Collaborative Learning in Design Build Studio Culture

The Design Build Studio discussed in this contribution is an online graduate summer course where students design and build a full-scale, inhabitable structure over the duration of a semester, culminating in a final week dedicated to construction. The studio bridges the divide between architectural design and its physical realization through collaborative, hands-on construction. The course integrates conceptual design ideas with practical application, engaging students in design-build practices that closely reflect professional experience. Since 2019, six pavilions have been completed across campus, each showcasing unique design goals and constraints. The projects address challenges such as budgeting, logistics, material selection, and site-specific problem-solving, with budgets ranging from fifteen to twenty thousand dollars funded by local municipal programs. Students interact with the complexities of scale, planning, and construction through active participation in design, fabrication, and assembly. As part of the online masterís program at Lawrence Technological University's College of Architecture and Design, the studio includes an eight-week virtual design phase followed by a one-week on-campus residency. Students work in teams, managing the complexities of remote collaboration and decision-making across different locations, while aiming to experiment in the physical world with materials and methods such as timber framing, metalwork, and robotic 3D printing. Each built project functions as a case study, using iterative processes and integrating material understanding with digital workflows, navigating architectural ideas as a critical design practice.