Case study: the interpretation of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design in a course project for the second semester of the curriculum

Abstract

This paper reports an experience from the discipline Architectural Project from the second semester of the curriculum of the Course of Architecture and Urban Design – CAU of the Federal University of Santa Maria, in which a methodology of integration between the Architectural, Landscape and Urban Projects was developed around the theme of public square in a neighborhood of an urban area in consolidation. This experience was tried out during two semesters (2004/2 and 2005/2), and adaptations were made throughout the semesters in response to the results obtained. The main objective was to experiment a teaching and learning method that would allow the integration between these three areas and serve as a base for the structuring of the disciplines of landscape, urban and architectural project studios for the new curricula, in accordance with the new Pedagogical Political Plan-PPP- for the course to be implemented in the first semester of the the year 2006. The teaching and learning method applied was based on an improvement of the method commonly used in architecture studios, based on stages, where one of the objectives is to develop the capacity of the students to reflect on the micro and macro scales (architecture, urban design and landscape), through the elaboration of theoretical/practical and preparatory exercises toward the develop of the project itself.The results observed indicate that the students presented progress in their capacity of perception of he potential of the urban insertion of equipment that has been traditionally seen as environments disconnected from their immediate surroundings. Furthermore, the students presented a maturing of their critical sense in relation to the urban environment and its spaces of common use.