Program Overview

Program Overview

The Modelling Studio v04: Oblique Urbanism Model is a unique program that explores the urban morphology of Winnipeg. The city's fabric is characterized by a loose, informal, and incidental range of relations between buildings, roads, rail, property, and infrastructure.

Program Structure

• The program begins with each student selecting a swath of the city to test and tune the urban hypothesis.
• Over the first three weeks, students will work together to create a large Metropolitan model of Winnipeg, testing the relationship of parts and geometries that make up the city's Obliqueness.
• In the fourth week, each student will define a building site within their swath of study.
• For the remainder of the term, students will design a medium-scale, multi-storey building to manufacture, exhibit, and maintain the large Metropolitan model and the offices, work, and public spaces of a hypothetical Metropolitan Urban Design (MUD) Commission.

Design Requirements

• The building design should utilize contemporary steel frame and clad envelope technology or precast concrete construction systems.
• The program focuses on making models and studying models, with an emphasis on graphical practice and geometric drawing.

Program Objectives

• To investigate how a drawing can be a model and how to draw by hand with a computer.
• To learn to both model construction and construct models, remaining in control of practices.
• To study the urban hypothesis of Oblique Urbanism and its application in Winnipeg's urban fabric.

Program Details

• The program is led by Associate Professor Brian Rex, EVAR 4010 (winter).
• No digital models or perspective views are allowed in this program.
• The program emphasizes the importance of models as the dominant graphical medium in contemporary architectural practice.