School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Architecture and Urban Design Program

Course Name: Design Studio I

Course Code: ARUD101
Lecturer: Dr.Nevine Gharib
Dr.Mennatallah Tawfik

Teaching assistant: Reham Omar , Mohamed Shaban

Project 01– A weaver’s house-workshop using Bearing wall system

20th of March , ‘24
Introduction
The first design project is a small House-workshop of textile craftsman; a weaver who works with large-scale
textiles. The house is allocated in a predetermined hypothetical plot of land and has been exposed to streets from
different sides. This exercise is introducing the bearing wall system to enable the students start thinking of the
design from a wall pattern that is given and constituted by a series of four parallel walls and three spaces in-
between accordingly. The student will work on this predetermined structure and will only be able to build on the
area designated by the three spaces. These spaces are formulated between the walls either in the narrow measure
of 3.6 meters or the larger measure of 4.8 meters. The students have to preserve the length of the walls but can
alter the order and control the spaces in between according to the given measures. The house workshop is divided
between two floors and has the following program of uses, measured in m2:

Program:
Ground floor:
1. Entry
Entrance hall with a toilet: 20 m2

2. Working area
Artist’s workshop: 40 m2
Storage 10 m2
Display area 20 m2

3. Living area
Living and dining zone 40 m2
Kitchen: 6 m2

4. Outdoor area
Parking for a single car: 30 m2
Courtyards, green areas, paths, etc.

First floor:
5. Rest zone
Bedroom with bathroom: 25 m2

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Design I_ARUD101_Spring ’24

"The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of
the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein."
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Architecture and Urban Design Program

Small Studio and work area: 40 m2

Note: All the vertical and horizontal circulation areas should be considered according to your design.

This exercise is: Individual work

Aim
About the location:
The purpose of this exercise is to enable the students understanding the bearing wall structure system in the
architecture design. The relationship between the spatial organization of the house-workshop and its plot area,
defined through an enclosure that separates it from the street. The plot separation from the street is defined by a
fence of 1.80 meters. The space’s organization should keep the linearity and alignment of the structure system and
shouldn’t exceed 7 meters in height.

About the program:

The house- workshop has a total net internal area approximately of 270 m2. Patios and the outdoor spaces aren’t
considered from this area. The student has to be aware that he or she is designing a house-workshop and not just a
simple dwelling. Therefore, internal spaces will have spatial identification and arrangement in the relationship to
the outdoor spaces (patios, green area, etc...).

- The workshop must have appropriate height to fit the selected type of art and can be separated from the
house as long as some link is established and could allow a good view of the outdoor landscape.
- Inside the house, the living room must be naturally ventilated using more than one façade. The kitchen
must be easily accessible from the garage and arranged in such a way that it can serve the dining room
and the outdoor space.
- The clear height of the interior spaces will range between 2.7 meters to 6 meters and will be designed
according to the layout and spatial criteria.

About the system:

The construction of the house-workshop follows the logical principles of the load-bearing wall construction
system. All the outer brick walls are 20cm wide brick walls. Ceilings will be executed with a concrete slab with
approximately 20 cm thickness. Internal walls are 10 cm.

The student has to reach in his/her work the consistency of a spatial system, where the relationships between the
built elements of the house and the plot enclosure the most sensible, avoiding that the house is reduced to the
construction of a simple building. Outdoor spaces should be converted into an active part of the project.

Grading and Assessment Criteria

Week 7_Working gypsum model: Sunday 27th of March at 9:00

President analysis ex. Of Project 2

Week 8_Mid-term: Wednesday 3rd of April at 9:00

Gypsum mold trial+ Drawing trial

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Design I_ARUD101_Spring ’24

"The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of
the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein."
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Architecture and Urban Design Program

Week 9_Eid Elfitr: Wednesday 10th of April

Week 10_ Final submission on gypsum + working model of project 2 in class: Wednesday 17th of April.

Week 11_Work Progress review:24th of April at 8:30

Developing plans + sections and drawing the elevations.

Week 12_ Pin-up: 1st of May at 8:30

Submission (plans+ sections+ Elevations) +photos documentation

Week 13_ Feedback: 8th of May

Week 14_ Semi-final submission: on the 15th of May at 8:30

Week 15_ Final review:22nd of May at 8:30

Final presentation to be announced…

Submission Date and Format
Students are required to submit all the hard copies of the exercise and a scanned soft copy on Moodle by due date.
All submission on Moodle should be named as:
Ex01_ Student name- ID

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Design I_ARUD101_Spring ’24

"The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of
the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein."
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Architecture and Urban Design Program

4
Design I_ARUD101_Spring ’24

"The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of
the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein."