【内容梗概】

进入设计工作室的第一年，你会遇到什么呢？本文将介绍众多的第一年设计工作室的练习内容，探寻建筑领域第一次作业的怪异世界。

你认为建筑是你的使命么？你是否拥有去探索这个创造领域并向最好的人学习的激情和动力呢？每年，许多年轻人都选择了建筑学以接受挑战，但是有多少人知道进入设计工作室的第一天会遇到些什么呢？事实上，教授给新学生的练习揭示了许多有关建筑世界的真相。

我向数百位教授、副教授、辅助教授和客座教授们寻求他们最喜欢的第一年工作室设计提示。答案从抽象到具体，从简单的绘画练习到复杂的步骤再到完成的作品。大多数项目都是为个人设计的，但有些项目需要团队合作。以下是来自世界各地学校的不同教育者对这个世界的窥视。

【具体练习】

这些练习非常简单，可以让学生学习他们有所了解的东西并不断扩展。进入一个陌生的环境、开始建筑学习可能会非常令人害怕，这些提示让学生可以从一个熟悉的问题开始，进入思考问题的过程：

“我通常会给出一个真实的设计问题，这个问题是由一个专业团队设计的，工作室的课程将会开发学生自己的设计方案，当他们完成这个项目之后，我会向他们展示它实际构建的是什么。这么做的目的不是要指出什么是对的或什么是错的，而是我们可以从不同角度解决同样的问题，那就是设计的美。“

——Melissa Vitteri Sieg，波多黎各大学

“我要求每个学生选择一个普通的形状，比如花生或者类似的东西。学生需要研究它的线条、曲率等，直到他们对它非常熟悉，然后利用他们收集到的信息来设计对人类有用的东西，如把手、座椅、空间等。学生们可以以图画或模型形式呈现。通过将日常物品抽象并成功应用到物品对象，可以帮助学生塑造日常形态视觉。我喜欢让学生置于大自然的形状中。”

——Edgar Caleb Gonzalez，莫德瓜达拉哈拉大学

“在设计工作室，我实际上使用了一些促进创造性思维的方法，帮助学生跳出常规的思维方式，如头脑风暴、类比、形态矩阵和逆向思维。在这中间，类比是最经常使用的方法：让学生选择一个设计提示，这个设计提示类似于在手的一个设计问题。在一些项目，特别是商业项目中，一些学生倾向于使用公司的标志作为提示。我记得最有趣的想法之一是一个学生的概念，利用奔驰的三星标志形状设计一个展厅；问题是这样设计出来的展厅太小，无法提供所需的空间！”

——Mohammed Ghonim，开罗大学

“我最喜欢的第一年工作室的练习就是我所说的建立光谱。这实际上是我作为一个学生的早期任务之一，我发现它还与教学有关。作业的基本内容是指派学生设计一座建筑物（例如博物馆）。首先，要求学生在建筑物的范围内对现场建筑建立起一个基于建筑物规模的概念性集结；与此同时，学生还必须详细地绘制同一建筑物的窗户或门。通过这样的练习，学生将一个大规模的想法与一个小而可触碰的想法连接起来，并且要确保他们在讲述同一个事物。比较理想的情况是，经过这样的联系后，学生们建立起了一个范围的两端，可以据此完成他们的想法。”

—— Ben Brady，哥伦比亚大学

每周我都会给建筑学专业的学生写一份为期一年的介绍，让他们对讲座产生视觉上的反应——学生只有几天的时间会回复(通常每周回复4次)。讲座涵盖的内容涉及到建筑师们所使用的诸多术语：建筑、形式、风格、装饰、类型学等。作业往往是半开玩笑的：一个星期，他们不得不“装饰”一个“功能主义”建筑来回应Loos；另一个星期，他们必须用食物或家用物品制作建筑物的示意“模型”。下面是一个例子!

