The Unit ‘Occupied: Graphic anatomy of everyday urban’ is essentially the design of public spaces where spatial interventions incorporate the contemporary dynamics of everyday life. We refer to ‘everyday’ as the ordinary routines of human beings, the peculiar idiosyncrasies or repetitive rhythms that permeate in the urban space and manifest in a myriad of unplanned actions and behaviours on the ground. There is value hidden within these lived experiences as they reveal the wonderful richness of meanings, desires and habits of people - as opposed to the forced abstract constructions of the space. Studio is interested in this very ‘messiness of everyday’ through its implications and potentials in the continued production of spaces.
The unit follows a drawing based methodology that is structured in three parts. The first and second module embraces a process that rigorously chronicles the day-to-day, the complex and the unabashed logic of the city through very precise mappings and visualisations of the urban space and the third module is where students develop design interventions to give appropriate and sensitive solutions to the challenges detected.
