Building on the rigorous geometric and formal studies of the first year, the 2A studio serves as an introduction to buildings as material artifacts, on specific sites, that are organized by diagrams or parts that address form, program, and site in ways that are both coherent and speculative. The studio begins with a precedent exercise analyzing salient building diagrams of the modern and contemporary periods, introducing students to the conceptual basis of formal, structural, and programmatic ordering systems (Massing/Interiority), and building to site relationships (Ground/Aperture). Students are also introduced to key texts (Kipnis, Cohen, Koolhaas) theorizing the cultural, social, and economic conditions in which contemporary architecture is conceived and produced. The building program is a multi-functional research and educational institute on an exurban site in Southern California
