Interdisciplinary Design Studio Education: Place through the activity of play

This paper discusses the activity of play in design education among university students with interdisciplinary background. The study subscribes to social theories of learning and takes into account an international summer school which brought visual communication design and architecture students and instructors together at the intersection of design in Istanbul asking such questions: How can student learning activity in design education are fostered? How can studio experience be formulated to cultivate the understanding of place? In this study the international group acted as a learning community. Istanbul served at her best offering her potential for making connections through exploration and discovery. The paper casts student tasks formulated as playful graphic expression and reflects student statements, unfolding connections made across filters of space, time and movement in the working process of visual design studio. The particular design studio experiences uncover how students reconstructed their own texts. The study as a result releases the fact that one might best come to know a place through the activity of play and this kind of knowing is one that constantly evolving.