Hanoi Architectural University

Pre-thesis guidance

1st SEMESTER 2021-2022

October 17, 2019 1

 1.1. PRE-THESIS STUDIO OVERVIEW OF 1ST SEMESTER
1.1.1. Chart of the First Semester
Reviews 0) 1) Pinup 2) Mid Holiday 4) Faculty
20.09 Review: Review: 3) Pen. on 03.01 Evaluation
27.10 24.11 Ultimate: (Since 19.01
(Wed) (Wed) 22.12 01.01 is (Wed)
(Wed) on Sat)
HAU week Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week Week 8 Week 9 Week Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14 Week 15 Week 16 Week 17 Week 18 Week 19 Week 20
7 10
Studio Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Date: 20-25.9 27.9- 04- 11- 18- 25-30.10 01-06.11 8-13.11 15-20.11 22-27.11 29.11 – 06-11.12 13-18.12 20-25.12 27.12- 03- 10- 17-
02.10 09.10 16.10 23.10 04.12 01.01.22 08.01.22 15.01.22 22.01.22
Assignment Choose + Inscribe+ Draw Present Tectonic Green Montage, Present: Legal limits Program Site Present: 3 sketch Model 3 Model 3 Present
Inscribe measure + : Tectoni Program / A-H + site docs list + sizes Analysis A-L schemes schemes schemes A – P on 6
Build A-D Model c Site study Drawn boards
Model
Emphasis concept tectonic city, site,
kecture translation greening,
use

1.1.2. Overview of the First Semester

Prepare well the materials you produce for each weekly assignment. You will be evaluated on completion of each stage of work. Each stage must be complete
in order to proceed to the next one. Absences and / or lack of work are grounds for receiving a failing grade:

A-D: A-H: A-L: thru A-P: Document preparation Overall Grade School
thru 6th week thru 10th week 14th week thru 18th week Stamp

instructor initials instructor initials instructor initials instructor initials instructor initials
grade: grade: grade: grade: grade: Grade:

A thesis can be a rich and deep experience of growth, if it is engaged seriously, with commitment. Begin the process of work by drawing and writing (and
pasting and stapling) in your sketchbook, every day if possible. The sketchbook offers a space of exploration that is infinitely expandable and flexible. It is only

October 17, 2019 2

limited by your imagination. When you work, respect the yearlong depth of the process by searching for clarity and legibility. In that way you can both further
the development of your ideas and preserve them for reference, months, or even years from now, when you may want to refer to them again.

We will evaluate the first seven weeks of research with the following criteria.

Criteria for first seven weeks ending in the Mid-Review

Grade: Grade: Grade: Percentage

Creativity Concepts Iterative study Struggle Craft Completion

Willingness to speculate Concepts and ideas that Not being satisfied with Showing a lot of searching Drawings, models and Expressed as a percentage
and try new approaches; are thought provoking and the first version; exploring through the work and constructions made with of what is required
openness to experiment; insightful about the alternatives and versions through exploratory care; constructions made
forming meaningful ideas subject of study with a critical eye effort; showing many with attention to materials %
and relationships in the attempts to explore an and connections; precision
study and in the discussion issue or to find better, applied in appropriate
of ideas in things deeper results ways throughout

NOTE: Work on each assignment is due at the beginning of the first meeting each week unless otherwise indicated in class discussion with your
teacher. This allows for discussion and feedback from the first meeting to lead to a second iteration for discussion at the second meeting
each week.

Describing and Inscribing are ways to begin this phase of exploratory analysis. We encourage you to exercise your curiosity. After exploring
and describing the example of movement, filtering, transparency or nesting that you have chosen, you are asked to work analytically and
abstractly to understand how the phenomenon really occurs in your example. Try to discover more about what transpires. This will lead you
to explore the architectural possibilities of your research, translating, through speculation at different scales and through different tectonic
roles, to try to find applications for your research.
WEEK 1:
Introductions to one another; questions and aspirations.
Review of Syllabus
Review Student Portfolios / Previous Project(s)

Choose one of the twelve subjects, below, for individual conceptual studies:

1) Folding
2) Filtering
3) Palimpsest

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 4) Nesting
5) Music (its structure, form, rhythms, themes . . .)
6) Micro-design (small-scale human activity and how it might shape micro / macro scale design)
7) Poetry (its structure, form, rhythms, themes . . .)
8) Clothing (its construction / deconstruction, forms, seams, shapes . . .)
9) Film (its structure, form, rhythms, themes . . .)
10) Inside out (externalizing what is inside; casting and forming)
11) Movement (its structure, form, rhythms, themes . . .)
12) Fractal geometry (self-similarity of geometry at different scales, in natural forms)

You will study this phenomenon spatially, formally and in narrative for 4 weeks. Try to find your way towards the beginning of the tectonic qualities of
forms, spaces, structure and enclosure through exploring the phenomena involved. Begin by choosing one of the four and then:
Assignment 1-A:

