UOU

Blog

  • ARCH: homeland miniatures: a collective digital travelbook

    CONTENT / In architectural education, one of the most common and universal representation technique is central perspective which was discovered during Renaissance period. The rational world that Renaissance offered us helps to create a universal language in the field of architecture and enables to represent our thoughts on space so as to create a dialog between ourselves and others. On the other hand, some other techniques like iconography or miniature drawing reflects another understanding of the world and space per se that could be a new way of representation in our era.

     

    The understanding of perspective in miniature drawing is different from the European Renaissance painting tradition. The scene depicted usually includes different time periods and spaces in one picture. Thus, we may say that miniature drawing is a multi-layered representation. Miniatures are always a part of book, not like a standalone work of art and because of that they are closely related with the context of the book they were included in.

     

    In our “Homeland Miniatures: A Collective Digital Travelbook” workshop, we will make a collective travelbook that represents different cities/countries through miniature drawings of those homelands. Each student will draw a miniature drawing of his/her homeland or the city where he/she is living at that moment and write a short reflection paragraph that is related with his/her drawing. By putting all these drawings together, we will create our collective digital travelbook at the end of the workshop.

     

    AIMS / To introduce a new way of looking and understanding the world around us. To start a debate between “Western” and “Eastern” thoughts. To think on how to represent a city/country through one drawing. To discover the textures, important landmarks and cultural artifacts of a city/country. To discover the multi-layered world of miniature drawings and their fragmented but yet wholistic spatial characteristics. To discuss on the emancipatory character of architectural representations. 

     

    METHOD / The tutor will give a lecture on miniature drawing and travelbooks (seyahatname) and introduce the drawing techniques through various examples. Each student will make one miniature drawing and write a short text about it. The process of the workshop will be as follows:

     

    1st > Introduction of the history and technique of miniature drawings and discussion on different cities

    2nd > Each student will start to draw fragments of spaces, textures that are related with their homelands

    3rd > Each student will propose a draft layout of his/her miniature drawing

    4th > Each student will apply all the fragments and textures to his/her miniature drawing and finalise it and write a text about it.

    5th > The tutor will put all drawings together to create the collective travelbook and each student will present his/her page in it at the final crits session. 

     

    SCHEDULE / 2-Week Workshop. Weekly 4-hour class arranged with the students:

     

    March 12th, 2020 (Friday) – 30 minutes – Introduction

    March 15th, 2020 (Tuesday) – 2 hours – Fragments of spaces, textures

    March 18th, 2020 (Friday) – 2 hours – Layout of his/her miniature drawing

    March 22nd, 2020 (Tuesday) – 2 hours – Finalise the miniature drawing and the text

    March 26th, 2020 (Friday) – 2 hours – Final crits

     

    EVALUATION / The following will be considered in the evaluation process: 

     

    • Active participation in discussions and production of drawings
    • Precise drawing in his/her own way
    • Writing a critical reflection text

     

    Bibliography / 

     

    • Sener, S., (2007). “A SINGULAR ART: A Theoretical and Artistic Survey on Miniature and Hybrid Possibilities of Traditional Arts in Contemporary Art”, Master of Fine Arts in Graphic Design Thesis, Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Mahmut Mutman, Bilkent University.
    • Avci, O., (2016). “Rethinking architectural perspective through reverse perspective in Orthodox Christian iconography”, ITU A|Z Journal of Faculty of Architecture, 12(2), p. 159-171

     

    MEF University Istanbul (TURKEY) / Ozan Avci (avcio@mef.edu.tr)

     

  • ARCH: evolution of forgotten – ignored wisdoms

    CONTENT /

    The rapid developments of the urban realms and the monstrous evolution of the socioeconomic systems together with the invading globalization deprived the people from the sustainable way of living which was forged by local conditions through the centuries.

    The workshop will revisit existing, forgotten or lost worlds and traditions or vernacular architecture not nostalgically, not just to revitalise them. But rather to rediscover cultures, and vanished wisdoms to facilitate their evolution into the contemporary world.

    Traditional elements such as courtyard typologies, shading devices of Mashrabiyas, traditional irrigational systems and building technologies are among a vast number of traditional wisdom that either was forced to extinction or to a dormant state.

    The students are asked to revisit those ‘dusted’ wisdoms, reconstruct them and reuse them in their evolved metamorphosis in the ever changing and rapidly developing urban built environments for a future of environmental and social sustainability of regional identities.

     

    AIMS /

    To understand and experience the unique architectural qualities of forgotten traditional elements and mechanisms

    To share knowledge and insights from diverse cultural backgrounds

    To develop awareness, knowledge and understanding of extracted wisdom from traditional elements and their potential role in contemporary architecture

    To develop a critical approach towards sustainability and an environmental awareness [of traditional wisdoms and vernacular architecture], as integral parts of a design process.

    To amalgamate research findings in order to stitch, integrate and embed those findings in innovative and radical ways in the future architectural and urban realms.

    To take a stance, and a voice of resistance for a substantial future for humanities against the devouring globalizations and erasures of identities.

