’ project for their practice. And the second project was given by the tutor who enacted the role of the client. The studio culminated with the students designing a website of their practice. This studio provided a platform to critically examine the role of architectural practice on architectural design decisions and the architect themselves. The projects served as a means to arrive at design processes that aid in translating a vision [ideology] into reality [building] that the practice would uphold. The studio was a unique opportunity to purview varied kinds of practices, reflect, brainstorm, and present ideas on how practice affects the architecture produced and the architect themselves.