1 Make folds and begin to map folding. Begin the process of drawing diagrams and building models of its form, rhythms, spaces and structure.
2 Examine and document filtering. Draw diagrams and build models of its form, function and structure.
3 Study a palimpsest. Begin the process of drawing layered transparencies, diagrams and building models of its form and structure.
4 Examine nesting. Consider the spaces associated with this. Begin the process of drawing diagrams and building models of its forms and structures.
5 Listen to, and look at sheet music for, a piece of music, to explore its formal composition. Try diagramming it.
6 Study street life in Vietnam to see how micro-design shapes city life in Hanoian culture
7 Read a poem aloud a few times; consider both meaning and form as they inter-relate. Make a tracing paper study of the poems structure and meaning.
8 Consider the shapes of the pieces of cloth from which clothing is constructed. Draw the shapes separately; explore re-compositions.
9 Make sketches of key still-frame moments in a film scene. Consider how diagrammatic plans and sections could capture key qualities of the moments.
10 Have a friend turn a T-shirt inside out while you make a movie of the actions. Sketch still frames of the transformation and diagram it.
11 Have a friend throw an object spinning in the air (tennis racket, plastic stool, etc.) while you film it. Sketch still frames of moments in the movement.
12 Study clouds and tree branches to see how small parts are formally similar to large parts. Draw key fractal geometry that repeats at different scales.

Make drawing studies in your sketchbook. Write in prose or poetry about your findings.

Begin explorations this week.

Do not waste any time. Once lost, time is gone forever. Mistakes are often the best way to learn, so try not to shy away from them.

WEEK 2:
Present your drawings and constructions during class. Conceptual Work: Desk critique: discuss first studies with your faculty; initial tectonic
studies: 1) Folding study, 2) Filtering study, 3) Palimpsest study, 4) Nesting study, 5) Music study, 6) Micro-design study, 7) Poetry study, 8)
Clothing study, 9) Film study, 10) Inside out study, 11) Movement, 12) Fractal Geometry

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 Assignment 1-B: depending on which phenomenon you have chosen, first research its etymology (the history of the meaning of the word).
This may introduce you to new ways of thinking about the phenomenon. Then do the appropriate assignment as follows:

1 – Folding: make a folded form, make an inscription or imprint of it; photograph both of them and make at least two charcoal or conte
crayon drawings of it. Begin to research the potentials of scaling and multiplying the fold. Can a space be folded like a plane can be?
2 - Filtering: choose a filter to study. Examine it at the small scale and at the large scale. Make at least two charcoal or conte crayon drawings
of one of the spaces. Make an imprint of it using ink on paper or graphite on paper.
3 - Palimpsest: find a palimpsest that interests you. Make at least two charcoal or conte crayon drawings of it. Take apart the layers. Consider
carefully the levels and how they relate one part to another.
4 - Nesting: Find a real nest if you can. Use images you find, if you must. Make at least two charcoal or conte crayon drawings of it. Research
the process by which it is constructed. Consider carefully the scale of the nest and its relation / attachment to a typical setting.
5 – Music: Draw with charcoal or conte crayons, as you listen to a piece of music. Try to let the movements and gestures of the music
translate into movements and gestures of your hand. Consider sheet music for the piece, if you can, and make similar drawings of its rhythms.
6 – Micro-design: can change spaces after the architects and designers have finished their work. Sketch in charcoal or soft pencil the diagram
of how those inter-relate. How can micro-design change the world we inhabit?
7 – Poetry: make a charcoal or soft-pencil drawing of the flow of the phrases from line to line. Make another study of the rhythm and
cadence of the syllables and emphases. Make another study of key moments in the narrative of the poem, if it is a narrative poem.
8 – Clothing: architects from Michelangelo to Gehry have been entranced and inspired by soft folds of draped cloth and clothing. Make
charcoal studies of light and shadow made by draped cloth or clothing.
9 – Film: movement in film can be captured frame by frame, in animations, only giving the illusion of movement when shown at speed.
Consider this characteristic of film in soft pencil drawings of frame by frame movement and change.
10 – Inside out: Frank Lloyd Wright talked about wanting the interior character of a building to be equal to its exterior expression; the inside
should be coming through. Try soft pencil or charcoal studies with two colors to explore the inside and the outside of a building at once.
11 – Movement: while holding a stick of charcoal or a soft pencil in your fist, make a practiced movement of your arm (throwing, striking,
tossing, flipping an omelet in a pan). Inscribe the movement on a piece of paper, as your fist slices against it.
12 – Fractal Geometry: make charcoal or soft-pencil drawings of fractals at a minimum of three scales. Explore their inter-relationship and
overlaps through the use of different colors.
WEEK 3:
Conceptual Work continues.

Assignment 1-C: Make a precise set of drawings of the subject of your study using pencil on vellum, ink on mylar or CAD. Make sure that
line weights are carefully considered. Using the diagrams and soft-media drawings from the last two weeks, explore the precision of measure
and potentials for inhabitation in your explorations. Consider preliminary tectonic translations of the early studies by drawing plan to section.

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 Consider the spaces implied by your earlier drawings; speculate about giving them measured geometry and rhythm. These may be done in
CAD or by hand.

WEEK 4 & 5– Assignment 1-C continued: continue making a precise set of drawings of the subject of your study using pencil on vellum, ink on mylar or
CAD. Make sure that line weights are carefully considered. From the previous weeks, you should have diagrammatic studies, soft-media studies and drawings
that have the precision of measure. Take a next step to consider the idea of sequencing of experience in the spaces you have generated. Imagine ways of
structuring the forms you are generating.

WEEK 6 – PIN UP
PIN UP the work you have done for the last month for discussion Continue with Conceptual Study.

: Two A-0 boards for conceptual sketches, diagrams and sketch model images.
: One A-0 board for precise drawings, by hand or using CAD, exploring further the conceptual studies.
: All physical models you have made.
: One A-3 Book that documents your process and presentation. Include research findings, sketches, explanations, physical models, CAD
models, and all exhibits that tell the story of your work.
: If you are presenting digitally, provide these exhibits in a formatted PowerPoint presentation, or equivalent application.

