Domestic Prototypes Co-Designed Through Experimental 1 m3 Topological Cubes

Abstract

This paper shows a prototyping project carried out with first-year architecture students at the University of Alcalá. The project starts with the development of a 1 m3 prototype associated to a micro-domestic space for each student, generating forty-five microarchitectures. The main objective for all students is domesticity. Students interpret their domestic intimate space developed in a 1 m3 cube. The aim of this paper is to test the learning process on domestic layout through a prototyping approach. The approach is based on twenty-five previously selected architectural references, and proceeds through a process of co-design learning and design thinking to the translation and experimental approach of ten prototypes constructed at a scale of 1:1. This paper focuses on the learning process carried out with the DPM (diagram, plan, model) methodology and patterns generated by the students’ architectural projects through the development of prototypes.