The studio is organized in two main phases:
 
Icon 3IR (Third Industrial Revolution) (~6 weeks)        In 1887 the Eiffel Tower went under construction as the main entry gate to the 1889 World’s Fair. According to Gustave Eiffel the design of the tower was a tribute to both the “centennial of the French Revolution” and what he referred to as ”the century of industry and science”. Since then the Eiffel Tower’s modular cast iron structure has been recognized as one of the earliest icons of the Industrial Revolution. Today we are at the beginning of a new industrial revolution, one lead by information technology and custom fabrication technology.
     The topic of the first phase of this studio will be to design and conceptualize an architecture that epitomizes the qualities and characteristics of the Third Industrial Revolution. The proposals are not limited to tower designs and students are free to decide the appropriate site and program of their projects, however it is important to keep in mind that these decision should still reflect the topic of the studio.
 
Tainan “Re-industrialization” (~12 weeks)     As a nation, Taiwan has for the past two decades been transitioning from a manufacturing based economy to a predominately service based economy. This is a pattern seen throughout the world as developing nations reach maturity. However, unlike other countries Taiwan’s period of de-industrialization was perhaps pre-mature, resulting more from the opening of China’s borders to foreign investment, than a rising domestic service industry and thus resulted in what has been a slow and troublesome transition.
     In the second phase of this course the studio will focus on the idea of “re-industrializing” Tainan, a city renowned more for its cultural base rather than manufacturing industries. Our focus will be on developing a clear understanding of both architectural practices (service sector) and manufacturing companies (industrial sector) to discover what kinds of collaborative opportunities exist between the two within the construct of the 3IR. Utilizing fabrication techniques explored in Phase 1 (Icon 3IR), students will consider the evolution of the contemporary housing block in response to 3IR and the historical significance of the original Yong Fong Yu industrial building site in Tainan City.
(Detailed program brief to be provided at the introduction of Phase 2.)

This course will rely heavily on the use of fabrication technology not only for presentation but design research.
Studio – students should have reserved personal desk space within studio.
3D Printers – additional students will require more units and some larger format printers.
Laser Cutting – facility should be operational and open to all students.
CNC Milling – facility should be operational and open to all students.
Workshop – traditional carpentry workshop with space for 1:1 prototypes