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Architecture vocabulary · Design Process

Design studio

Meaning in architecture, with examples

nounCore term

In architecture, design studio means: The central course in architecture education, where students develop design projects over a term with regular crits and juries; also a design office.

In Turkish: proje stüdyosu, proje dersi, tasarım stüdyosu

How it is used

Students often just say 'studio': 'I'm in studio until midnight'. Each design studio has a brief, tutors and a final review. In practice, many small architecture firms also call themselves a studio.

Example sentences

  1. This semester's design studio is about student housing on a sloping site.

  2. Our design studio meets on Mondays and Thursdays for desk crits.

Common collocations

  • design studio project
  • studio tutor
  • studio culture
  • work in studio
  • critA session in which a tutor or a group of reviewers discusses a student's work and gives critical feedback; short for critique.
  • juryA panel of tutors and invited architects who review students' projects and give feedback and grades, or a panel that judges a design competition.
  • briefA document that sets out what a building must provide: its uses, the list of spaces and their sizes, the budget, the schedule and the client's goals.
  • sketchA quick freehand drawing used to explore or explain an idea, usually made early in the design process and not drawn to an exact scale.

More terms: Design Process

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