——Sarah Lorenzen，加州保利波莫纳

【小组练习】

集体的力量！当你深入未知的设计世界中时，有一个同伴跳出你的想法或者与你在这个特殊的世界里相互学习是让人感到非常安慰的。以下的设计问题在学生共同努力创造最终结果时带给了他们舒适：

“这项练习包括制作每个学生所在城市的城市地图组图，需要在不参考谷歌地图或者其他任何GPS系统下完成。每个学生需要创建一张地图，显示他们上学的路线。他们唯一拥有的就是他们集体的导航记忆，以及他们之间如何讨论城市的不同方位。学生们需要将计划与空中视角结合在一起，使用舱口和不同线形来进行表示。当每个人完成各自的地图后，下一个任务是创建一个包含了所有单元的地图。下图是最终的结果。”

——Manuel M. de las Heras，印度艾哈迈达巴德大学思想系，印度

通常我介绍的第一个项目是小组项目。学生被分成每组5-6人的小组，在一张6平方英尺的纸上画出一系列同心、但随意的圆圈。从一个学生用石墨画一个大约拳头大小的圆圈开始，下一个学生在已有圆圈的周围用石墨绘制另一个圆圈，来纠正缺陷。这样一直持续了几天，一直到圆的直径大约在4-5英尺。我们开始讨论圆的概念、圆的构成、相对与绝对之间的张力、事物的概念与作用于事物的物质世界的力量的摩擦。这个项目很简单，因为每个人都知道圆；但是大多数人没有花太多时间去思考他们。在短短的几天内，有关媒介、工具、绘画、想法、几何、历史与情境等的大问题已经被引入，并且这些问题会在一整年内被反复提及。“

——James Bassett，弗吉尼亚理工大学

“冰屋被描述为一个全面的装置，在明尼苏达大学西岸校区的操场上进行为期两周的公开展览。三人一组的学生需要分别设计一个临时住所，与每年冬天在明尼苏达州湖表面的冰渔掩体类似。这些临时的住所颜色丰富，但它们都有一个目的:为当地渔民提供庇护。因此，我们的建筑必须既轻便又临时!此外，它们必须由一种广泛可用的区域材料——冰组成。也就是说，这些庇护所的主要成分必须是冰，而不是传统意义上用作砖石结构的冰块。另一个限制是建筑方法，我们把它定义为建筑的纺织/拉伸法。你可以想象，学生的工作主要是用喷雾冻结织物结构，这样他们就可以移除所有支撑，让冰结构承受自身重量。这些结构变成了发光结构，晚上发出像灯笼一样的光，白天也允许自然光照射进来。在这个季节结束时，冰会融化，主人会有一盒湿布带回家。我喜欢这个项目，因为它给了学生团队合作的意识和团队精神。我还想让他们知道，建筑项目可以是各种规模，可以有不同的持续时间。对他们来说，我认为在公共空间中进行真正的项目动手设计与建造会给他们带来沮丧，但也将是他们最终价值的源泉。”

——Ali Heshmati，明尼苏达大学设计学院，明尼阿波利斯

【绘画练习】

这些绘画练习清晰易懂。当你在创造最终产品时，握着那只铅笔会在你的眼睛、头脑和手中创造了一种联系。这种联系，是许多人用电脑进行剪切、复制、粘贴所做的练习所不能比拟的。在手中实际上拿着铅笔，将给你提供一种不应该被忽视的自由：

“我布置给我的一年级建筑设计类学生的第一个作业是自然绘画练习，特别是画一棵树或者一片落叶的细节。布置这样一个作业的原因有两个：这是一种让焦虑的学生放下武装的方法，可以缓解进入建筑领域带来的紧张情绪，因为树和树叶（我选择树）在某些方面比建筑更具亲和力；另一个原因是自然常常是建筑的灵感来源，所以这个练习可以帮助学生建立起对自然结构与建筑的欣赏基础。“

——Nana Andoh，罗切斯特理工学院

我个人最爱的是一个简单的积极或消极的绘画练习。我们把椅子堆在学校的大厅里，也许有50把椅子之多，然后让学生不要画椅子，而是通过椅子画除了椅子之外的任何事物。模糊你的眼睛，也许视线穿梭间仅仅看到了光明和黑暗，也许仅仅是分明的对比，也许是一个大致形象的边缘。你学会画你真正看到的东西，而不是你以为你看到的东西；没有符号，只有轮廓和形式。”

