Architecture Design Studio: POIESIS STUDIO 1

Catalog description

Poiesis Studio I introduces students to the fundamentals of architectural design through practices of critical thinking, iterative design methodology, and design agency. Emphasizing form, space, and composition, this first-year studio lays the foundation for a rigorous and creative design practice. Students engage in a cyclical design process that includes precedent and site analysis, freehand and orthographic drawing, formal analysis, perspective drawing, model-making, collage, and writing. Through a sequence of structured exercises, the course builds core skills in spatial thinking and visual communication while introducing key architectural concepts including site, context, program, materiality, tectonics, cultural practice, and spatial experience. In parallel with skill development, students are encouraged to understand architecture not only as a formal and material practice, but also as a cultural and ecological act. Throughout the semester, we explore the global, environmental, and social dimensions of the discipline and begin to shape our own agendas within it. Course Website: https://soa.cmu.edu/courses