Thinking Through the Architecture Studio: Two Models of Research

Abstract

This paper compares and contrasts two approaches to the university architecture studio as a contribution to discussions around design-led research.  The first is the sequence of undergraduate studios undertaken under John Hejduk (1929-2000) at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York, the second, the postgraduate Urban Design Studio at Cornell University, Ithaca, as directed by Colin Rowe (1929-1999).  Student work is used to illustrate studio character, project type, and the diversity of architectural-urban problems addressed, ranging from Hejduk’s Nine Square, Cube, and Juan Gris studios to Rowe’s grid and fragment studies, infill or completion problems, and overall field or city scale projects.  The paper highlights important differences in scale and project type while at the same time revealing a shared pedagogical and philosophical belief in abstraction, autonomy, and formal exercises in contrast to studios which emphasise functional brief, site specific studies, structure or building systems.  From this it is conjectured that the Hejduk and Rowe approaches constitute exemplary models of studio-based research in architecture.