For next week, TRANSLATE begin the process of turning conceptual ideas into Tectonic Studies / Architectural Studies.

Assignment 1-D: Make a sketch model and a more precise conceptual or analytical model. Consider the form, space, environmental
enclosure and action that begin to develop around your subject of study. In all cases you must work to TRANSLATE from one medium to
another and make drawings / models that begin to involve concepts of architectural form, structure, environmental enclosure and
space. You can choose an aspect or several aspects of your study to model with precision rather than trying to model everything. If you
choose aspects that are too simple then the model will be a waste of time. On the other hand, if you try to model something too complex in
only one week you may be overwhelmed. Try to choose steps forward that are interestingly complex, but not overwhelming, and try to
model them descriptively, with measured precision.

Consider the idea of the model as a ‘case’ or sheath in which inhabitation may be fitted; a case that in some way allows for entering and
experiencing of the internal space, as well as the mediation provided by environmental enclosure. Consider the idea of the model as a
malleable 3-d diagram that can be expanded, reduced, reshaped.
WEEK 7:
Conceptual Studies becoming Tectonic Studies.

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 Assignment 1-E:
Make another, version of the analytical / conceptual model of your subject, using colors to code the elements.
WEEK 8
Conceptual Studies becoming Green Tectonic Studies.2

Begin with the translation exercises handout – after completing those studies, build a 2nd version of the abstract construction you made last
week and draw or photomontage the analytical construction into a site, three times, at three architectural scales that are established by a
human figure. Each should consider an element of green design (solar penetration, lighting, energy savings, heating / cooling, wind, ventilation,
rain water collection / filtering / drainage, sustainable materials). Your constructions may propose to be as small as fitting one person, and it
may be as large as a for a thousand people, depending on the relative size of the human figure. Consider intimacy, monumentality and
grandeur in exploring different scalar applications. Consider the potentials of applying your researched studies as a space, a form, a wall, a
window, a building structure, a roof, a sunscreen . . .

Begin to prepare materials for the mid-review in two weeks, where you present your most current work and all the process work that has
led up to it.
WEEK 9:
Prepare three sketch models: site the construct you have developed in an urban setting three different ways.

: Sketch the layout of three boards: One for conceptual studies, one for translative tectonic studies, and one for site strategies.

WEEK 10 - MID-REVIEW:
MID-REVIEW of Conceptual and Preliminary Green Tectonic Studies for Mid-Semester evaluation and grading:

Minimum requirements for presenting at the Mid-Review:

Without this minimum you will be asked not to present and you will have to repeat the course next year.

: One board: Conceptual studies of folding, filtering, palimpsest or nesting, from the first weeks of the semester, in drawing and model form,
formatted on one board, with accompanying physical model(s).

: Two boards showing Green Tectonic Studies.

: Three models: Each model should show a site strategy for inserting your conceptual construction in an urban context. You may modify the
conceptual construction in order to fit it into the urban context in a way that integrates clearer relationships to the urban context.

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 : Three boards: One for conceptual studies, one for program and site analysis and one for presenting the three schemes.

: Sections each will meet, sharing their Conceptual and Green Tectonic Studies: each student may present a PowerPoint, is required to have a
printout of the PowerPoint, and to have the actual models + drawings / constructions for pinup / discussion.

: All the Assignments from the first 8 weeks are to be presented physically at the review and in the PowerPoint / printout booklet.

Students who have not met the requirements for the Mid-Review may be stopped by the faculty at this point and asked to return next year
to complete the work of this course properly. Students who do not attend the Mid-Review, and do not have a medical or other emergency-
based reason for not attending, will not be able to continue in the Thesis and will have to come back next year to try again.

Shortly after the review, so that your memory will be fresh and clear, write a one-page summary (in English) of the discussion of the points
made at the review and your preliminary reaction to them. E-mail these comments to your instructor within 24 hours of the Mid-Review.
Then proceed to begin your site studies.

Criteria for last nine weeks ending in the Final Review

Grade: Grade Grade: Percentage
Creativity Translation Iterative Struggle Design Craft and
study Development Completion
Willingness to Translation of Not being Showing a lot Design %
speculate and concepts and satisfied with of searching developed
try new ideas into a the first work and with care;
approaches; thoughtful version; exploratory thoughtful
openness to architectural exploring effort; integration of
experiment; solution; alternatives showing many building
forming mindful and versions attempts to systems, and
meaningful reflection on with a critical explore an functional
ideas and the ways the eye issue or to requirements;
relationships early find better, careful
in the study conceptual deeper results attention to
and in the studies can meeting
discussion of inform the building
ideas in things design regulations

WEEK 11:
Next Week’s Assignment, after the Mid Review:

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 Site, Program and Legal Constraints / Building Regulations
Program/Site Analysis models and drawings; legal constraints and building regulations research. Site work on the overall neighborhood site.
Individual site and program work will be done by all students, individually.

Site analysis and site model construction: each student will choose a site for their thesis within a neighborhood where all students will do
their projects. Collaborative site analysis at an urban scale by the class will complement individual building site analysis done by each student.
The class will collaboratively model the blocks, and the buildings on the blocks, of the neighborhood. Every student will individually model, at
a larger scale, the individual building site with adjacent buildings and buildings across the street that define the next larger context.

