Studio culture policy

Fostering whanaungatanga through creative collaboration, our studio culture policy encourages sharing ideas, respect, and growth in design.

Our studio culture fosters whanaungatanga—relationships and collaborations. The design studio prepares you for your professional careers as creative collaborators—every year level promotes studio experiences that highlight the shared experience of teaching and learning. We encourage you to talk about the mahi (work) you are doing and kōrero (share ideas) with your classmates and tutors. Opportunities to share include as a class, in groups, and one to one. Our staff and tutors will be in the studio at all scheduled times to help shape and develop your design thinking, creative process, critical evaluation and final works through feedback and support.

There are a few things that help make a studio successful:

• Please arrive on time.
• Come prepared with appropriate equipment and supplies.
• Be present for the whole studio session (unless there are reasons why you cannot).
• Be respectful and curious about each other’s work.
• Consider the feedback offered by your course coordinators and tutors.

Remember as designers and architects across the multitude of disciplines offered by the Schools of Architecture and Design Innovation, the more you draw and more models you build—the more you see and the richer the feedback we can give.

Let’s remember to practice manaakitanga (kindness) and respect the places and the people we share space with:

• Please don’t make personal phone calls in class. If you need to take or make an important call, excuse yourself temporarily from the class.
• Engage in sustainable practices—kaitiakitanga. Remember to recycle and don’t be wasteful.
• No food or drink is allowed near any of the computers and best not to have it near your work either.
• Be respectful of the space and others that use it. Tidy up after yourself—this includes any furniture you have shifted.
• Check the studio noticeboards for studio safety guidelines.