Focus Studio

The Fifth-Year Focus Studio introduces students to a variety of key skills and processes involved in obtaining a Bachelor of Architecture (B Arch) degree from KSU. The annual Focus Studio is an intrinsic part of the professional core of the Architecture program that fosters strong relationships between our students, the college, university constituents, industry partners, and the architecture profession. Students will learn in-depth design research processes and their applications while developing creative, critical thinking in the processes of making and constructability, even world-making.

All qualified fifth-year students have the option to select a studio critic who will broaden areas of specific interest in a subject-based studio designed to concentrate on key critical issues of our era. 

two ksu students studying

Submittals for teaching Focus Studios are open to all design professionals and educators. The ideal candidate is one who is currently engaged in an innovative body of work that informs architectural design and global practice. The successful prospectus is one that engages the educational forum as a means of advancing design research toward its eventual application in practice. KSU Department of Architecture recognizes that such critical research is broad and diverse in scope and may include innovative approaches in specific or multidisciplinary areas of design.

 

Call for Proposals: Focus Studio 2024

ÈâÈ⴫ý, Department of Architecture, located in the Atlanta metropolitan area, is currently seeking proposals for Fifth-Year Focus Studios during the Fall semester of 2024. The Fifth-Year Focus Studios are intended to introduce the student to design research and its application while adhering to creativity, critical thinking, processes of making, and constructability. The annual Focus Studio is an intrinsic part of the professional core of the Architecture Program and is designed to foster a strong relationship between the program, our students, and the profession as a whole. All qualified fifth-year students have the option to select a studio critic who will broaden areas of specific interest in a subject-based studio designed to concentrate on the essential and pivotal issues of our era.

Submittals for teaching Focus Studios are open to all design professionals and educators. The ideal candidate is one who is currently engaged in an innovative body of work that informs architectural design. The successful prospectus is one that engages the educational forum as a means of advancing research toward its eventual application in practice. The KSU Department of Architecture recognizes that such critical research is broad and diverse in scope and may include innovative approaches in specific or multidisciplinary areas of design. Throughout the past years, students’ interest has comprehensively focused on Health + Well-being, Critical Education, Urban Ecologies, and Grand Challenges in terms of sustainable communities, or tackling critical issues like healthcare innovations, resource depletion (such as water material, or food resources), pollution reductions (water and/or air quality), environmental degradation, equity and access issues, economic decline, intersectionality and marginality, ecosystem resourcing or wildland interfacing, disaster recovery and/or resilient design, etc.). The 2024 call for proposals invites members of the design community to propose how such research can be critically applied in an architecture studio. 

focus studio logo
  • To advance design excellence through applied research within the fifth-year studio environment of the Architecture Department of ÈâÈ⴫ý. This studio provides support for the KSU R2 classification via departmental curriculum integration. The course is associated with NAAB program criteria PC1, PC2, PC3, PC5, and PC7. 
    • NAAB Criteria Guidelines (Page. 10, Program Criteria: )
    • Engagement Alignment/ QEP  
      • Service Learning
      • Undergraduate Research
    • Strategic Research Theme Alignment ()
      • Sustainable Safe Communities
      • Human Development and Well-Being
      • Computing and Technology
      • Bio-Medical and Health Science
  • Studio work will be formally discussed and presented publicly to the KSU community and beyond at the Focus Studio X-Change forum by the end of the semester.
  • We will be seeking both internal and external positions.  Priority will be given to applicants with successful records of applicable design + research with practice and/or academic experience.  Applicants selected for the part-time faculty position of Focus Studio Critic during one semester -- The Focus Studio will be scheduled on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 2:30 PM to 5:50 PM for sixteen consecutive weeks unless an otherwise proposed option is viable and approved by the Chair of Architecture. Partnerships with professional architectural firms in situ can be proposed.  
    • External candidates must hold the terminal degree of Master in Architecture or higher.
    • Foreign nationals must hold valid U.S. work visas prior to hire. The institution will not proceed with the candidates’ visa authorization.
    • External applicants selected will be offered compensation for the semester (TBD).

  • All interested design professionals and educators are invited to submit their Phase 1 Application to the Focus Studio Committee by Tuesday, January 30, 2024 (11.59 PM EST). This will be the first of two phases in the selection process; the first set of documents will be reviewed by the committee and shortlisted for the Phase 2 Application to develop course proposals.

    Submission - Phase 1 Application

    • A Letter of Intent (two-page maximum) that introduces your design research work and interests. The letter of intent should also include a clear statement defining the proposed studio project narrative and objectives to be developed as a Focus Studio. 
    • A Resume/Current CV
    • A Design-Research Portfolio (five-page maximum) illustrating examples of professional and/or academic work you have been engaged in. Examples may include but are not limited to, built projects, competition designs, prototypes, teaching work, and installations. If submitting work that was part of a collaborative project, please list your collaborators and clearly state your role in the project.

    A detailed syllabus will be required upon the selection.

    Call for Proposal Submit Application to Craig Anz, Dept. of Architecture Chair

    Note: The Unofficial Academic Transcripts are not part of the requirements at this stage.

    For further information and questions about the Focus Studio position, please contact the committee chair Dr. Pegah Zamani.