The ‘Ribbed Catalan’, a large scale, ribbed tile vault, was the result of a collaborative design/build/research elective studio involving students enrolled in the M.Arch. program at the University of Technology Sydney, guided by masterclass instructors Prof. Dr Philippe Block of the Block Research Group (ETH Zurich), Melonie Bayl-Smith (UTS/Bijl Architecture) and David Pigram (UTS/Supermanoeuvre).
The studio provided an opportunity for the students to participate in an intensive experimental design/build workshop that also straddled the instructors’ overlapping, long-term research interests: masonry vaulting, digital/analogue relationships and innovative pedagogies. By harnessing the momentum created by these intersecting research interests, the studio brief delivered direct, high level learning outcomes evidenced via the physical process of building and the students’ concluding reflection pieces.