So What Do You Do In Class?

Everyday Class

DIS talks about the idea that the entire city of Copenhagen serves as a classroom, and so far I have found that to be true. Aside from the obvious field studies and study tours when we go out to explore, we get to experience the city during everyday classes too. For instance, my class about Transportation in Urban Europe often has us go out to explore different modes of transportation depending on what we are studying that week.

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For Transportation in Urban Europe, we were assigned bus routes to take, including the harbor bus that goes on the water (on the right). Along these routes, we had to collect information to include in a pro-bus advertisement which we then created in the groups with which we rode the buses.

During a unit about pedestrian infrastructure, we were assigned streets which to explore and analyze from a walker’s perspective.

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During a class for Climate Change and the City: Responsive Planning, we embarked on a bike tour to see sustainable development in Nordhavn, a former industrial port that is now a lively neighborhood. While there, we visited a playground and got to try out its trampolines.

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This is a view of the Nørrebro Library during a visit for Adaptive Reuse, and a sketch I did while there. We got to explore the building, and then eventually had an assignment where we each put together a report analyzing the history and design of the project, and noting how it related back to concepts from our readings.

Field Studies

In the DIS schedule, Wednesdays are reserved for field studies, which are essentially field trips for class. Somehow, they manage to coordinate the schedules so that the field studies for your different schedules don’t conflict. There can be multiple field studies for different classes on the same day, so Wednesdays are sometimes quite busy!

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For Transportation in Urban Europe, we rode the newly opened portion of Copenhagen’s light rail, then got a tour of one of the light rail stations that is still under construction.

Core Course

My core course is the Urban Design Studio. As a studio, it counts for 6 credits, and requires more hours than other classes. So far, we’ve been working on the first of two big projects for the semester. In this first assignment, we’ve been working in small groups to re-design the courtyard of DIS’s Solvgade Kollegium. A representative of DIS even attended some of our final presentations, and it’s possible that they will use inspiration from our projects to undertake a real-life re-design.

One of my group members pins up some of our initial drawings for a desk crit, in which our professors give us feedback and talk through how to consolidate our ideas.

This is a quick drawing I did in my sketchbook to illustrate one of my initial concept ideas, with netted seating woven between four trees that already exist in the center of the courtyard.

Here, my sketchbook shows some diagrams that convey what concepts we prioritized through our final design choices.