Back to Edinburgh and ready to work!

This week we’ve moved into the studio and have been assigned our Design Units for the course Design Option 2 (DO2). There were three Units to chose from: ‘The Language of Stone’ by Dr Dagmar Motycka Weston, ‘The Architecture of Stratification’ by Cristina Gonzalez-Longo, and ‘Between Rethoric and Terror’ by Kevin Adams. I chose the Unit led by Dr Dagmar Motycka Weston. Everyone seems to be very enthusiastic, and some nervous, with their design choices and the semester ahead. I am looking forward to seeing the projects that will arise from students who have just come back from a year of professional experience. Below is the description for Dagmar's Unit, the design project that I will be working on for the next term.

‘The Language of Stone’:
A Geology Study Centre near Siccar Point

Unit Description:

The work of the unit will be rooted in an understanding that in order to be good, meaningful and non-arbitrary, architecture has to be understood as a corporeal phenomenon, offering rich experiences to the senses and to the imagination. It must also be situated in - to belong to - a particular physical and cultural context. For these reasons, in designing the geology study centre, we will learn about the iconography tradition of stone as a building material, and its historic links with this part of Scotland on the one hand, and the story of James Hutton and modern geology on the other. To develop a close, hands-on understanding of the experiential dimensions of stone, we will visit geological sites, a quarry and a stone-processing factory, and hear talks from a geologist, a stonemason, a historian and from architects who have been closely involved in building with stone. Each student will be part of a group which will prepare and present a brief seminar on an aspect of stone architecture. The main project, the design of the study centre and its garden, will be carried out individually over the length of the semester. The emphasis will be to design an imaginative building which would fulfil the needs of the brief through a rich metaphorical content.



Best luck with the upcoming semester everyone!