Complete diagrams of three of the most important issues related to your site. Consider the scales of 1) the city, 2) the neighborhood, 3) the
street and 4) the alley. Make a drawing studying light at the site at mid-day on a sunny day.

Assignment 2-B: Program Selection, Articulation and Analysis:

Every student will choose three or four main functions (see options below) to combine in their project - a mixed-use
building that acts in support of a neighborhood or community.

Each student will articulate the sub-parts of the main functions and prepare a program of uses for their building design. The thoughtfully
considered process of functional combination will be one of the subjects of the thesis studio.

Students will choose two uses creating Project Title(s) of this kind: MUSEUMSCHOOL (school where classrooms and library are in a
museum), LIBRARIUM (mix of library, lecture halls, natatorium and museum), SCHOOLARY (classrooms, movie theatre and library book
stacks / reading), HOMESCHOOL (elderly housing with classrooms and lecture halls), EDUCATORIUM (classrooms mixed with theatres and
laboratories), DANCESCHOOL (dance studios mixed with dance theatres and fine school classrooms), LIVING IN THE LIBRARY (housing,
natatorium and library); THEATARY (theatres mixed with classrooms and library), SHOPPINGSTREETHOUSING (where the street as a
pubic shopping space is mixed with housing and a public amenity, like a school, lecture hall or library); because the functions are multiple it is
not a building ‘type’ – the relationships of its functions must be discovered / uncovered. All the buildings may function as neighborhood
community centers.

Program: Combine and mix learning, living and other functions (choose three)
(museum, school, shopping, natatorium, library, theater, housing). Students will have to specify and articulate the specific kind of housing or
school or library or museum or theatre or shopping in their project . . .

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 Legal Constraints and Building Regulations: Students will need to work in teams and individually to gather information to learn the legal
constraints and building regulations that apply to their neighborhood and their individual building sites. Students will document, diagram, and
present these findings as part of their research in preparation for design.
WEEK 12:
Individual Research continues on Assignments 2-A, 2-B and 2-C: Program/Site Analysis, Legal Constraints and Regulations models, drawings
and documentary studies.
WEEK 13:
Explore ideas for 3 schemes, in sketches and sketch models, considering potential connections between three things: your Conceptual
Studies in WEEKS 1-6, your choices of Site / Program, and your research on Legal Constraints and Building Regulations. Format the sketches,
or copies of the sketches, on A-4 paper.

Models and Drawings: Present at least two coded sketch models and two pages of sketched drawings exploring a potential precedent of
function, analyzed according to structure, movement, enclosure and your conceptual theme.

WEEK 14:
Build 3 schemes; color-coded Program Models, and 10 copies of a unit from your precedent of function, this week out of movable blocks,
built to the same scale as your building site model. Explore alternative configurations with both, using white strips or tubes to mark
circulation. Consider site relationships emerging within your alternatives. Make photographs of the alternative configurations. Include vertical
and horizontal linear blocks for vertical and horizontal circulation. These program models and unit configurations are due this week.

WEEK 15 - PENULTIMATE REVIEW:

PENULTIMATE REVIEW Present 3 schemes: One Scheme Concept in Model and Drawings and the two others that you studied, and
will continue to study, but are considering setting aside. Explain why you have chosen the One over the Other Two. Explain as best you can
the relationship between the Conceptual Studies and your Schemes. Discuss skin in PowerPoint lecture, as it relates to structure,
environment and organization. Be prepared regarding Legal Constraints and Building Regulations.Review program block models and unit
configuration studies that are due today.

Three Schemes second iteration as program block models that now include ideas about skin, unit configuration, circulation and structure.
Conceptual models of three schemes addressing these issues are due next week at the Penultimate Review. Draw diagrammatic plans and
sections of the models.
Reflect on the relationship of skin, structure and movement as they relate to the conceptual studies you made in the first six weeks and the
site analysis you did in WEEKS 8 and 9. Keep in the back of your mind Legal Constraints and Building Regulations.

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WEEK 14:
PENULTIMATE REVIEW Present One Scheme Concept in Model and Drawings and the two others that you studied, and will continue
to study, but are considering setting aside. Explain why you have chosen the One over the Other Two. Explain as best you can the
relationship between the Conceptual Studies and your Schemes. Discuss skin in PowerPoint lecture, as it relates to structure, environment
and organization. Be prepared regarding Legal Constraints and Building Regulations.

Assignment 2-G: Shortly after the review, so that your memory will be fresh and clear, write a one-page summary (in Vietnamese or in
English) of the discussion of the points made at the review and your preliminary reaction to them. E-mail these comments to your instructor
within 24 hours of the Mid-Review
WEEK 15:
Continue Integration of Site. Program and Conceptual Idea through conceptual drawings and models of 3 schemes.

Assignment:
Draw two massing sketches of the exterior.
Make new models of function, circulation, skin, and structure for the three schemes you are studying. These models need to come apart in
order to show spaces and structure within the building.
WEEK 16:
Continue to revise your work and adjust your approach based on the discussion in class. Present revisions in drawing and model.
Assignment:
Diagrammatic plans, site diagrams, sections, massing perspectives and models for three schemes. Diagram models are to show function
diagram, structure diagram, skin approach to openness, filtering of light, and closure, as well as the circulation diagram. Fit the model within a
site model.
Make a small massing model for each of your three schemes to fit into the large neighborhood site model. Photograph these models in place

WEEK 17 - FACULTY EVALUATION REVIEW:

FACULTY EVALUATION REVIEW of first semester’s work. Present all steps in the process of the work, from the 1st week through
the 16th week, in an A-4 book. Present all study models made during the process. At this review you will present and defend your research
process as well the choice of one conceptual approach to a scheme. Your faculty will have a chance to ask you questions and to give you
advice about your choice and about the work you will do in the following semester to complete your thesis project.

