This is a student project of the Computation-based Basic Design Lanterns finals of the year 2019. This year was exceptionally successful in creating 3d components and constructing relationships as a systematic whole. Again, the students started with small-scale experiments on folding and attaching cards. This is a study of how planar elements can generate volumetric units. They also studied Archimedean solids to understand geometric performances of particular shapes. We encouraged students to develop and control three-dimensional structures instead of thin surfaces. Şebnem Yalınay Çinici and Benay Gürsoy introduced this exercise/project to the studio in 2013. The Basic Design Lanterns project is a good combination of the techniques and skills of architectural geometry and digital fabrication with the first-year design education. İstanbul Bilgi University’s pioneering Basic Design Studio still continues this project.

Student, Selena Alay, Rabia Alkan, Ecem Karataşoğlu, Ayşe İnci Üstünel, and Numan Deniz Erdem studied the below design. The design was based on a component/macro form study revised many times during the studio sessions. They experimented with light, transparency, and the effects of geometry on them. I believe that this approach of blanket-like macro form surfaces is a challenging task for both students and instructors. It could quickly become out of control and random. In this year, we focused on interior lighting and tried to make bigger lanterns compared to the previous years. However, this group’s work has well-defined geometric components. Sometimes, I think about this exercise and still, find it very effective and educational. I hope that the students would carry this experience with them to the later stages of their education. This was one of the last basic design exercises before the pandemic lockdown in 2020.