Core Design Studio II

This studio will address the design of an Urban Compound. The idea of a compound, urban or otherwise, is shaped by the organization of diverse activities distributed across discreet zones within a single site and with limited orientation to the outside. Often, these activities are arranged with a strong inward focus by way of a common space, or set of spaces designed to mediate the interaction of internal activities. The site for the compound you will design is near the intersection of Bissonnet Street and Kirby Drive in Houston, Texas. The program for the Urban Compound is a day-to-night club called Club Life. Theoretical issues engaged by the design of this compound will relate urban continuity to architectural form, and architectural form to a saturated leisure program operating around the clock. Each of these issues will invoke the need for students to claim a new and relevant definition of architectural edge, developed to manage spatial relationships at both the interior and exterior limits of the site.