Research Studio Reviews at RUMBLE 2018

Through case study analysis of creative offices and co-working spaces in both Los Angeles and Tokyo, the studio examined the contemporary workplace and the role of the designer in creating environments for work. Alongside a series of lectures and site visits, the studio developed arguments to unpack and critique the phenomena of co-working. Building on that knowledge, students worked in small groups to design a Business Plan for a newly constructed co-working space in Los Angeles. These business plans illustrated the purpose, generated value system, management structure, and financial sustainability of the co-working space, while directly informing the architectural program and site selection of the space. Using the same program and site, each group member produced a design project to expanding current perception of co-working, while visualizing a new building type for this program.

The design projects serve as experiments in how co-working could be used as the medium to evaluate programming and open up the possibilities for designers to envision new building types. These designs work towards our understanding of the blurred domestic-work spaces, while beginning to incorporate new economic models of space ownership, such as shared economies or a prioritization of access over ownership. By introducing business thinking into the design process, this studio develops an entrepreneurial attitude, while gaining an understanding of factors influencing the design outside of the discipline. Each group presented a short video pitching a co-working business, followed by individual projects by each group member illustrating their architectural approach to the ideas presented in the video.