The “Joint Design Studio” is a learning environment tailored together with mentors Zupančič, Robinson and Ettlinger to foster the interaction of incoming Erasmus students with the host academic community. We share the general pedagogical outline, entitled “The Room and the City: An exploration of scales (through path, room, threshold, aperture and time)”.

mentor: izr. prof. dr. Tomaž Novljan

In the first part of the winter semester members of the group I was working with investigated how the above mentioned four elements can be recognized, reinterpreted and materialized through a physical scale model, light and shadow and a process of abstraction. In slightly more compact form, this action has been repeated with the newcomers at the beginning of the summer semester.  Every student was asked to find a site/building in the vicinity of his/her home in the respectful countries that he/she recognizes as degraded. A series of investigations has been performed in order to establish a relevant set of actions/interventions that would address the issues that have been discovered in individual sites. Sensitivity training, site specifics, ambient quality and context were the main topics that have been later incorporated into the creative process within individual projects. A wide range of topics have been addressed in this way: from modest refurbishment of a village square in northern Spain to ambitious large-scale intervention in former »terra nullius« in Beirut. Joint presentations, together with other three groups of the JDS were performed on regular basis in order to obtain critics and feedback from mentors and colleagues as well. A general motto of the group has been brought out: Architecture as a driver of positive change.

Within the scope of the design studio activities students participated to the International Velux Competition for students of Architecture IVA 2020. For formal reasons (the competition has not been concluded yet) the proposal can not be revealed at this time.

Paula Eden, Germany – winter semester

Bianca Ichim, Romania – winter semester

Beatriz Silva, Portugal – winter semester

Livija Mlakar, Slovenia – winter semester

Pelayo Gonzales, Spain – winter/summer semester

Pablo Chiquillo, Spain – winter/summer semester

Tamara Nunčič, Slovenia – winter/summer semester

Maria Kesy, Poland – winter/summer semester

Alexander Mihatsch, Germany – summer semester

Alice Hannesee, Belgium – summer semester

Cedric Alhelou, Lebanon – summer semester

Nadja Milaš, Montenegro – summer semester