Cloudly conundrum: what if?

Milena [Delević] Grbić holds a PhD in the field of architecture and urbanism, specializing in architectural design and contemporary architecture. She graduated and received her PhD from the University of Belgrade - Faculty of Architecture. She currently works as an Associate Professor at the University of Novi Sad - Faculty of Civil Engineering Subotica. She has over 15 years of teaching experience in courses related to architectural design. She gained this experience as an assistant at the University of Belgrade - Faculty of Architecture, and as an Assistant Professor and Associate Professor at the University of Novi Sad - Faculty of Civil Engineering Subotica. Her focus on teaching + research represents a special form of engagement that, apart from teaching, is continuously improved by participating in national and international workshops and mentor training programs. In parallel with her pedagogical work, she is engaged in scientific research. Beyond a comprehensive interest in the scope of her profession, Milena's specific interest is directed towards research and the possibilities of an interdisciplinary approach to architectural design. Her graduation thesis, in which she began researching these relationships, was awarded the City of Belgrade Award for Youth Creativity. Over 13 years of work in scientific and research activities, as an independent researcher, she has published over 30 works in monographs, magazines of national and international importance.

The workshop was created as a spontaneous didactic unit to improve work on architectural design subjects at the University of Novi Sad - Faculty of Civil Engineering in Subotica. The experiment was based on the creation of a variable form "in 1:1" that established specific conditions with different surface distortions. This ephemeral structure formed the basis of an inserted new world for contemplation and the exploration of its possible impacts on the environment. A rapid change of form induces a rapid change of sensation, creating completely unexplained phenomena as a basis for brainstorming about how the introduction of new forms can influence the distortion of memorized perceptions of known fragments of space. Further development of the topic through digital extractions or decompositions of the selected form at the captured moment opened the way to research the layers of the architectural narrative and how the determination of one form over another can affect the change in the level of thinking, from materialization itself to a change in scale. The outcome was achieved on three levels: physical (ephemeral structure as a created product in space); perceptual (abstracted elements finding new places by returning to materiality in different scales); and theoretical (a step forward in the understanding of spatial relations in and around the architectural object). The goal of the workshop is to create a training ground for new research opportunities in finding answers to the unpredictability of situations that students face at the very beginning of architectural design practice. In a broader sense, the goal is to show how such gestures in "1:1" are a necessary link in teaching architectural design because they significantly positively influence the development of thoughts, the final outcome of the project, and the creation of future designers.