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1.2. WORKING DETAILS OF PRE-THESIS
1.2.1. From Week 1 to Week 6:

The first four weeks of work in Pre-Thesis, due at the first Pin-Up Review in 2 weeks

FILTERING
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you choose FILTERING:

1: Examine and document and example of filtering. Sketch and build sketch models exploring
the forms and spaces in the example.
2: Examine the chosen example further at different scales. Make charcoal or conte crayon
drawings of one or more of the spaces inside it. Make an imprint of a filter using ink on
paper or graphite on paper.
3: Make a section drawing of s space or spaces that you found within your filter. Consider
and diagram passage through this space / these spaces / forms. Make a 3-d study of space
and form based on your diagrams.
4: TWO MODELS: Use the drawing studies from last week to make a sketch model and
then a diagram model of the forms and functions of your filter. Consider that the skin of a
building, the skin of the human body and the spatial layers at buildings’ and bodies’ edges,
are complex environmental filters.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOLDING
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you choose FOLDING:

1: make explorations of folds and begin to map them. Begin the process of drawing diagrams
and building models of folded forms, rhythms, spaces and structures.
2: take a folded form based on your studies, make a drawing, inscription or imprint of it;
photograph both form and drawing. Begin to sketch in charcoal potential of scaling and
multiplying of folds. Explore folded spaces as well as forms. Can a space be folded like a
plane can be?
3: using the studies and research you made, make more measured drawings of folding,
considering plan and section. Are you folding flat planes, curved planes, spaces, or
combinations?
4: TWO MODELS: construct a sketch model and a diagram model of the spaces, rhythms
and forms of folding, according to your research in the first 3 steps. Research, as
appropriate to your earlier steps, folded plates, curved folding (like folded cloth) and / or
folded spaces. Consider faceting surfacing developed from repeated folding.
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PALIMPSEST
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you choose PALIMPSEST:

1: Find an example of palimpsest that interests. you. Begin the process of drawing out layers
of its history; diagrams and made sketch models of your findings.
2: Explore your example further. Make at least two charcoal or conte crayon drawings of its

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layers. Take the layers apart and put them back together. Consider carefully their levels and
form and how they relate to each other.
3: Using the drawings that you made last week, use tracing paper, plastic sheets or
cardboard sheets to examine the relationship of the layers of the palimpsest. Consider how
one layer is affected by another as it is seen 'through' the other.
4: TWO MODELS: 3-dimensionally explore the layers you studied last week to make a
sketch model and an analytical model of your palimpsest. Consider and explore how layers
and layered transparencies may be applied to your work.
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NESTING
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you choose NESTING:

1: Examine an example of nesting. Consider the spaces, forms and structures associated
with nests and their making. Begin the process of sketching, drawing diagrams and building
models of nests, nest-making and nesting of one thing or space within another
2: Make at least two charcoal or conte crayon drawings of your chosen example of nesting.
Research the process by which your specific nesting is constructed. Consider carefully the
scale of the nest and, very importantly its relation to its setting
3: considering the charcoal drawings you made, and the research you did, make a plan /
section study of the nest’s structure, form and space. Consider the materials from which it
is made. How is the sequence resulting in nest-making achieved? If appropriate, map how
inhabitants move in and out of the nest and how nest form relates to body form.
4: TWO MODELS: make two models exploring 1) the layers of nested forms / spaces and
2) movement of inhabitants over and through layers
……………………
……………………..
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1.2.2. Week 6: Pin Up of Conceptual Studies in the First Four Weeks:

Prepare boards with the materials you have produced for each assignment so far, for everyone to
see. Prepare to present your work within your group and to answer questions about your work
within your group.

PRESENT: FOUR (vertical) A-1 boards – one for each assignment for Conceptual Studies, as well as
ALL the physical models required for the assignments, as re-copied below.

FILTERING
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you choose FILTERING:

Board 1: Examine and document and example of filtering. Sketch and build sketch models
exploring the forms and spaces in the example.
Board 2: Examine the chosen example further at different scales. Make charcoal or conte
crayon drawings of one or more of the spaces inside it. Make an imprint of a filter using ink
on paper or graphite on paper.
Board 3: Make a section drawing of s space or spaces that you found within your filter.

13
Consider and diagram passage through this space / these spaces / forms. Make a 3-d study of
space and form based on your diagrams.
Board 4: TWO MODELS: Use the drawing studies from last week to make a sketch model
and then a diagram model of the forms and functions of your filter. Consider that the skin of
a building, the skin of the human body and the spatial layers at buildings’ and bodies’ edges,
are complex environmental filters.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOLDING
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you choose FOLDING:

Board 1: make explorations of folds and begin to map them. Begin the process of drawing
diagrams and building models of folded forms, rhythms, spaces and structures.
Board 2: take a folded form based on your studies, make a drawing, inscription or imprint of
it; photograph both form and drawing. Begin to sketch in charcoal potential of scaling and
multiplying of folds. Explore folded spaces as well as forms. Can a space be folded like a
plane can be?
Board 3: using the studies and research you made, make more measured drawings of
folding, considering plan and section. Are you folding flat planes, curved planes, spaces, or
combinations?
Board 4: TWO MODELS: construct a sketch model and a diagram model of the spaces,
rhythms and forms of folding, according to your research in the first 3 steps. Research, as
appropriate to your earlier steps, folded plates, curved folding (like folded cloth) and / or
folded spaces. Consider faceting surfacing developed from repeated folding.

