UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY MUSEUM OF ART
DESIGN STUDIO X | Professor: Mike Jacobs & Bruce Swetnam | Fall 2014
*Project in coordination with BENJAMIN WARD
STUDIO DESCRIPTION
Architects seem compelled into making associations and distinctions between art and architecture. The value in both of these fields resides in the idea that there is more than just figuration and/or abstraction that can be found through historical development and/or innovation. Certainly modernist art contributed to architecture’s reduction into simple formal components. But art is not something to ex-purge from architecture. Art informs our work as architects. In a way, our corner on art distinguishes architectural practice from other construction delivery approaches. This relationship with art can be seen as an attempt by architects to reconcile forms by means of vision. There should be no puzzle concerning the role of the architect as artist. Architecture is about both art and pragmatics; it is about understanding art and architecture as a part of life.
Given site and program requirements, this studio explored architectural design issues comprehensively by producing a developed and detailed building design. Through the use of observation, examination, and knowledge of major ideals related to the specific program, comprehension of subject matter with an ability to translate knowledge into new contexts; the ability to compare and contrast architectural precedents seeing patterns and organization of systems of design; application and demonstration of a range of means and methods of construction discovered in new situations; synthesis of information using tested ideas to create new knowledge; and evaluation leading towards comparison and distillation of ideas.
