Architecture & Design
Objectives
- Study contemporary and traditional Danish architecture and landscape architecture
- Gain an understanding of Danish history, geography, and culture outside the Copenhagen region
- Develop sketching and note-taking skills for recording impressions of sites in a journal
Previous Activities Have Included
- Tour of significant urban sites in Århus from different eras, including the University (early 20th century functionalism), Town Hall (mid-20th century modernism), and ARoS Museum of Modern Art (21st century)
- Visit to a traditional Danish church and the iconic Crematorium Chapel by Henning Larsen
- Study of adaptive reconstruction in Koldinghus
- Comparison of different spaces for art, including Fåborg, Trapholt, and ARoS
Description
The Western Denmark tour forms an integral part of the studio curriculum by exposing students to high-quality historic and modern architecture and urbanism as well as providing them insight into the qualities that make a building or site quintessentially “Danish.” Studies are made of significant religious architecture, housing prototypes, innovative museum designs, and the integration of buildings into landscapes or urban fabrics.
These sites, as sensory architectural experiences, provide students the opportunity to develop their critical observation skills and diagrammatic and representational proficiency. Simultaneously, the students are equipped with a vocabulary of design concepts, strategies, and materials, which can then be applied in their own creative work in studio and beyond.