——Simon M. Bussiere Hidesign，建筑学院，夏威夷大学

我们总是以一个短暂的挑衅来开始一项任务，作为引入概念的序言。今年，在学生经过了半学期的对几何、构图基础和系统思维基础的摸索后，我们想要展示作为一种解释事物的简单方式的图的重要性。正如著名影评人Roger Ebert所说，“重要的不是电影是讲述了什么，而是它如何述。”我们让学生画出他们的设计是如何与他们的想法联系的。一系列定时提示指导了研讨会：一分钟绘画，系列5分钟绘画（你的住处，如何准备你最喜欢的食谱，如何进行你最喜欢的团队运动或游戏），最后20分钟的针对他们设计里的元素、关系与运作的解释。一个下午的讨论带来提笔、落笔与讲解的动态系列令人难忘。我们惊讶地发现，我们不仅仅了解了图，而且更了解彼此。

——Karla Sierralta Hidesign，建筑学院，夏威夷大学

【抽象练习】

这些组合了你所有的感官并把它们颠来倒去的空想练习一定是你的最爱。它们让你以一种全新的方式思考，创造出一种完全不同的看待周围环境的方式。它们要求学生离开舒适区，进入未知的世界：

我的第一个项目，“气球动物”由两个部分组成，一个是人类，另一个是无生命的（气球）。这没有生命的物体仍然能够拟人化甚至动物化，这两个部分将成为原型架构的生成器。第一个是对人体的模拟，可能是与我们自己相似的身体，在运动中进行测试，对尺寸、比例和表现姿态方面进行研究。第一个物体是我们第一个项目中的建筑职业的代表，而被研究的特定手势的适应是建筑程序的代表。第二个是一个无生命的躯体，虽然没有生命，但却拥有它自己的解剖结构，并能够获得赋予它形式表现力的印记。第二个部分向我们展示出——物质也能做手势。在对每一个部分进行单独测试后，我们对它们进行了一次操作，目的是使它们结合在一起形成第三个物体。他们的整合开始了这个项目的第一个时刻，从一个角度来看，作为设计师的我们可以自由的表达自我，对这些形式的尺寸和手势要求进行谈判协商；形成一个嵌入内部力量并表现其他形状的物体，才可能被视为满足建筑的定义。——Kyle Steinfeld，伯克利

我最喜欢的设计提示是，我要求学生带一副普通扑克牌并开发一个模块，这个模块可以调整以创造一个聚合窗体。学生要选择一种排列（线性，平面，或立体的）和一种操作（弯曲，折叠，缩放，编织，嵌套，堆积或者翘曲），然后基于他们选择的排列方式和操作来设计一个组合，进行个人的解读。扑克牌在不使用任何粘合材料的情况下被用到了模型中，与原来的状态完全不同。我习惯把这称为“模拟参数”，通过这样的方式，学生可以识别出可调整参数范围，在这个范围内进行工作。你可以在算法绘图过程中看到它们逐渐变成了指令集。——Brian Kelly，内布拉斯加大学林肯分校

（我所遇到的第一个）提示是：“定义空间。”24小时后进行了演示。从那以后，我每天都在为这样的问题绞尽脑汁。从教育者的角度来看，这些挑战对于“颠覆”高中毕业生的思维方式至关重要，高中生往往缺乏批判性思维。任何设计师的挑战都是通过提出挑战性的问题来进行重新创造。一旦学会，将终生收益。“——Jack Davis，弗吉尼亚理工大学

我们所做的令大家都感到惊讶的是一个被我称作“清空你的口袋”的项目。我们给学生一张纸，让他们利用自己口袋/钱包/袋子里的东西作一幅自画像；并且，只有3分钟的时间来做这件事情。这通常让学生害怕，但结果往往是令人惊叹的。——Hector LaSala，路易斯安那拉法叶大学