     

    METHOD /

    E L E M E N T   S T U D Y    [space, mechanisms, infrastructures, materiality, technology]

    RECORDINGS # DIS-ASSEMBLING # EVOLUTION

    • Analysing and assessing existing condition
    • Drawing and making experimentations
    • Discovering spaces & relationships through a specific methodology
    • Loose and Accurate methods of representation allowing different information to be revealed
    • Chance
    • Evolution

    The intension is to create a new reading of the ELEMENTS which can be seen in various configurations and scales. Experimentation will be tested through hybrid drawings.

    Transformation of the technical drawing becomes a device to read the different parameters and qualities of the dis- assembled and evolved elements.

    Students will develop a series of creative work starting from an existing situation (photo, drawing etc) and leading gradually to a hybrid drawing. Emphasis will be given to the evolution through the layers / depths of the built and human topographies.

    The process of drawings and results in the various stages of the development should be Recorded in a photographic sequence.

    Students will be assigned to work in groups based on their categories of interest [ELEMENTS] by the end of week one.

     

    STEPS

    Week one

    • Investigate, collect drawings, photos and other materials of a chosen traditional element/ wisdom [visit if possible]
    • Create a 2d drawing of the existing element based on your interest [suggestions: sectional drawing, layering techniques, photo collage, cut-outs etc]

    *** Exaggerate and accentuate elements that you want to focus on

    • Choose an unexpected/contrasting existing setting [you may use previous projects, existing landscapes and buildings] where you will apply your intervention

     

    Week two

    • Evolve forgotten wisdoms and facilitate the emergence of their evolution through testing and hybrid drawing investigations

    *** Specific human activities should be presented in ‘distinguished’ (not indifferent) graphic mode, adding to the general unique (not generic) atmospheres of the interventions

    *** We strongly encourage a deep dive-in into radical experimentation and provocation through alternative techniques and ways of seeing architecture

     

    SCHEDULE /

    2-week Workshop.

    Weekly 4–hour class Tuesday 9.00 – 13.00 CET [additional hours may be offered at a later stage]

     

    EVALUATION /

    The evaluation will be based on the following Expected Learning Outcomes:

    After completion of the workshop students are expected to be able to:

    • Examine and interpret traditional and vernacular conditions in relation to their appropriation and evolution in the existing natural and built environment [material and immaterial qualities of space, ambience and innovation]
    • Use appropriate representation and presentation tools, including mixed media techniques to explore a plurality of experiences/ cultures/sites via alternative representation methods.
    • Demonstrate competence in dealing with sustainability, environmental awareness and climatic modification as integral parts of a design process.
    • Experiment with materiality and mechanisms in order to achieve an atmospheric architectural environment, having as a drive the interaction of the human body and space.
    • Identify and critically address the inherent conditions of the site, deal sensitively with the social issues as an integral part of the design process

     

    Bibliography /

    • ‘From Shinto to Ando; studies in architectural anthropology in Japan’ / Gunter Nitscke ; Academy Press (October 29, 1993) ISBN 978-1854902894
    • ‘Modern Architecture: A Critical History’ Kenneth Frampton; Thames & Hudson; 5th edition (September 8, 2020) ISBN-13 : 978-0500204443 [ chapter on critical regionalism ]
    • Studies in Tectonic Culture: The Poetics of Construction in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Architecture ; Kenneth Frampton ; The MIT Press; Illustrated edition (October 1, 2001) / ISBN-13 : 978-0262561495
    • ‘Atmosheres’, Zumthor; Birkhäuser Architecture; 5th Printing. edition (March 17, 2006) / ISBN-13: 978-3764374952
    • Studio Mumbai El Croquis 157

    Websites:

     

    University of Nicosia (CYPRUS) / Markella Menikou (menikou.m@unic.ac.cy)

    + Maria Hadjisoteriou (hadjisoteriou.m@unic.ac.cy)

    + Yiorgos Hadjichristou (hadjichristou.y@unic.ac.cy)

     

  • ARCH: ephemeral architecture: urban follies

    CONTENT / We live in a time of change. What we took for granted in the summer of 2019 is now an  enormous uncertainty. Each day we sick for answers to questions such as when can we travel? When can  we visit a museum? And I ask how can I introduce students, here and worldwide, to the World Heritage  City (WHC) of Évora?  

    Following Darwin’s quote “It Is Not the Strongest of the Species that Survives But the Most Adaptable to  Change”, in this workshop we will change the way we travel, by “bringing international students to Évora,  and to the city Museums”, and exchange knowledge about architectural heritage, as space and place.  

    Participants will be asked to design an Urban Folly (from French folie, “foolishness”, a generally non functional building that was in vogue during the 18th and early 19th centuries, to enhance a natural  landscape), an ephemeral structure to place in an urban space, where the unimaginable will happen: the city heritage will be displayed, not inside a traditional and immoveable museum, but in the square or  the street, perhaps from where the museum pieces have been found. And, by 5G technology, these  

    Follies will be in contact with the rest of the world and provide a virtual tour to the WHC of Évora. 

     

    AIMS / To raise awareness about the local heritage of a WHC. To reflect on how it can be displayed into  the public, here and elsewhere, in the outdoors. 

    METHOD / Interpreting Public Place and Local Heritage – Local participants (Évora) will be paired with  international colleagues. Then they will be given an historic urban space in Évora and describe it to the  foreign colleagues. To design an architectural structure to enable people (locals, visitors, etc.) to enjoy  the historic values of that place. To present the idea in a mock-up..  