PALIMPSEST
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you choose PALIMPSEST:

Board 1: Find an example of palimpsest that interests. you. Begin the process of drawing out
layers of its history; diagrams and made sketch models of your findings.
Board 2: Explore your example further. Make at least two charcoal or conte crayon
drawings of its layers. Take the layers apart and put them back together. Consider carefully
their levels and form and how they relate to each other.
Board 3: Using the drawings that you made last week, use tracing paper, plastic sheets or
cardboard sheets to examine the relationship of the layers of the palimpsest. Consider how
one layer is affected by another as it is seen 'through' the other.
Board 4: TWO MODELS: 3-dimensionally explore the layers you studied last week to make
a sketch model and an analytical model of your palimpsest. Consider and explore how layers
and layered transparencies may be applied to your work.
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NESTING
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you choose NESTING:

Board 1: Examine an example of nesting. Consider the spaces, forms and structures
associated with nests and their making. Begin the process of sketching, drawing diagrams
and building models of nests, nest-making and nesting of one thing or space within another
Board 2: Make at least two charcoal or conte crayon drawings of your chosen example of
nesting. Research the process by which your specific nesting is constructed. Consider

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carefully the scale of the nest and, very importantly its relation to its setting
Board 3: considering the charcoal drawings you made, and the research you did, make a
plan / section study of the nest’s structure, form and space. Consider the materials from
which it is made. How is the sequence resulting in nest-making achieved? If appropriate, map
how inhabitants move in and out of the nest and how nest form relates to body form.
Board 4: TWO MODELS: make two models exploring 1) the layers of nested forms / spaces
and 2) movement of inhabitants over and through layers
…………………..
…………………..
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1.2.3. From Week 7 to Week 9:

Week 7:
Conceptual Studies becoming Tectonic Studies.

Assignment 1-E:
Make another, version of the analytical / conceptual model of your subject, using
colors to code the elements.

Week 8:
Conceptual Studies becoming Green Tectonic Studies.2

Begin with the translation exercises handout – after completing those studies, build
a 2nd version of the abstract construction you made last week and draw or
photomontage the analytical construction into a site, three times, at three
architectural scales that are established by a human figure. Each should consider an
element of green design (sun, lighting, energy, heating / cooling, wind, ventilation,
rain, water collection / drainage,). Your constructions may propose to be as small as
fitting one person, and it may be as large as a for a thousand people, depending on
the relative size of the human figure. Consider intimacy, monumentality and
grandeur in exploring different scalar applications. Consider the potentials of
applying your researched studies as a space, a form, a wall, a window, a building
structure, a roof, a sunscreen . . .

Begin to prepare materials for the mid-review in two weeks, where you present
your most current work and all the process work that has led up to it.

Week 9:
Prepare three sketch models: site the construct you have developed in an urban
setting three different ways.

: Sketch the layout of three boards: One for conceptual studies, one for translative
tectonic studies, and one for site strategies.

1.2.4. Week 10: the Mid-Review

Minimum requirements for presenting at the Mid-Review:

Without this minimum, at the discretion of your instructor, you may be asked not to
present and you may have to repeat the course next year.

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: Board 1: Conceptual studies of folding, filtering, palimpsest or nesting, from the first weeks of the
semester, in drawing and model form, formatted on one board, with accompanying physical model(s) to
show on a table.

: Boards 2 and 3: showing exploration of Translative Studies, that translate from early conceptual work
into more architectural language, and ‘Green Tectonic’ Studies, incorporating strategies for sustainable
design. You should have diagram models from this stage of the work.

: Boards 4, 5, and 6 for presenting three schemes in diagrammatic drawings. Diagram models should be
included, one for each scheme. Each scheme / diagram model should show a site strategy for inserting
your work in an urban context (corner site, ‘slot’ site between buildings on a block, and a lakeside site
within park surrounding it, for example). The models should reflect your conceptual ideas as well as your
translation studies and green tectonic studies. You may explore modifying the green tectonic model
studies in order to fit your schemes into the different urban contexts

: Pre-Thesis Sections each will meet, sharing their Conceptual and Green Tectonic Studies: each student
may present a booklet printout of a PowerPoint that documents all the work you have done up until the
review. This booklet is required, along with the actual models + drawings / constructions for pinup /
discussion.

: All the Assignments from the first 8 weeks are to be presented physically at the review in the boards,
models and the PowerPoint / printout booklet.

Students who have not met the requirements for the Mid-Review may be stopped by the faculty at this
point and asked to return next year to complete the work of this course properly. Students who do not
attend the Mid-Review, and do not have a medical or other emergency-based reason for not attending,
will not be able to continue in the Thesis and will have to come back next year to try again.

1.2.5. Week 11 to Week 13:

WEEK 10:
After the Mid Review:
Assignment A: Site, Program and Legal Constraints / Building Regulations
Program/Site Analysis models and drawings; legal constraints and building regulations research. Site
work on the overall neighborhood site. Individual site and program work will be done by all
students, individually.

