Design knowledge communicated in studio critiques

Knowledge of design is communicated to the student through the critiques in the studio. Analysis of critiques show that the knowledge of design can best be understood by considering both its general and personal attributes within a unity. A model developed with the attempt to define the general and personal attributes of design knowledge is presented here. The outcomes of the implementation of intellectual tools developed with the help of this model in the organization of a second year studio are discussed, with emphasis on its deficiencies, specifically when relating the abstract with the concrete, and thinking with doing, in design teaching. Finally, the organization of a second year studio, with transformatory tools introduced this time to relate conceptual work with concrete cases, is presented.