在如何打造未来的建筑师方面，建筑学并不遵循一套特定规则和指导方针。然而，也有一些组织致力于探索和钻研教学建筑理念，比如建筑教育者协会（AAE）和开始设计学生全国会议（the National Conference of the Beginning Design Student）。这是一段每个人都将经历的旅程，道路因诸多因素而发生改变，比如你以前的经历、你将经历的和你在设计工作室的第一年。而上述各种各样的作业仅仅是建筑学学生建立自我未来的基础的一小部分。

原文：

A Glimpse Into the Weird World of Architecture Students' First Assignments

Do you think architecture is your calling? Do you have the passion and drive to explore this creative field and learn from the best? Every year, many young people decide to take on the challenge of an architecture education, but how many have any idea what is in store for them on that first day in the design studio? In truth, the exercises given to new students by their professors reveal a lot about the architecture world.

I reached out to hundreds of professors, assistant professors, and adjunct and visiting professors to find out their favorite first-year studio design prompt. The responses varied from the abstract to the concrete, as well as from simple drawing exercises to complex steps to end at a completed work. Most projects were designed for individuals, however some required a team effort. The following is a peek into that world from a variety of educators from schools around the globe.

The Concrete Exercise

These exercises are very straightforward and allow the student to take something they know and expand upon it. Coming into a foreign environment and being thrown into the study of architecture can be very intimidating; these prompts seem to ease a student into the process of thinking through a problem by starting with the familiar:

"I typically give a real design problem, something that was designed by a professional team. The studio class would develop their own design solutions. After they had completed the project, I would show them what it was actually built. The purpose is not to say what’s right or what’s wrong. We can address the same problem from different angles. That’s the beauty of design."

– Melissa Vitteri Sieg, Universidad de Puerto Rico

"I asked each student to select an ordinary shape, like a peanut or something similar. They were required to study its lines, curvatures, and so on until they were very familiar with it and then use the information they gathered to design anything useful to humans, such as a handle, a seat, a space, etc. The students could present in drawing or model form. This helped mold their vision of everyday shapes by abstracting them into utilitarian objects. I loved exposing them to shapes in nature."

– Edgar Caleb Gonzalez, Universidad Cuauhtemoc de Guadalajara

"In the design studio, I actually use a number of techniques that facilitate creative thinking and help students to think outside the box such as brainstorming, analogy, morphological matrix and reversal thinking. However, analogy is the most repetitively used technique, where students choose a design prompt that is analogous to the design problem at hand. In some projects, especially commercial ones, some students tend to use the logo of the company as a prompt. One of the funniest ideas that I remember was a student’s concept to create a showroom for Mercedes Benz inside their tri-star logo, which was far too slim to adequately accommodate the required spaces!"

– Mohammed Ghonim, Cairo University

"My favorite exercise for the first year studio is what I call establishing spectrum. This was actually one of my early assignments as a student and I find it relevant to teaching still. The basics of the assignment would be to assign the students to design a building (say a museum for example). First, the students are asked to develop a conceptual massing of the building on site working on the scale of the building in its context. The deliverable is very conceptual and often a material-less model. At the same time, the students have to draw, in detail, a window or door for the same building. In this exercise, they align a large scale idea with a small, tactile idea and make sure they are trying to tell the same story. Ideally, after this exercise, the students have established both ends of a spectrum that they can qualify their future ideas against."

– Ben Brady, Columbia University

"Every week I make my 1st-year intro to architecture students create visual responses to the lectures--they only have a few days to respond (they do 4 per week). Lectures cover where many of the terms architects use come from - what is tectonic, form, style, ornament, typology, etc. Assignments are often tongue-in-cheek. One week they had to "ornament" a "functionalist" building in response to Loos. Another week they had to make diagrammatic "models" of buildings with food or household objects. Below is an example!"