    SCHEDULE / 2-Week Workshop. Weekly 4-hour class  

    OFFICIAL TEACHING HOURS: 2 h Tuesdays + 2 h Thursdays 15:00-17:00 (PT)  

    02 March | Introduction of the workshop objectives (video-lecture of 15 minutes)  + questions and feedback / Introduce yourself and three major values of the  historic core of the city where you are living, in a short video (3min. máx) / Define  work groups according to shared city’s values / Group work: Start the  development of ideas  

    04 March | Group work: development of ideas and teachers’ feedback  

    9 March | Group work: teachers’ feedback on finalising Mock-up scale 1:50 and  presentations in Zoom setting.  

    11 March | Final Crit.  

    (SELF-) EVALUATION / Answer to these questions in order to identify what skills you acquired: 

    Question 1 | Our world is increasingly composed of visual images – phones,  tablets, laptops, cameras, therefore it is important to develop the ability to  recognize, sort, and rearrange them in order to create something new: did you 

    heightened your visual acuity (your ability to look at things on their own terms  but also to make visual connections and to turn those visual connections into an  evolutionary history that has a past, a present, and a future)?  

    Question 2 | This workshop has the capacity to be a consequential experience if  it is used to enhance your knowledge on cities values, on why and how they can  be used as triggers of new architectures. As you study other follies and ephemeral  architectural structures, in order to understand how you can design one that  responds to the challenge, you became an interactive learner, you expand your  mind, you exchange ideas with other students, you work together in groups, and  create real world projects and, by so doing – have you enhanced your academic  and personal life? Please explain how.  

    Question 3 | By proposing an interactive learning experience, mixing students  from different geographies and cultures, a contemporary solution (to bring cities  values to wherever you are) to a real life problem (the impossibility/difficulty to  travel to other countries to know indigenous cultures on-site) has been found and  communicated using a mock-up – How have you learned with your colleagues  and enhanced/enlarged your architecture communication methods?  

    Question 4 | Working in groups in such a short period, requires the establishment  of tasks such as data gathering, discussion/brainstorming of ideas and methods,  and time management – have you reached a definition of the concepts of space  and place to suitably respond to the workshop proposal on cultural values?  

    Question 5 | Explain how innovative your proposal is.

     

    Bibliography / https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/361/ 

    Tuan, Y.-F. (2011). Space and place: the perspective of experience. Minneapolis:  University of Minnesota Press.

     

    Évora University (PORTUGAL) / Sofia Aleixo (saleixo@uevora.pt) + Joana Vilhena

     

  • ARCH: psychoanalysis of the design process – three paths to a library

    CONTENT / The science on various design methods and processes is a fascinating branch of knowledge which architects perhaps do not study enough. The knowledge of design methods could organise and systematise your work, offer an X-ray vision, real psychanalysis of yourself as well as other designers and your tutors. This science may also help you to overcome design blocks when you are mentally stuck. 

     

    We could provide you a long, detailed and technical lecture about various methods of design, but why not experiment on yourself and feel how it is to become three different creative personalities? 

     

    AIMS / During this workshop we will talk and learn about libraries in the 21st century – this is a fascinating topic with its own unique problems and potentials. However, the workshop is not only about libraries. It is about making you aware about the design process; about who you are… and who you could be as a conscious architect. The seminal book Revealing Architectural Design Methods, Frameworks and Tools by Philip Plowright has a surprising conclusion that there are only three main types of architectural design process which represent three schools of teaching and creation. Architects, architectural tutors and students are often not aware of that so their arguments are actually pseudo-arguments… deriving from confusion on a meta-level. Some ‘big debates’ in the architectural world or academia stem from basic misunderstanding of those three different design processes. 

     

    The workshop is also about ‘fast methods’ for designing options. In the first week, you will be asked to design one option a day following specific instructions. 

     

    The objective of the project is only partly related to designing a library. The main aim of the workshop is for you to reflect on different design methods, your own strength and weakness and on the tools that are available.

     

    During the workshop you will learn about:  

    Problem solving, problem redefinition, exploratory and evaluative thinking, architectural syntax, usefulness of bias, IBD (Intelligence-based design), pattern language, forces, intellectual tools and brainstorming, CPSP (Creative Problem Solving Process), TRIZ (theory of the resolution of invention-related tasks), domain-to-domain transfer.

     

    METHOD / During the first week of this workshop you will be asked to approach the same architectural task – designing a library – three times. Every time, you will design it according to different architectural framework. This will allow you to learn something about yourself as an architect and about your own strengths and weaknesses. In the second week, you will be asked to analyse your work, evaluate the three projects and to refine the best result during group work.  

    …And one more thing… At the end, you will be asked to reflect on the work done and reflect on who you are and who you could be.  

        

    The workshop will be an exercise on fast design. For three days you will follow a different design framework, thus learning about different design methods and tools. As a result, you will create three, probably very different, projects. For now, let’s call the three projects Alpha, Beta and Gamma. (You will learn the real names of these frameworks during the workshop). In order not to confuse you, we will not explain the different methodologies here, but they will be explained on three separate days in special materials you will be sent. 

     

    SCHEDULE/

    Week 1 – Individual design 

    Monday:  Briefing, Preparation: Identify three sites in your city where a medium size building could be designed.

