Overview
ADST 200: Foundations of Design I is the first of ten studio courses designed to prepare you for work in an architect’s office. This course explores the creative design process through a series of composition, abstraction, and design projects.
The aim of this course is to familiarize you with the creative application of sound analytical skills, imaginative conceptual thinking, and form-making abilities. You will be introduced to a design process based on original thinking in which you will synthesize collected information and draw conclusions based on established premises. The course will also demonstrate how to generate several design alternatives and how to evaluate and select the most appropriate one.
Outline
This studio course consists of five projects, weekly online group meetings, and two presentations.
Each project introduces an important skill that will enhance your abilities as a designer and provides opportunities for you to develop your own approach to design.
Each week, you will be asked to share your work in progress with your instructor and the other students in the studio. This weekly session is the equivalent of a desk critique (a session during which the architecture student sits down with their instructor to review their designs) that would take place in a face-to-face studio.
These interactive meetings will be held in an online environment that includes video conferencing, audio conferencing, and social media and will allow the instructor to provide feedback in the form of sketches, either beside or as a layer over your work. This type of session is intended to be a productive working session much like you would experience in an architect’s office. Attendance at the weekly online desk critique is mandatory. Upon registration, you will receive a full set of instructions for connecting to the virtual studio and online tools.
Twice during the studio, you will be asked to make a presentation in an online meeting room with your instructor, other studio students, faculty members, and architects present. The session is intended to generate lively discussion about your work and to provide you with valuable feedback for your further development.
Learning outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, you should be able to
- Comprehend: Establish a basic understanding of process, design thinking, exploration, and communication.
- Analyze: Explore and examine various topics, including
- primary elements.
- form.
- space.
- organization of primary elements, form, and space.
- circulation through space.
- program.
- proportion and scale.
- ordering principles.
- Apply: Understand and apply basic design principles in the process of design development through critical thinking.
- Apply: Begin to build a community of practice by working with other students.
Evaluation
To receive credit for ADST 200, you must achieve a course composite grade of at least C+ (67 percent). Your work in this course will be evaluated based on five projects. Note that your participation in discussions and your sharing of resources will contribute to your grade.
The weighting of the composite grade is as follows:
| Activity | Weight | Complete by |
| Project 1: 2D Graphic Composition: Points and Lines | 15% | Week 2 |
| Project 2: 2D Composition | 15% | Week 4 |
| Project 3: Translation from 2D to 3D; Midterm Presentation | 30% | Week 7 |
| Project 4: Exploring Solids and Voids | 30% | Week 10 |
| Project 5: Final Presentation: Reflecting on What You Have Learned | 10% | Week 13 |
| Total | 100% | |
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University’s online Calendar.
Materials
Digital course materials
Links to the following course materials will be made available in the course:
Ching, F. D. K. (2023). Architecture: Form, space, and order (5th ed.). John Wiley & Sons.
Other resources
Student-provided tools and equipment
The following items are required for this course and must be supplied at your own expense. You must also have access to a digital camera (for your own use).
Photography tools:
- digital camera (SLR preferred) or smartphone with camera
Drawing materials:
- 14 in. x 17 in. (35.6 cm x 43.2 cm) Strathmore 300 series acid-free drawing paper
- 9 in. x 12 in. (22.9 cm x 30.5 cm) Strathmore 300 series sketchbook
- white or beige 2-ply card stock
- trace paper
Drawing tools:
- 0.30 mm precision felt pen (or similar)
- 2H to 2B pencils or mechanical pencils
- coloured markers and/or pencil crayons
- compass
- protractor
- ruler
- drawing board (recommended)
Modeling materials:
- white or beige 2-ply card stock
- clear plastic sheet
Modeling tools:
- 18 in. x 24 in. (45.7 cm x 61.0 cm) or larger (preferred) self-healing cutting mat
- metal-edge cork-backed ruler (various sizes)
- stainless steel knife
- masking tape/painter’s tape
- white glue
- modeling set square
Use of computers
While this is an online and virtual studio, you are asked not to use a computer in preparing your projects. Hand drawing and modeling skills remain essential to the development of an architect, and the first studio courses in this series are designed to help you improve these skills. It is understood that you will need to use a computer to scan, arrange, format, save, and upload your final submission for each project, but you must complete all your drawings and models for this course by hand.