– Sarah Lorenzen, Cal Poly Pomona

The Group Exercise

Power in numbers! As you delve into the unknown world of design it is comforting to have a peer to bounce your ideas off of, or to learn from each other as you tiptoe into this special world. The following design problems give the student comfort as they work together in creating the end result:

"This exercise consisted of making a group map of the city concentrating on the city that each student lived, with no reference to Google or any other global positioning system. Each student needed to create a map showing the route they took to get to school from home. The only thing they had was their collective navigational memories and the way they negotiate between them to locate different sides of the city. The students were instructed to mix plan and aerial perspective and play with hatches and line types. Once each individual map was completed the next task was to create one map with all the units. The photo below is the final result."

– Manuel M. de las Heras, IDEA Department of INDUS University Ahmedabad, India

"The first project that I usually introduce is a group project. Students get into small groups of 5-6, and on a large piece of paper (6 feet square) draw a series of concentric, freehand circles. One student begins by drawing a circle in graphite, about the size of a fist. The next student attempts to correct the imperfections in that circle by drawing one around it, also in graphite (using a 1-inch bar of soft graphite). They continue on this way for a few days until the circle is about 4-5 feet in diameter. We discuss the idea of circle, of what makes a circle, and the tension between the relative and absolute, between the idea of a thing and the forces acting on something coming into the physical world. The project is simple in that everyone knows a circle, but most haven’t spent much time thinking about them. In just a few days, large questions about the role of media, tools, drawing, ideas, geometry, history, and context have been introduced, and these are returned to throughout the year."

– James Bassett, Virginia Tech

"Ice House was described as a full-scale installation on the grounds of the University of Minnesota's west bank campus to be on public display for two weeks. Students in groups of three were asked to design a temporal shelter programmatically similar to ice-fishing shelters that occupy the surface of Minnesota’s lakes every winter. These temporary villages are colorful and varied but they all have one purpose: to shelter the fishermen from the bitter cold winter winds in the area. Our architectural bent to this was that they had to be both portable and temporary! Furthermore, they had to be made of a widely available regional material, ice. That is to say, the main component of these shelters had to be ice but not in the traditional sense of ice blocks used as masonry. Another limitation they had was the building method which we had defined as a textile/tensile method of construction. As you can imagine, they produced their work mainly by spray-freezing a fabric structure to a point that they could remove all supports and let the ice structure stand under its own weight. These structures became luminous light structures that glow like lanterns at night and allow the natural light in during the day. At the end of the season, the ice would melt and the owners would have a box of wet fabric to take home. I like the project because it gives them the sense of collaboration and teamwork that dominates the profession. I also want them to know that architectural projects can be of all scales and duration. For them, I think the hands-on design and construction of a real scale project that would sit in a public space was a source of great frustration and ultimately value."

– Ali Heshmati, College of Design, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

The Drawing Exercise

These drawing exercises are clear and easy to understand. Holding that pencil creates a connection between your eyes, mind, and hand as you create the final product. It is an exercise you cannot compare to drawing on the computer where many will cut, copy, and paste. To actually hold a pencil in your hand offers a freedom that should not be neglected:

"The first assignment I give to my first-year design students in architecture is a nature drawing exercise, and specifically drawing a tree and a detail of a leaf from that tree. I do this for two reasons: It’s a way to disarm anxious students and alleviate any immediate nerves about getting in to architecture as trees and leaves can be less intimidating (and I pick the tree) than buildings in some respect; and Nature has often served as inspiration for architecture so this exercise helps establish a foundational appreciation for the innate structure and architecture in nature."

– Nana Andoh, Rochester Institute of Technology

"My personal favorite was a simple positive/negative drawing exercise. We stacked chairs in the school lobby, maybe 50 of them, then asked students not to draw the chairs, but everything that isn't the chairs, through the chairs. Blur your eyes; maybe go cross-eyed to see just the light and dark, just contrast, just the shapes, just the edges and boundaries of a figure-ground. You learn to draw what you actually see, not what you "think" you see; no symbols, only contours and form."

– Simon M. Bussiere, HIDESIGN, the School of Architecture, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa

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