Irwin S.

Chanin School of Architecture The Cooper Union

First Year and Transfer Regular Decision Studio Test 2022 for the Advancement
of Science and Art
Instructions

All applicants to the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at The Cooper Union are required to complete the Studio Test as part of their application.
The Studio Test, designed each year by faculty and students, is a way for the admissions committee to understand how you think visually, creatively,
and conceptually. Please note: only transfer applicants are required to submit a portfolio in addition to the Studio Test components. Additional
portfolios from first time college applicants will not be accepted.

THE STUDIO TEST

The Studio Test contains six visual projects, writing projects, and a questionnaire. You have a month to complete the Test. Following the first two
pages of instructions and key, you will find each of the six visual project prompts on its own page, accompanied by a blank area outlined by a square
frame. These square frames outline the area for your responses to the visual project prompts. Following those you will find the writing projects and
questionnaire, each accompanied with lined space in which you can type or handwrite your responses.

The Test is formatted to fit on 11 inch x 14 inch paper. As this is not a standard size paper, we recommend you print the Test at full scale on 11 inch
x 17 inch (standard tabloid) size paper and cut the test down using the dotted lines provided in the PDF. For your reference, when printed at full scale
the square frames for your responses are each 10.5 inches by 10.5 inches.

All media is acceptable for each question unless otherwise specified. This includes, but is not limited to: drawing, painting, modeling, photography,
collage, video, and digital imaging.

Due to the circumstances of the pandemic, we are asking for completed Studio Tests to be submitted both physically and digitally this year. All work
will be reviewed equally and evaluated separate to technical proficiency with digital media. Instructions for both submission types are outlined in the
section below.

TWO-STEP SUBMISSION PROCESS

All completed Studio Tests must be submitted in a two-step process:
• Step 1: Mail physical submission (must be received by 5:00pm EST Wednesday, February 9, 2022)
• Your completed Studio Test must fit inside an envelope no larger than 14" x 17" x 2". The outside of the envelope should be labeled
clearly with your full name and Slate ID. We unfortunately cannot accommodate drop-offs due to the pandemic. All submissions should
be mailed to:
The Cooper Union
41 Cooper Square, Room 111
New York, NY 10003
Attention: Deirdre Kennedy (For Admissions)
• Step 2: Upload digital submission (must be received by 11:59pm EST Friday, February 4, 2022)
• In the Studio Test checklist item on your applicant portal, use the check box to indicate completion of the Architecture Studio Test. The
correlating works should be uploaded to the Widget as one PDF file. If you completed your responses using a physical medium, you
may choose to represent your work in the following ways: by scanning, or by photographing (with any camera you have access to) in
any good lighting scenario (we recommend natural light on a cloudy day if possible).

Important note regarding video submissions: If you choose to respond to one or more of the Studio Test visual prompts with a video, please upload
those responses using the “Video Upload Widget” on your applicant portal. (Transfer students only: use the “Portfolio Upload Widget” instead of the
“Video Upload Widget”). Clearly label your video file the question number and title, and in the corresponding question's square frame response area
in both your physical and digital Studio Test submission please write out that you have included a video. Videos should be mp3s, mp4s, mov. files, or
links. Limit all videos to under 5 minutes in length. We are unable to view embedded video or click hyperlinks when viewing the uploaded PDF
submissions.

Should you have challenges submitting your physical materials due to the coronavirus, please notify us.
If you have any questions, or require technical assistance while uploading your materials, please contact Assistant Director of Admissions for
Architecture, Maya Krtić, at maya.krtic@cooper.edu.

DEADLINES
• All digital Studio Test materials must be uploaded to your applicant portal no later than 11:59pm EST on Friday, February 4, 2022.
• All physical Studio Test materials must be received by the Office of Admissions no later than 5:00pm EST on Wednesday, February 9, 2022.
Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture The Cooper Union
First Year and Transfer Regular Decision Studio Test 2022 for the Advancement
of Science and Art
Key to Submission Sheets:
All work is to be submitted on paper that is 11" x 14". Trim along the dotted line in the pdf.

All media is acceptable for each question unless otherwise specified.

This includes, but is not limited to, drawing, modeling, photography, collage,
and digital imaging.

The square area on each sheet defines the field of operation.

QUESTION 1 · SPACE FROM A PAINTING 1

Imagine the forms suggested by the painting on the previous page
in three dimensional space.

QUESTION 2 · A PLAN CUT OF A COMPOSITION 2

In the space below the image, project the plan looking down at each element
of the composition as cut through the level indicated by the white line.

QUESTION 3 · SPACE FROM TEXT 3

Produce a spatial interpretation alluded to in ONE of the 3 texts
on the previous reference page. Indicate which text you choose.

QUESTION 4 · PORTRAITS 4
Create two portraits:
i. Self Portrait
ii. Self Portrait with no reference to the physical self

QUESTION 5 · MEASUREMENT OF A TERRITORY 5

Develop and document a system of measuring a territory of your choice.

QUESTION 6 · ECLIPSE 6
Perform an eclipse.

QUESTION 7 · WRITING PROJECTS

QUESTION 8 · QUESTIONNAIRE
QUESTION 1 · REFERENCE PAINTING

The Ten Largest, No. 6, Hilma af Klint, 1907

QUESTION 1 · SPACE FROM A PAINTING
Imagine the forms suggested by the painting on the previous page in three dimensional space.

Name
QUESTION 2 · A PLAN CUT OF A COMPOSITION
In the space below the image, project the plan looking down at each element
of the composition as cut through the level indicated by the white line.

Still Life with Rothko #2, Guy Diehl, 2014

Name
i. Banish Air from Air (963), Emily Dickinson, 1890

Banish Air from Air—

Divide Light if you dare—
They’ll meet While Cubes
in a Drop Or Pellets of
Shape Fit—Films cannot
annul Odors return whole
Force Flame And with
a Blonde push Over your
impotence Flits Steam.

ii. Excerpt from The Poetics of Space, Gaston Bachelard, 1958

“Therefore, the places in which we have experienced

day dreaming reconstitute themselves in a new daydream,
and it is because our memories of former dwelling-places
are relived as day-dreams these dwelling-places of the
past remain in us for all the time.”

iii. Excerpt from Toy Boat, Ocean Vuong, 2016

For Tamir Rice

yellow plastic
black sea

eye-shaped shard
on a darkened map

no shores now
to arrive—or
depart
no wind but
this waiting which
moves you

as if  the seconds
could be entered
& never left

QUESTION 3 · REFERENCE TEXTS

QUESTION 3 · SPACE FROM TEXT
Produce a spatial interpretation alluded to in ONE of the 3 texts
on the previous reference page.

Indicate here which text you choose:

Name
 i. ii.

QUESTION 4 · PORTRAITS
Create two portraits:
i. Self Portrait
ii. Self Portrait with no reference to the physical self

Name
QUESTION 5 · MEASUREMENT OF A TERRITORY
Develop and document a system of measuring a territory of your choice.

Name
QUESTION 6 · ECLIPSE
Perform an eclipse.

Name
QUESTION 7 · WRITING PROJECTS

How do you interpret these fragments? Write two sentences next to each drawing.

Name
QUESTION 8 · QUESTIONNAIRE

i. What is a book that changed you the way you think? Describe how.

ii. What is a film that changed the way you act? Describe how.

iii. What is a work of art that changed the way you see? Describe how.

iv. What is a piece of music that changed the way you listen? Describe how.

v. Why do you want to study architecture at The Cooper Union?

Name