The objective is to discuss the future direction of architecture and the city, within the framework of the interrelationships between architecture, the city and society. Experts from different fields such as urban designers, sociologists, thinkers and critics are invited to speak at the omnibus lectures.
There are two lecture series, each with eight lectures (or 16 lectures in all), on themes that cut across the boundaries and expand the concepts of architecture and the city. These lectures as well as design problems in studios provide students with an opportunity to develop and refine their worldview as it pertains to architecture and to be exposed to many different interpretations of the concept of architecture.
One lecture each in the "architecture series" and the "city series" is co-hosted by Yokohama City and made open to the public. Opening these lectures to students from other universities as well as the people of Yokohama is intended to raise interest in architecture and the city among the general public.
Two related workshops will be held at Y-GSA.
Notable architects and architectural critics from abroad are invited to take part in the workshop. Architectural and urban problems common to cities throughout the world are presented, and case studies made of Yokohama and other cities, in order to suggest a vision for the solution of those problems. This program, lasting approximately two weeks and consisting of intensive lectures, fieldwork, lectures open to the public and symposiums, is carried out entirely in English.
This program coordinated with Workshop II is focused on design exercises and carried out mainly with overseas architectural schools. The objective is to learn new ways of reading architecture and the city by experiencing architectural education of an international standard and coming into contact with the ideas and urban approaches of overseas architects. Participants tackle projects that suggest new urban images with respect to problems confronting contemporary cities.
This is a program of practical training in which a student can participate in place of one of the four required studios; credit is given. The objective is to learn, through practical experience on an actual project, aspects of architecture that cannot be mastered through studio design themes alone such as an architect's relationship to society and the process leading to the realization of a building.
To take part in this program, a student must be interviewed by the studio committee and gain the committee's approval of the office at which the student proposes to work and the student's qualification for participation. Material on the office in question and the student's own portfolio are to be made available to the committee. If the proposal is judged to have educational value, internship will be approved.
At Y-GSA, a project commissioned by government or business that is judged to have educational value for a participating student will be classified as an "Independent Studio."