    Tuesday:  Alpha briefing, Visit the Alpha site, Create Alpha design,
    Present Alpha design to fellow students in your groups.

    Wednesday:  Beta briefing, Visit the Beta site, Create Beta design,
    Present Beta design to fellow students in your groups.

    Thursday: Gamma briefing, Visit the Gamma site, Create Gamma design,
    Present Gamma design to fellow students in your groups

    Friday: Presentation of individual projects chosen within groups 

    Week 2 – group work  

    Monday-Wednesday – group work

    Thursday – final group presentation 

    Friday – individual reflection and online submission 

     

    EVALUATION / your work will be assessed according to the following criteria 

    1. Analyses/ How thoroughly and deeply did you analyse the issues and questions related to libraries in the 21st century as well as all the people involved in library life? How well did you formulate architectural questions according to those analyses? Mind that during the process of developing the project you will create several small projects. Each of these projects could have a different agenda, different analyses, different questions and different criteria. So it is important that you formulate this clearly by adding clear annotations to each initial sketch. 
    2. Concept/ How strong and coherent was the response (answer) to a problem (question) which you formulated during the analyses? Mind that in different projects the criteria ‘strong’ and ‘coherent’ could mean something different, e.g. functional, critical, original OR something different). Be clear about YOUR criteria. Clearly annotate the drawings 
    3. Development/  How systematic and rational was the choice of a design path? How many options did you take into consideration? How rigorously (according to your own criteria) did you choose the next step? (Mind that the development will be partly individual and partly group work. Engagement in each part of the work will be evident through peer assessment and the outcome you will have to submit.) 
    4. Presentation/ Did you submit all the required deliverables? How clearly did you manage to convey the final idea and how engaging was it? (The deliverables will be a combination of individual and group work. They should be clearly annotated. A very important part of the individual work will be the final reflection.) 

    University of Lincoln (UK) :  Marcin Mateusz Kołakowski (mkolakowski@lincoln.ac.uk) 

     

  • ARCH: architectural narrative – event

    „Dancing and architecture are the two primary and essential arts. The art of dancing stands at the source of all the arts that express themselves first in the human person. The art of building, or architecture, is the beginning of all the arts that lie outside the person; and in the end they unite.”

    Havelock Ellis, The Dance of Life (1923)

     

    What is architecture? A seemingly basic question, but actually one that is open to a diverse range of subjectivity. However, it is impossible to conceal that architecture is a positive balance between Science and Art, a point at which the two fields collide yet, finding the right balance is not always so easy to do. An architect should not only be familiar with the architecture and engineering principles but also have the ability to creatively manifest an emotive idea into something tangible. The ability to capture and physicalize invisible elements of our world through storytelling is an art itself. The building is not only the walls, the floor and the roof but also the atmosphere and feelings it celebrates. Many architectural projects are based on creating a narrative and engaging users into this relationship between space and mind. Architecture is an inseparable part of all cultures and the context in which it exists. It has the ability to comment on all the immaterial structures of our societies, such as the social, cultural, economic and political, immortalizing them as physical structures. It is important to identify the greatest needs of your local society and their environment. In architecture, just as in nature, nothing is accidental. Therefore, a discussion on the same topic in a multicultural environment can lead to very interesting and unexpected conclusions, „Quot homines tot sententiae: suo’ quoique mos” eng.: „So many men, so many opinions: to each his own way.” (Terence, 161 BC).

     

    AIMS

    A workshop will be conducted remotely between universities, we wish to discover different approaches to the narration in architecture, depending on the background of the participants. First, try to imagine the feeling of the space(s) you are designing and its atmosphere before drawing the architecture. Each participant will have to discover himself and take his own position in the given topic, devise its greatest needs and respond to them through their work. Through the discussion of the brief and the individuality of each member of the group, we will try to broaden our perception and discover new ways of observing the world to develop material and immaterial storytelling. The drawing will allow us to experiment with scale, proportions, colours material, light and shadow.

     

    METHOD

    Based on the brief issued during Day 1 of the workshop we will define the needs of local society in a given topic and each individually considers the question:

    What is the most significant aspect of the brief that can be reflected in an Architectural narrative?

    Each participant will discuss their initial intuitive response to the brief, their experience, passion, and hobbies, in order to ascertain a narrative for the brief, whilst simultaneously, revealing something of ourselves to the group. To help with the preparation of the narrative, a lecture will be conducted where the topic will be discussed with examples and ideas. Everyone will have the opportunity to exchange their thoughts and discuss an outline with their lecturers, along with colleagues in the group, where all will receive support in the development of their project. We will conclude with short presentations of each narrative and 500mm x 500mm drawing, discussed in the forum. Everyone will have the opportunity to ask questions, comment on other works and provide feedback.

     

    SCHEDULE

    Week 1:

    (Monday) 25 Jan 2021 –   Introduction and Brief Release

    (Thursday) 28 Jan 2021 – Lecture and Open Discussion

    Week 2:

    (Monday) 01 Feb 2021 –   Tutorials

    (Thursday) 04 Feb 2021 – Final Presentation

     

    EVALUATION

    The workshop will focus on drawing as a primary medium. The conclusion piece will be a 500mm x 500mm drawing, exploring a range of mediums. In addition, our global studio will be required to produce a 200-word synopsis to compliment his or her work. Each piece will be considered under the following points:

    • Individuality and creativity in the process of generating an architectural narrative,
    • Understanding and responding to the needs of the local society,
    • Understanding the context and environment of the given topic,
    • Graphical representation of your idea and the ability to include the whole story in one drawing
    • Ability to express yourself through your drawing.

