Approximately one third of the One Spadina complex will be devoted to the Design Studios, where students learn to collaborate, work in interdisciplinary teams, experiment with form, and gain hands-on design experience.
DESIGN STUDIOS The design studio remains at the core of the Daniels Faculty’s culture and pedagogy, but the nature of the studio, and the activity it houses, is quickly evolving. Today, much more than in the past, the studio is a space of collaboration in which students and faculty model future modes of design practice, often working in interdisciplinary teams. At the same time, the studio remains the place where students learn by doing, and are introduced to foundational design methods. Students experiment with ideas, principles, and techniques gleaned from courses in architectural history and theory, structures, building science, materials and methods, and urban design and apply them to projects. The studio is also the space where students learn to generate drawings, models, and other representations through the creative process and design-based prototyping.
Befitting its indispensable role in design culture and student life and learning, the Design Studios will hold a special place at One Spadina. Indeed, close to a third of the complex — a combined 30,000 square feet — will be devoted to the Design Studios, offering students expansive views of the city, and at the same time, a transparent sightline into the building for pedestrians traversing Spadina Avenue from the north. The Design Studios will feature flexible modern workspaces, areas for fabrication and collaboration, and informal pin-up and digital presentation spaces where group design critiques can take place. Unlike the factory-like spaces typical of a previous generation of design schools, the studios at One Spadina will be akin to a conservatory for design where students, faculty and visiting critics and professionals may gather in dynamic formats, and where creative performance, exchange, and collaboration will be facilitated and encouraged.
The Daniels Faculty has a strong culture of review, critique, and dialogue. In this context, the studio is the primary space where students learn to communicate, present, and defend their ideas, thus modelling the requisite skills for successful careers in the field. 43