Hybrid studio matters: ethnomethodological documentary of a tutorial

This paper looks into the electronically augmented, or ‘hybrid’ contemporary environment, through the spatial and temporal thresholds or ‘seams’ that it encompasses. Electronically augmented environments have been studied increasingly within the past few years. The question of how architects respond to the new spatial conditions, how they interpret and design space, is a major emerging issue. Within these broad questions, we conducted an ethnomethodological analysis of a particular environment-example: the architectural design studio, through the documentation and analysis of an episode in an architectural tutorial. The analysis of this case-study is based upon the seams, the thresholds or ruptures that occur between different media. We argue that the shift or transition from one medium to another can be smooth and un-noticed, whereas, in other instances, it shifts completely the centre of attention, the flow of the tutorial or the perception of the means (and other elements) engaged. The transitions, occurring within the recorded tutorial, are studied in relation to the notions of engagement, immediacy and continuity. We consider that these three notions bring forth the complexities, conflicts and richness (of the hybrid environment) that the tutorial recording reveals.