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URBAN DESIGN STUDIO II - SETTLEMENT SPATIALITIES

UD 722 | FALL 2012 TAUBMAN COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN PLANNING - THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

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INFORMATION

Monday & Thursday, 1.00 - 6.00 pm Studio Space 3rd Floor Art and Architecture Building (unless otherwise noted) Group email | UD722F12@umich.edu INSTRUCTOR CONTACT

María Arquero de Alarcón, Assistant Professor

(marquero@umich.edu)

COURSE OVERVIEW

The second semester of the Urban Design Studio Sequence focuses on the planning and design of sustainable physical environments anchored by a residential component as a catalyst of vibrant urban life. The semester is structured around five different assignments, moving from research and analysis of existing conditions (observation), diagnosis (assessment of those), to design development (synthesis).

The first half of the semester incorporates a series of assignments in preparation for the development of the urban design schemes. These exercises build on the expertise generated by students in the previous semester. and develop a set of mapping exercises to position the site of the study as a center of regional and metropolitan relevance.

The second half of the semester builds on this initial research and the precedent studies, and develops an urban scheme for the selected site. Through the development of these proposals, students will investigate how design assist social interaction and engage the cultural and ecological dimensions of place.

The classes are structured to ensure a dynamic learning structure, and include lectures, desk critiques, group discussions, and public presentations and reviews with guest critics. The course positions visual representation as a mode of inquiry and spatial thinking, and requires advanced graphic representation skills to facilitate the development of the analytic and propositive phases in the course of the semester.

URBAN DESIGN STUDIO II - SETTLEMENT SPATIALITIES

UD 722 | FALL 2012 TAUBMAN COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN PLANNING - THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

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As part of the one city per year research design structure 2012-2013, students will continue its work on Rio de Janeiro, the second most populated city in Brazil, and growing continental importance.

The planned hosting of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics are transforming the phisionomy of the city with massive investments in infrastructure to ensure the perfect functioning during those events. Together with the physical improvements that will result from these two venues, oil will continue to fuel development as the main economic driver behind the deep changes the city is experiencing in the last decade. The discovery of massive off shore oilfields nearby has attracted the attention of the international markets and renewed the geopolitical importance of the city in the South American continent. The growing industry around oil extraction will continue to foster optimism, and will influence the transformation of Rio de Janeiro in the coming years.

During the fall semester, students will speculate on the design opportunities emerging from these dynamics, and will develop urban proposals to negotiate both global and local agendas and serve a diverse and dynamic population with inclusive urbanization frameworks. Students will work on innovative spatial frameworks for the development of the area known as Vargens, in the southwest area of the metropolitan region. This site, adjacent to the plan developed

by Lucio Costa in the late 1960s, is an area of high ecological value already set up for development. In recent years, this area has started to accommodate piecemeal interventions that respond to market driven urbanization pressures and lack a cohesive structure. During the semester, students will work on the develoment of alternative urban schemes including: (1) studies on land use strategies, urban blocks and building typologies at different scales, with an emphasis on the residential component of the final proposal; (2) programmatic and performative considerations in the design of open public spaces; (3) site integration in the metropolitan infrastructural systems and strategies for the protection of the ecological balance; (4) stakeholder identification and implementation strategies; and (5) design proposals for the selected areas of focus in the proposal.