Basic Design: Constructing Architectural and Urban Space

2005 – 2015

Faculty:

Ignacio Cardona, Instructor; with Professors Alayón, Barrios, Blanco, Castro, Cruz, Graterol, Larañaga, Micuci, Olaizola, Rueda, Sanchez, and Vega

Students:

More than 180 Architecture Students across 10 Courses

Institutions:

Universidad Simón Bolívar

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Basic Design is a foundational course at Universidad Simón Bolívar, taught at the beginning of the architectural design sequence. Working within a hypothetical coastal village, students construct an urban space through the precise placement of three predefined volumes—a cube, a vertical element, and a horizontal element—and subsequently develop each as an architectural proposition.

The methodology introduces three fundamental spatial conditions—punctual, vertical, and horizontal—while exploring relationships between interior space, architectural form, and urban context. Design exercises are complemented by the analysis of canonical works, including Louis Kahn’s Exeter Library, Carlos Raúl Villanueva’s Museo de Bellas Artes, and Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion. Across ten years and ten courses, the sequence introduced more than 180 architecture students to architectural design through space as the primary instrument of inquiry.