     

    London South Bank University (UK)

    Luke Murray – murral13@lsbu.ac.uk

    Piotr Smiechowicz – smiechp2@lsbu.ac.uk

    Yianna Moustaka – moustay3@lsbu.ac.uk

    Ibrahim Rajah – rajahi2@lsbu.ac.uk

     

  • ARCH: permissive city

    CONTENT / In many cities, globalisation has contributed to the emergence of new urban environments which, over very short periods of time, have replicated similar and homogenous spaces, evacuated public ownership, erased local singularities and produced what may be defined as a generic and franchised city. Most of these cities retain urban environments developed on the long term, where palimpsest spaces give a fair share to public space and where the character and singularity of place are preserved.

    This process raises a variety of questions, particularly that of the appropriation of public space by people in these two ‘versions’ of the city. Considering that the work of time in the construction of urban space cannot be replaced, it becomes crucial to identify the conditions which may accelerate the process of appropriation of public spaces by users whilst encouraging the emergence of uncontrolled and non-programmed uses and spatial arrangements.

     

    AIMS / The workshop will explore how the implementation of more inclusive approaches in terms of public space design and usage may promote more vibrant urban environments

    To this end, two urban fragments, one “palimpsest” and the other “generic”, will be explored through the prisms of public life.  At first, emphasis will be put on identifying the types of public spaces encountered, the variety and density of uses observed as well as the factors that appear to favour or constrain individual and collective ownership of these spaces. Secondly, lessons will be drawn from this understanding to suggest conceptual processes that promote the appropriation of public space by people and allow them over time to develop their own responses and solutions.

     

    METHOD /

    Session 00: Introduction

    Organised in groups of 3 to 4 students, you will introduce yourself with a 2 to 3 minutes video, explaining why you chose to attend this workshop and what urban sites you wish to investigate.

     

    Session 01 – Immersion, interpretation and representation

    You shall choose two urban environments of the same surface. The first one will be a part of the “palimpsest city” where you would usually enjoy dwelling and spending time, the second will be a part of the “generic city”, as described above.

    Using walking as an exploration too, you will dwell through site for an average of 2 hours. You shall prepare the itinerary of your journey beforehand using a map, but you will allow yourself to drift once on the spot.

    Whilst on site:

    – Identify the main types open spaces you encounter (sidewalks, paths, squares, café terraces, playgrounds, etc.) and the forms of public life that take place in them as well as in the spaces visible from them (e.g., outdoor extensions of dwellings), distinguishing between spontaneous and more official uses;

    – Associate keywords with each identified situation;

    – Register your perception and feelings in each place (e.g., excitement, anxiety, boredom, …);

    – Register your perception of time and the density of the uses you observe along the way.

     

    – Seek potential correlations between the shape and location of the open spaces and their degree of appropriation by people.

    Once off site:

    – Process your observations and “findings” by organising this new knowledge in a “narrative” (example: exploration book, graphic novel, comic strip, video, etc.) that clearly highlights your understanding of the issue of public life in your two chosen urban environments;

    – Indicate your route “before” and “during” the drift, highlighting times of movement and pause. When using graphical supports such as plans or maps, use the same scale for both urban fragments.

     

    Session 02 – / Reflexions & projections

    Based on your previous work and if necessary, by referring to existing practices and experiences, define the broad outlines of “proposals” or “recommendations” that could set up and promote a more people centred urban life in your generic city fragment.  Beyond the production of artefacts, you may focus on defining processes which will ultimately contribute to this objective (i.e., alternative urban morphologies / specific spatial arrangements / new urban planning rules / experimentation and prefiguration phases / Post-occupation phases / new “permission to do” for inhabitants / ….

    The presentation format remains free, but shall be in continuity with your previous work.

     

    SCHEDULE / 2-Week Workshop / Weekly 4-hour class arranged with the students:

     

    Session 00 – Introduction / 15 Feb 2020.

    Session 01 – Development (Immersion, interpretation and representation) / 15-19 Feb 2021.

    Session 02 – Final Crit (Reflexions & projections) / 26 Feb 2021.

     

    EVALUATION / Fulfilment of the requirements of sessions 00, 01 & 02

     

    École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture et de Paysage de Bordeaux (France)

    Hocine Aliouane-Shaw (hocine.perso@free.fr)

    Workshop idea developed with Yvan Detraz from non-profit organization Bruit du frigo (Bruitdufrigo.com)

     

  • ARCH: treatment

    CONTENT / In many different ways, European cities have suffered a common fate: the compulsive increase in buildings, the financialization of the real estate market, the enslavement of urban space to cars. Despite the diversity of individual national events, these are the distinctive traits of the contemporary city that have left on the ground portions of the territory in disuse, incongruent urban fabrics, open wounds in historical structures.

     

    AIMS / Identify the role of project disciplines to remedy the casual use of territorial resources and the dissipation of the urban landscape that we have inherited from the last century.