Site analysis and site model construction: each student will choose a site for their thesis
within a neighborhood where all students will do their projects. Collaborative site analysis at an
urban scale by the class will complement individual building site analysis done by each student. The
class will collaboratively model the blocks, and the buildings on the blocks, of the neighborhood.
Every student will individually model, at a larger scale, the individual building site with adjacent
buildings and buildings across the street that define the next larger context.

Complete diagrams of three of the most important issues related to your site. Consider the
scales of 1) the city, 2) the neighborhood, 3) the street and 4) the alley. Make a drawing studying
light at the site at mid-day on a sunny day.

Week 8 Assignment B: Program Selection, Articulation and Analysis:

Every student will choose three or four main functions (see options below) to combine in their
project - a mixed-use building that acts in support of a neighborhood or community.

Each student will articulate the sub-parts of the main functions and prepare a program of uses for
their building design. The thoughtfully considered process of functional combination will be one of
the subjects of the thesis studio.

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Students will choose three uses, generating Project Title(s) of this kind:

: MUSEUMSCHOOL (school where classrooms and library are in a museum),

: NATALIBRARIUM (mix of natatorium, library, lecture halls, and museum),
: SCHOOLARY (classrooms, movie theatre and library book stacks / reading),
: HOMESCHOOL (elderly housing with classrooms, children’s center and lecture halls),
: EDUCATORIUM (classrooms mixed with theatres and laboratories),
: DANCESCHOOL (dance studios mixed with dance theatres, movie theatres and performing arts
school classrooms),
: LIVING IN THE LIBRARY (housing, natatorium and library);
: THEATARY (theatres mixed with classrooms and library),
: SHOPPINGSTREETHOUSING (where the street as a pubic shopping space is mixed with housing
and a public amenity, like a school, lecture hall or library);

Because the functions are multiple, the project is not a building ‘type’ – the relationships of and
boundaries between its functions must be explored / discovered / uncovered.

All the buildings are expected to include community spaces, playing a role as neighborhood
community centers, due to their special cultural and societal roles of their functions.

Legal Constraints and Building Regulations: Students will need to learn the legal constraints and
building regulations that apply to their neighborhood and their individual building sites. Students will
document, diagram, and present these findings as part of their research in preparation for design.

WEEK 11:
Individual Research continues on Assignments 2-A, 2-B and 2-C: Program/Site Analysis, Legal Constraints
and Regulations models, drawings and documentary studies.

WEEK 12:
Explore ideas for 3 schemes, in sketches and sketch models, considering potential connections between
three things: your Conceptual Studies in WEEKS 1-6, your choices of Site / Program, and your research
on Legal Constraints and Building Regulations. Format the sketches, or copies of the sketches, on A-4
paper.

Models and Drawings: Present at least two coded sketch models and two pages of sketched drawings
exploring a potential precedent of function, analyzed according to structure, movement, enclosure and
your conceptual theme.

WEEK 13:
Build 3 schemes; color-coded Program Models, and 10 copies of a unit from your precedent of
function, this week out of movable blocks, built to the same scale as your building site model. Explore
alternative configurations with both, using white strips or tubes to mark circulation. Consider site
relationships emerging within your alternatives. Make photographs of the alternative configurations.
Include vertical and horizontal linear blocks for vertical and horizontal circulation. These program models
and unit configurations are due this week.

1.2.6. Week 14: The Penultimate-Review:

Present 3 schemes: One Scheme Concept in Model and Drawings and the two others that you studied,
and will continue to study, but are considering setting aside. Explain why you have chosen the One over
the Other Two. Explain as best you can the relationship between the Conceptual Studies and your
Schemes. Discuss skin in PowerPoint lecture, as it relates to structure, environment and organization. Be

17
prepared regarding Legal Constraints and Building Regulations. Review program block models and unit
configuration studies that are due today.

Three Schemes second iteration as program block models that now include ideas about skin, unit
configuration, circulation and structure. Conceptual models of three schemes addressing these issues are
due next week at the Penultimate Review. Draw diagrammatic plans and sections of the models.
Reflect on the relationship of skin, structure and movement as they relate to the conceptual studies you
made in the first six weeks and the site analysis you did in WEEKS 8 and 9. Keep in the back of your
mind Legal Constraints and Building Regulations.

Minimum requirements (on this page) for presenting at the Penultimate-

Review:

Without this minimum, at the discretion of your instructor, you may be asked not to
present and you may have to repeat the course next year.

A: Board 1: Conceptual studies of folding, filtering, palimpsest or nesting, from the first weeks of the
semester, in drawing and model form, formatted on one board, with accompanying physical model(s) to
show on a table.

B: Boards 2 and 3: showing exploration of Translative Studies, that translate from early conceptual
work into more architectural language, and ‘Green Tectonic’ Studies, incorporating strategies for
sustainable design. You should have diagram models from this stage of the work.

C: Board 4: show your first try at 3 schemes that you presented at the last review, on three different
sites, exploring site-related ideas and your form-language.

D: Boards 5, 6, and 7 show your site analysis, program diagrams and your new three schemes, on your
chosen site, in diagrammatic form: show function, circulation, enclosure drawings and model images.
Diagram models should be included, one for each scheme, with functions in different colors, and vertical
+ horizontal circulation. Include ideas about enclosure as well, on the facades and elevations. Each
scheme / diagram model should show a site strategy for inserting your work on your chosen site. The
models should reflect your conceptual ideas as well as your translation studies and green tectonic studies.
Make sure the 3 schemes are significantly different from each other.

