Rather than simply making it either traditional or contemporary, why don't you try to select some of the qualities of the traditional architecture which you appreciate and bring them to a contemporary design?

What is good about the traditional designs?

check out Renzo Piano's Cultural Center for New Caledonia. If you go to his website, you can find it there listed in his project section. He solved a similar problem that you are facing.

As far as style goes in general, don't you think that should be towards the end of the process? How far are you in the diagram stage of the process? If you layer your diagram correct, it should all fall into place, and "style" will be infered.

i think you shouldn't worry about what the building is going to look like...sort the program out, diagram the hell out of it (this expression is generously donated by mr j.bulchover) and the thing should be ok...
program rules!
aestethics suck!
well, kinda, you get my drift.

seems to me this question is merely tangential to your thesis topic...who cares if it looks like a hut or a modern box or a blob, as long as its architecture engages/promotes art and culture. it seems very significant that the project is a school and not a cultural center, its seems to me like the architecture must evolve to become not conducive but inducive of promoting culture. formalism or contextualism will only get you so far. Say the culture was traditionally weavers. you can make a building by literally weaving elements but that becomes much more significant if it allows for spatial ideas about weaving space together to promote learning or whatever rhetoric you desire. just dont make it an abstraction of a grass hut just for the sake of being contextual. have more complex motives. rem said that the context was "fuck context" not that you should necessarily do what he says.

The real question you should answer is: what do you want to do with your life? Whether you acknowledge it right now or not, your thesis is a springboard - not just a hoop to jump through. Use it to focus and display your talents. Half the end users will love and be inspired by a traditional interpretation. The other half will hate it. Same goes for a contemporary version. You have to tell them what is best for them - not the other way around. There will be a market for whatever you think is best. Don't sweat it. Just find a clear way to describe it. A clearly thought out failure is always better than a watered down success - in the long run.

i would have to go to a hybrid form...as we have seen throughout history many architects derived their ideas in traditional forms and spaces, great architects had recognized the fact that it is through traditional precedents that we somehow articulate and address the fundamental and ultimately universal issues, ie adpting to climate, sensitivity to context, landscape, functional issues etc....take the traditional jap house for example, modernism derived a lot of its features from this traditional house.

for me it is always irrelevant to directly copy the features of the traditional unless the project utilizes shotgun nostalgic strategies such in as resorts and theme parks. in your project i think what is best is to use subtle nostalgia, you could even call it subliminal..this is the challenge. how can you make your users experience the tradition wrapped in the contemporary. the japanese are good at this. architects such as tadao ando, antoine predock and glenn murcutt are fine examples...for ando he used the concrete a building envelope, but the traditional feel, (sometimes almost primal) to his work is his arrangement of spaces, the same goes for predock. as mentioned above a work of renzo piano in noumea is the best fit..it is the perfect reflection of subliminal nostalgia...also critical regionalism... contempo building tech, materials that are verancular and yet used and treated in a differnt manner and incorporation of modern materials... combine these with familiar space arrangements (half) and unfamiliar space arrngements (half) to reflect the marriage of old and new...dont worry too much on the programmatic aspect of it..your project is a space and form that is expressive and it has in a way cultural meaning to the land, worry on the functional if your building a factory....

hehe ate ayan ang comment ko...mahal kita :)

thank you everyone for the comments...i really appreciate it.

for bawmis, i like the of idea of creating an interlocking of spaces in order to promote interaction between the users and considering that experience as a learning tool for the children (working together, creating a community of young artists, learning from one another...) hmmm...nice! i owe you big time!

thank you guys!

youre welcome...thanks for helping me procratinate from finishing my own thesis book. i cant say i know much of your project but it seems you must focus not on the building's engagement with the culture but how the building facilitates and informs the childrens engagement of the culture. these two things can/maybe should be same but they are not inherently so. i think if your think about this difference it will help you in terms of the projects relationship with context. its one of the few times youll get to do YOUR work so try to find enjoyment in the process and good luck with the project.

any other suggestions/ comments will be very much appreciated

PLEASE DON'T USE CAPS in the posting titles.

Thanks.

whats wrong with that?

where did you get that pic?

anybody here knows anything about carme pinos and her works?