    The city of Forlì will be the scene on which the project workshop will be applied with the aim of regenerating / redeveloping the undecided or degraded spaces of the historic city. Students from other European schools will be able to work remotely based on the descriptions prepared by the University of Bologna, or work on similar topics within the cities where their course is located.

     

    METHOD / Students and teachers from different cultural areas of the project disciplines will work together to contribute to the debate on the possibility of transforming urban space and its perception, proposing a different and integrative logic with respect to the social and economic urgencies imposed by the market rules.

    Imagining the shape of the public space by evading the impositions of current utilitarianism means projecting the imagination beyond the horizon of the short range.

     

    SCHEDULE / 2-Week Workshop. Weekly 8-hour class arranged with the students:

     

    Introduction / 17 Feb 2020. Presentation of the city of Forlì and the issues underlying the workshop.

     

    Development / 18-27 Feb 2020.

     

    Final Critic / 28 Feb 2020.

     

    EVALUATION / The workshop is a form of project action based on the exchange of quick proposals. The proposed solutions do not aim to obtain a definitive character but to open debates on the fate of cities in a conjectural and multiple form. By offering points of view distant from the logic and mechanisms that preside over the transformation of cities, they open up a panorama of alternative possibilities capable of conditioning consciences.

    The more different and unexpected positions emerge, the more we can consider the experience successful.

     

    Bibliography / Italo Calvino. Visibility, in Six memos for the next millennium. Cambridge, MA: Harward University Press, 1988, pp.81-99

     

    Bologna University (ITALY) /

    Antonio Esposito (antonio.esposito9@unibo.it)

    Giorgio Liverani (giorgio.liverani2@unibo.it)

    Martina D’Alessandro (martina.dalessandro2@unibo.it)

    Francesco Saverio Fera (saverio.fera@unibo.it)

    Annalisa Trentin (annalisa.trentin@unibo.it)

    Martina Focchi (martina.focchi@unibo.it)

    Paolo Emmanuel Gardelli (paolo.gardelli3@studio.unibo.it)

    Lorenzo Musto (mustolorenzo@gmail.com)

     

  • ARTS: maps of memory (places of remembrance)

    CONTENT / TO COME IN CONTACT with ourselves and with our to have become through lifetime (bonnländer 2019): Places of Remembrance – A practical experiment to reconstruct memories through developing a city map

    People who suffer from dementia, for example Alzheimer’s, suffer from memory loss. Events that occurred long ago, but which can be emotionally significant for us, often lie in childhood. But in what ways can we bring back to life emotionally significant memories for our present life or for the development of new designs for ourselves and for being recognized as a person instead of a patient? How can a world and an architecture for persons who suffer from dementia look like – so that their live can be a personal live? The philosopher, psychotherapist and art therapist Karl-Heinz Menzen says that exercises that support the reconstruction of places from childhood stimulate emotional memory. And that re-associating personal memory with time and space as a system of coordination is critically responsible for the capacity of memory. His practical ideas are based on neurologically-oriented theories of the structure of the brain, of rehabilitation. By connecting to neuronal networking intact brain areas, such as the areas of long-term memory reconstruction of memory performance thus the ability to remember is activated. He focuses on training through a methodical approach in the art therapeutic setting to promote the relationship to space and time and the own personality in its individual and historical aspects. According to Menzen, impulses for the reconstruction of memory, for example are places of childhood – “Our hometown”. With the support of an art therapist, the old people draw streets of the place from their own childhood like an architect on a large piece of paper assembled for everyone and then replicate the houses that were formerly inhabited (Menzen, 2008, p. 63 f).

    Keywords: Interdisciplinary aspects of architecture – Fine Arts, Art Therapy, Memory of Emotions, Dementia, Alzheimer

    AIMS / The aim is to come in contact with our memories and to build a map and to tell about the experience after. The students investigate whether and which memories are brought to life with this method. They observe whether details become more and more detailed, whether there are special smells and colors, surface textures, haptic or acoustic memories. Whether long-forgotten people appear with whom they are perhaps connected by a special event or who have played an important role in their lives. As we sketch and model in ever greater detail, we investigate whether narratives emerge during this process and whether we want to share them with others.

    SUMMARY OUTCOMES To bring together – synchronize – space and time in this specific method support remembering and the ability of being in contact with the own emotions, related to the awoked sensual aspects, that are experienced while creative working – f.e. – hammering – noise, vibration, rhythm – reminding of sounds and sensations of the past, relating to the actual moment.

    Drawing and building the (emotional) objects of remembering in context of space awoke inner pictures and stimulates associated atmospheric memories and so it creates narratives: f.e. from the wallpaper with pattern of roses to the memory of elegant parties, music and athmosphere of the parents house.
    To tell and show after reconstructing promotes the communication into the social group. To listen to the stories and see the visual representations of biografic memories transport them into an actualized space and moment. Both – social space and the concrete perceptive space of the moment relate to past and present of an individuum and of a society.

    This method transferred to a working situation with a person suffering from dementia it enables both – the individuums of the group of clients, and the accompanying artist to make the whole personality recognizable in the relation. Emotions, experiences aspects of identity, qualities of the person / character – of past and present become awoke in the actual relation Architects can reflect on their professional practice in a playful way, getting impulses by both personal and cultural – historical aspects of experienced places and spaces – connected to their own experienced past or to the cultural and historically – different – memories of collegues. (Connert und Bonnländer, 2019).

