Spatial Translations: Sequencing Making and Technology in First-Year Design Pedagogy

The transition from the secondary school world of standardized tests and objective evaluations to the subjective creativity and open-ended prompts of the university design studio is a notoriously difficult progression. Various models and pedagogies exist in navigating this shift, each with different levels of support in terms of meeting time, curricular support through skills built in concurrent classes, and level of emphasis on modeling versus drawing and the use of digital tools. This paper presents a new first year pedagogy for undergraduate students at the University of Virginia that serves as a transition between a large format lecture course and the traditional design studio format (which usually consists of smaller class sizes and substantially longer meeting time). The course aims to prepare students for future studios through the development of conceptual and spatial thinking abilities, and to equip them with technical skills in drawing and modeling through a variety of 2D and 3D analog and digital methods. Students develop a single spatial project over the course of the semester through a series of short assignments or ‘translations’ that allow for experimentation, testing, adaptation, and iteration of both skills and ideas.

https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.Teach.2023.54

Volume Editors
Massimo Santanicchia

ISBN
978-1-944214-44-9