Over the course of six weeks, AE Superlab and a group of dedicated volunteer architects invited the students of Red Hook Art Project (RHAP) to explore the different processes that architects use to imagine, develop, describe, and build our cities and built environments.
The theme: YOUR FUTURE NEIGHBORHOOD: LIVE. WORK. PLAY.
Work began by imagining an ideal future home, with different functions and activities for our LIVE, WORK, and PLAY spaces. Students chose whether to work individually to create their own perfect spaces, or to work with their neighbors to create larger shared designs. Tools and techniques used to generate these ideas included: functional/spatial programming, hand sketching, diagramming, orthographic and axonometric drawing, 3d modeling,
3d printing, and virtual reality (VR) visualization.
Each session focused on a particular phase of the design process and an associate technical skill or tool in addition to providing insights and vignettes into the history of architecture and introducing notable and relevant architects. At the end of the six weeks, each student had used the techniques they learned to design their ideal LIVE.WORK.PLAY space, and contributed to the imagining of their FUTURE NEIGHBORHOOD.
The sessions culminated in a discussion about the profession of architecture, what we think the future of architecture might look like, and each of our role in the shaping and design of our own communities regardless of our chosen profession.