    METHOD / First we draw and reconstruct a map of the places of our childhood: the streets and places around, the buildings and the environment. We will reconstruct the house of our parents or the people we grew up with, for example with clay. We all work on our own map or city map at the same time. This way we can hear the sounds of the other participants. Afterwards we want to show and to reflect and exchange our experiences and observations.

    Working Instruction: Draw a memory of a residency place in childhood, for example also the pathways to school and so on… – in a map perspective, after having the plan, add memory specific details like situations, experiences, by drawing, painting, or in any other way for example threedimensional with clay or with tape Materials you need: A big paper for the city map, drawing materials – pencils, water colors or other colors, Scissors, brushes or crayons to paint. Materials to build houses on the map, for example clay, cardboard, strong paper, glue, adhesive tapes. Please send the foto of your object in JPEG 200 ppi during the first day workshop to us.

     

    1st day: Introduction, Group work, show the city-map in JPEG 200 ppi.

    2nd day: to show and tell.

     

    SCHEDULE / 2-Week Workshop. Weekly 4-hour class arranged with the students: Introduction, Development and to show part 1 / 16 Feb 2021.

     

    EVALUATION /

    Part 2 Final Crit / 23 Feb 2021.

    1. To sensitize oneself to oneself and others by exploring the importance of memories of childhood places.
    2. Did I succeed in bringing back to life memories of my childhood by reconstructing streets and houses in a map of the place of my childhood?
    3. How does my memory of the place of my childhood change after I have worked out a map of it? What do I generate? What emerges, what changes – memories of events, colors, sounds, objects, characteristics of materials or surfaces, ideas of space?
    4. Are there emotions involved? Which one?
    5. What is the meaning of the fact that I created my city map by my own hand, without digital tools? Please observe your sensuality in your hands, your sense of space…
    6. Students can show and explain their city map to others and exchange experiences with others.
    7. They can reflect on a meta-level and describe how two-dimensional and three- dimensional processes work in combination with biography.
    8. Students deal with related sciences and interdisciplinary aspects.
    9. Explore possibilities of how to support people suffering from forgetting in the field of space and time through sensitive spatial development.

    Bibliography /

    Menzen, K.-H. (2008). Art therapy with people confused by age (2nd ed.), 53-70. Munich: Ernst Reinhardt Connert, S. (2019). Ein Leben mit Demenz im hohen Lebensalter. Beispiele aus der Kunsttherapie.

    Forum für Kunsttherapien – Die Fachzeitschrift des GPK, 47(1), 8-11. https://www.theatertherapie.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Forum_-Heft_2_Lebensalter_Mai_2019.pdf

     

    Academy of Fine Arts Munich (GER) /

    Senta Connert (connert@adbk.mhn.de)
    Katja Bonnländer (bonnlaender@adbk.mhn.de )

     

  • ARCH+ARTS: the space for learning as a landscape of life

    CONTENT / Many changes have been in the architecture profession since Journey to the East was written: A diary of Le Corbusier’s trip in 1911. This book is a collection of visual notations, or impressions perceived by Le Corbusier as a visitor to a number of cities in Southeast Europe. Later, the acquired disciplinary knowledge acted as an inspiration for his architecture.

    This year we have organized a 2-week workshop travelling to the unknown: to places that have awakened in each of us a need to learn from the local, its technology, culture and society; consolidating links of specialisation. It is also an experience to empathize Architecture as a Comparative Study, learning as a trip, a journey as an experience.

    We will discuss and go with our proposals and designs in our desired trips, redefining the limits of architecture by working with the unknown as a way to build up a research.

     

    AIMS / To identify a place as a desire. To work with the imagination as a real context. To describe a place with your experience. To find opportunities in your desires to start with a project. To introduce oneself to the class. To get to know the rest of the future members of your working group. To learn how to contribute to group work.

     

    METHOD / The student’s life and interests as building material. To introduce our personal skills and portfolio into a place. Trip to a new destiny you desire to know.

     

    1st day: Introduce yourself presenting a 3min video with the values of your experiences in the desired destiny.

     

    2nd day: Group work according to your common interests. Connect your destinies into a sequence.

     

    3rd day: Final crit. Design your Zoom setting. Mock-up scale 1:1.

     

    SCHEDULE / 2-Week Workshop. Weekly 4-hour class arranged with the students:

     

    Introduction / 03-05 Feb 2020.

    Development / 08-11 Feb 2020.

    Final Crit / 12 Feb 2020.

     

    EVALUATION / Develop the answers to 3 questions from these 12:

     

    1. The WORKSHOP proposes that students begin to build a complete thought to tackle projects, to process, organize, view and display information so that “data collection” became proactive rather than an analytical tool. Have I been able to go beyond analysis procedure and convert the project into a proposition display?

     

    1. The students have to learn to criticize their work and to draw conclusions. They have to process systems and models of architectural production, reformulating nonobvious descriptions, focusing their gaze on the invisible structures, not having preconceived ideas, producing unexpected findings, and non-discursive reasoning. Have I used my own ways of expression reformulating descriptions and avoiding the obvious and the use of direct images of the project culture?

