Learning environments in design studio culture: exploring the student experience Julian Williams University of Westminster, UK Central to any architecture course are the activities of the ‘design studio’. The term embraces a culture of formal and informal activities focussed on project-based learning. A design studio also includes the physical spaces of the studio and possibly other work and study spaces, bound together by a language and culture of expectations, practices and values. The research discussed here was undertaken in a UK school of architecture with a typical studio arrangement; demarcated spaces for years or groups (ateliers, studios or units), in a larger open plan environment. Students negotiate within the group for the use of the shared workspace, which also operates as a teaching space. Learning in design studio cultures has been theorized as a signature pedagogy emulating professional practice models, as a community of practice and as a form of problem-based learning (Shulman, 2005) (Lave and Wenger, 1991, Wenger, 1998). These concepts are reflected in emerging models like the London School of Architecture (www.the-lsa.org/network), through dispensing with dedicated studio provision; aiming to relocate existing signature ‘pedagogy’ elements (the crit, the 1:1 tutorial), and relying on professional practice communities to nurture students’ learning. But what of existing architecture schools with their studios and workshops? What is the value of informal studio spaces as an umbrella setting for teaching and as a creative space for student learning? Given that the studio is a major investment for Higher Education Institutions, this research asks what role traditional environments like the studio have in supporting design studio culture beyond actual teaching sessions?
RESEARCH METHODS AND APPROACH Semi-structured interviews with final year undergraduate students of architecture formed the basis of the study using an interpretivist approach informed by Actor-network theory (Callon, 1986, Latour, 1987, Fenwick and Edwards, 2010, Fenwick and Edwards, 2012). The interview process was supported by visual elicitation techniques to encourage rich responses. Five themes emerged from the analysis. The overwhelming focus of work was portfolio production, but was mediated, and often impeded by uncertainties of tools, equipment and other necessary things. Students articulated their involvement in studio culture through the terms of a notional community, with a social milieu that supported peripheral collaborative and social activities