Remote Spatial Investigations

Abstract

As architecture is considered a projective discipline, its underlying intents are always geared towards acting in and on the world. In other words, even if its discursive actions(evaluations, assessments, critiques, theorizations) are mostly reflexive, architecture aims to transform ‘reality’ both spatially and materially. In order to understand these spatial and material conditions of reality, the ‘field trip’ is considered of vital importance for students of architecture as it allows them to gain insight into the specificities of local spatial conditions and the way these conditions are generated, formed, used, experienced and responded to by local populations. Students being immersed in these local conditions provide the necessary know-how when developing their architectural design intervention proposals. In this paper, we will present our experiences from teaching remotely the Borders & Territories (B&T) MSc2 design studio at TU Delft Faculty of Architecture in the 2020 Spring semester. Particularly, we will emphasize the clear distinction between the primordial intent of a studio set in Belgrade before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ultimate results achieved using innovative ‘remote’ research and pedagogical methods imposed by the circumstances. We will then conclude with some reflections on the current state of technology with respect to the virtual field trip, and furthermore sketch future scholarship in the relation to our DRIFT research project whose aim is to develop a digital learning environment in which the architectural field trip can be carried out remotely, while it is also aided by digital tools, allowing the user to access information data-bases and archives remotely and simultaneously.