     

    1. The student begins to explore architectural expression systems to formalize their projective ideas. How many ways of expression have I used at work and what is the value expressed by each of them?

     

    1. We have to learn to talk and discuss about architectural sustainability criteria, adding the concept of ecological niche project (mental territory, social, material, technical, medium-environmental, etc). Have I addressed the theme of THE WORKSHOP responding to the proposal on the sustainability?

     

    1. We are going to know how to work in-group to discover the roles in production systems. How much information data made in-group have I used to express my project?

     

    1. The students must participate and contribute with their ideas to the class as an essential part of knowledge. What is the intensity used to express my ideas through the architectural expression ways?

     

    1. The students must learn to establish a personal lexicon to express his architectural ideas. Have you expressed your ideas through a personal lexicon, or have you imitated expression systems used by other designers seen in the media (magazines or Internet)?

     

    1. You need positively assess risk and innovation as a necessary condition of design. Innovation defined as the use of allied disciplines to develop intellectual and technical tools to create new realities, within their own reality, exceeding the established models. Do I use allied disciplines for innovative production?

     

    1. The students must enter, step by step, work details the project culture, you must learn to interpret and criticize from their own proposal. How many data have you appropriated from the culture to express my project?

     

    1. You should produce an open system work, with more questions than answers. How many questions have you made throughout the design process and how many have you tried to answer?

     

    1. Skills: Interest in the contribution, regardless of the attitude from which it was generated. What is the interest of my contribution?

     

    1. Attitudes: how to tackle the problem independent of the outcome. Have I solved with intellectual and material effort to present the proposal?

     

    Bibliography / Le Corbusier. Journey to the East. Cambridge,MA: MIT Press, 1987.

     

    Alicante University (SPAIN) /

    Joaquín Alvado Bañón (joaquin.alvado@ua.es)

    Javier Sánchez Merina (jsm@ua.es)

    UOU_ws1 ALC

     

  • ARCH: discover nature in our buildings – enclosed nature and the city

    CONTENT /

    The pandemic period offered us a chance of seeing a deserted city. Empty streets, empty squares (piazzas), empty parks, empty churches, empty theatres, empty museums, all of these created a non-living city. We know that a city does not operate in this way. The city and, at a micro scale, a building live through spaces and ‘their patterns of events which we experience there’. (Christopher, ALEXANDER, The timeless way of building, New York, Oxford University Press, 1979, page 62 – I strongly recommend reading this book.)
    Let’s try to imagine a diverse life in the natural environment even in the heart of the building. We will focus on the dwelling buildings, because these were the spaces in which we were captured.
    How do we, the neighbours, create the city through the activities we carry out?
    I am certain that all of you know at least one enclosed space, among the walls of the same building or of different buildings, which can be investigated and can identify the patterns of events.

     

    AIMS /

    Search, find, investigate and identify the patterns of events in an enclosed garden. Create a link between the built space and the unbuilt enclosed one. Formulate a hypothesis about the influence of nature on this closed space.
    Illustrate in any way you consider appropriate, how to show both the garden, along with the façades that border it, and how the garden reaches the streets of the city.
    These illustrations will offer us a prospect of a wide range of lives in our cities and with their help we will collect fragments of ideal islands in which we dwell.
    As a final aim, we generate a new city formed by our islands. The city will be read through our book, which will result.

     

    METHOD /

    It is compulsory to work in groups of two or three students for the first week. In the second week, every group has to interact with other four groups because every part of the building meets other requirements.

    1 st day: Introduce yourself presenting an image of the contemporary hortus conclusus from your hometown.
    2 nd day: Show us the above-mentioned illustrations.
    3 rd day: Final crit. Design our puzzle.

     

    SCHEDULE / 2-Week Workshop. Weekly 4-hour class arranged with the students:

    Introduction / 02-06 November, 2020
    Development / 09-12 November, 2020
    Final Crit / 18 Sept 2020

     

    EVALUATION /

    The student will be able to understand and shape the ground floor of the building in relationship with the city, with its inhabitants and other citizens, with the nature, mainly he or she will know how to keep a balance between the built and the unbuilt space and will tell us which are the advantages and the drawbacks of a city with enclosed gardens.

     

    UOU _ ws4

     

    ION MINCU University of Architecture and Urbanism Bucharest (ROMANIA) /

    Andreea Calma (andreeacalma.drd18@uauim.ro)

     

     

  • ARCH: architecture through language – a play for radio in one act

    CONTENT /

    The architect is a storyteller. The architect designs spaces that speak to the user and, in turn, the user hears that story through an interaction with a building. What would architecture be without a story? We suggest it would not be architecture. But to tell a story we need a language in which to communicate.

    Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) the founder of modern linguistics saw language as ‘signs’ that express ideas. Each sign has a ‘signifier’ (a word) and a ‘signified’ (a meaning). We want to use this concept and apply it to architectural space. We want to tell stories that help the listener to imagine and indeed to experience space without seeing it.

    We have designed a two week long workshop that will encourage you to use your imagination and apply it to a piece of significant architecture. By doing so you will elaborate a story through the body of someone else – not yourself – who experiences that architecture. You will need to consider questions about the building (the signifier) and the architectural intention (the signified) that the architect wishes to imply. So, for us and for our storytelling workshop the building becomes what Roland Barthes (1915-1980) would have called the ