Paper No 329: The notion of medium in architectural teaching or, how would we teach architecture if air was water?

Abstract This paper assumes that the integration of environmental issues in the design process would be spontaneous and meaningful if the notion of ‘space’ in architecture was considered as ‘medium’. To clarify this stance the authors depict the idea of space as a geometric entity, highlighting its abstract nature. Then, by using Gibson’s description of the terrestrial environment the notion of medium is presented, from which a new approach to design is suggested. In order to illustrate this approach a studio experience developed at the School of Architecture of the University Of Santiago De Chile is provided. Finally, conclusions upon this new approach are synthesized, being the reordering of the design process one of the most important ones. Keywords: education, environment, space, medium 1. Introduction An important part of the literature regarding the integration of knowledge in the studio focuses on curricular, procedural, pedagogical, attitudinal, and psychological issues. [1-6] Nevertheless few authors have questioned the current convenience of traditional concepts within the very practice of architectural design in order to promote that integration. One of these concepts is that of ‘space’, so relevant in architecture for almost a century [7] and so ubiquitous in our daily life that nobody seems to need an explanation on what ‘space’ is, including of course the students of architecture. This paper intends to show the disadvantage of the current approach to ‘space’ in contrast with the convenience of the concept of ‘medium’ in order to promote an integration of environmental issues into the design process.