E: Show all physical study models you have made during the semester – place them on the tables
below your presentation boards or pin them onto the wall.

F: A-3 booklet of your work this semester, held together with a binder clip.
_______________________________________________________
: Pre-Thesis Sections each will meet, sharing their Conceptual and Green Tectonic Studies: each student
may present a booklet printout of a PowerPoint that documents all the work you have done up until the
review. This booklet is required, along with the actual models + drawings / constructions for pinup /
discussion.

: All the Assignments from the first 12 weeks are to be presented physically at the review in the
boards, models and the PowerPoint / printout booklet.
Students who have not met the requirements for the Mid-Review may be stopped by the faculty at this
point and asked to return next year to complete the work of this course properly. Students who do not
attend the Mid-Review, and do not have a medical or other emergency-based reason for not attending,
will not be able to continue in the Thesis and will have to come back next year to try again.

18
1.2.7. Week 15 to Week 17:
WEEK 15:
after the PENULTIMATE REVIEW Present One Scheme Concept in Model and Drawings and the
two others that you studied, and will continue to study, but are considering setting aside. Explain why
you have chosen the One over the Other Two. Explain as best you can the relationship between the
Conceptual Studies and your Schemes. Discuss skin in PowerPoint lecture, as it relates to structure,
environment and organization. Be prepared regarding Legal Constraints and Building Regulations.

Assignment 2-G: Shortly after the review, so that your memory will be fresh and clear, write a one-
page summary (in Vietnamese or in English) of the discussion of the points made at the review and your
preliminary reaction to them. E-mail these comments to your instructor within 24 hours of the Mid-
Review.
WEEK 16:
Continue Integration of Site. Program and Conceptual Idea through conceptual
drawings and models of 3 schemes.

Assignment:
Draw two massing sketches of the exterior.
Make new models of function, circulation, skin, and structure for the three schemes
you are studying. These models need to come apart in order to show spaces and
structure within the building.
WEEK 17:
Week 15: Continue to revise your work and adjust your approach based on the
discussion in class. Present revisions in drawing and model.
Assignment:
Diagrammatic plans, site diagrams, sections, massing perspectives and models for
three schemes. Diagram models are to show function diagram, structure diagram,
skin approach to openness, filtering of light, and closure, as well as the circulation
diagram. Fit the model within a site model.
Make a small massing model for each of your three schemes to fit into the large
neighborhood site model. Photograph these models in place

1.2.8. Week 18: The Final Pre-Thesis Review for Faculty Evaluation:

Minimum requirements for presenting at the Final Pre-Thesis Review:

Without this minimum, you will be asked not to present and you will have to repeat the
course next year.

Until now, you have all done four kinds of research that you will need to present at the
review:

1: conceptual research and translative studies

clearly present the conceptual research you did, and the translative studies you made to apply your
research to making architecture

2: green tectonic research

clearly present the green tectonic research you did, and diagram the ways you can see to apply the
research to your schemes

3: site analysis
clearly present the site analysis you did, showing the opportunities the site offers and constraints the site
imposes

4: preliminary program analysis

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clearly present preliminary program analysis, showing the relationship of the mix of uses, and as the mix
supports community development

In trying your best to generate three significantly different schemes, you will find, if you
study them well against your research, that each alternative has strengths and weaknesses.
Explain this to your reviewers at the review. That is what you must do, in order to judge
your own work well, and in order to complete your requirements for the Final Pre-Thesis
Review:

PRESENTATION REQUIREMENTS checklist:

O Conceptual ideas: present the development of ideas you have researched and how the selected scheme can be
developed according to your early concept studies

O Three program / circulation models placed in site context drawings and site context models: Each color-coded
model should show a program / site strategy for your project. Diagram plans and sections show the basic organization of
each scheme. Color coded circulation should be used to mark vertical and horizontal movement and how it links to site
circulation. Indicate major points of entry and service. Translation of early conceptual studies and green tectonics should
be part of each proposal. Findings from the site analysis should be applied to generating and judging the schemes.

O Six Required A-1 boards:

: 1 conceptual + translative studies
: 2 presenting research on green tectonics
: 3 presenting site + program analysis
: 4 your three site studies from the mid-review
: 5 three scheme alternatives’ diagrams + diagram models, shown in the chosen site, in context plans, context sections,
context model; color code for function + vertical / horizontal circulation with arrows for main entries and service entries
: 6 for your selected scheme, with greater study, showing diagrammatic site plan, diagrammatic building plans +
diagrammatic site / building sections showing functions, circulation, major spaces + major entry points.

O All physical models: present all the actual physical models, as well as images of all the CAD models you have
produced this semester. Display physical models underneath your boards.

O Prepare an A-3 PowerPoint booklet: presentation of all the semester’s work, and a printout of the PowerPoint, as
well as the actual models + drawings for pinup / discussion. All the work prepared during the first 18 weeks is to be
presented physically at the review and in the PowerPoint / A-3 printout booklet. Present the actual physical models you
showed at the previous reviews as background material for discussion.

O Select one scheme, to develop with more detailed diagrammatic plans and site / building sections and model,
showing the scheme which you judge is best, among the three. Preliminary ideas about major spaces should be shown.
Translation of early conceptual studies, site analysis, program analysis and green tectonics should be more developed.

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