Basics of Architectural Design
Head of Department: prof.dr. Mircea Ochinciuc
The Basics of Architectural Design Department is in charge with the design pedagogy during the junior and sophomore cycles; it manages the design studios for the two Faculties and for the College, which is a three-years school. Consequently, the department is formed of three distinct chairs, as follows:
The junior cycle in the two Faculties (Architecture and Urban Planning), which refers to the first year, considered decisive for the architectural education, enter the responsibility of the Basis of Design Chair.
The architectural design studios in the sophomore cycle of the two Faculties (the second and third years) are managed by the Architectural Design Chair 1.
Given the particularities of the project teaching in the College, the Architectural Design Chair 2 is in charge with the architectural design curricula and the studios in the three College sections.
Basis of Design Chair
The design curriculum in the first year has been totally rethought in the last times. Especially following the simplification of the entrance exam, the first year is seen as a decisive moment for the students.
On the one hand, the first year represents a first "apprenticeship" stage, in what concerns the apprehension of space and form, of the specific expressive means along with the means of representation in architectural design. This means that the ways these targets are reached, and the students are transmitted the basics of the three-dimensional thinking and of the mastering of space and volume, are considered of great importance. Several "compositional exercises", aiming at the awareness and manipulation of plan, volume, space, rhythm, grid, colour, etc., have been conceived. They are paralleled and helped by the complementary exercises offered by the Chair of Representation & Interior design. The playful aspect is taken into consideration, too; students are invited to "play" with these architectural means, guided by the teaching body, in order to test their use.
On the other hand, the first year is considered a year of selection, a more relevant selection than an entrance/admission exam. That is why there are two "competition" projects, one in each semester; their results condition the admission in the sophomore cycle.
Architectural Design Chair 1
The sophomore studios group together students in the second and third years, under the teaching of assoc.prof.dr.arch. Alexandru Andries and assoc.dr.arch. Alexandru Vasiliu. This traditionally Beaux-Arts composition of the studio is considered emulative and rewarding. At the same time, the head of the studio has the opportunity to imagine/conceive /implement a longer-term teaching plan.
Each studio observes the general educational framework set by the Chair together with the Department. This general framework is put in terms of general targets and timing. Thus, the individual approaches to these targets could develop.
The curriculum addresses various topics, this time aiming at a first synthesis between the form, space, and the elements defining them, on the one hand, and the use/function of a building, on the other hand.
Generally simple buildings are suggested, reduced in volume, so that the sophomore student could become aware and control (more or less) the various design aspects that the architectural project raises.
This cycle is considered a second stage of "apprenticeship" in the architectural design, certainly based on the formal training in the previous year. This time, students are taught the architectural project proper.
The architectural objects studied are always connected to a specific site, which is the occasion to introduce contextual matters.
At the same time, the Scientific Chairs start their specific applications, connected to the architectural design; specific matters related to urban planning and to building technology are particularly focussed.
Architectural Design Chair 2
This Chair is in charge with the teaching of the architectural projects in the whole course of College education, according to the curriculum of each section and academic year.
The architectural studios in the College are rather focused on the normative aspects of the architectural design and on its technicalities, having in mind the type of professional that the College is supposed to train.
Otherwise, the design education follows in a more simplified manner the design course in the first cycles of the two Faculties, as it has been set within the Architectural Design Department.
The design activity is based to a large extent on CAAD training. In this respect, the College is well equipped: there are special spaces that offer the students the facilities they need to accomplish their training.
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