ABSTRACT
Design students discover ideas about form and tectonics by expanding their recognition of material possibilities. Students interacting directly with materials learn a host of things. When an architecture student plays with concrete they might approach it telically or paratelically, depending on his or her purpose In orthodox studios, students work primarily in paper and pencil, cardboard and glue, making representations that stand for other things—typically a building—to be fabricated by others, in another frame of time, at a different scale than the representation. With each iteration, the student develops new design ideas and, just as importantly, develops the craft skills, techniques, and procedures for carrying out the work with respect to creative intentions. Material experimentation, coupled with critical discussion of notions of workmanship, led to development of a tectonic strategy for the design that did not depend on extreme precision for success.
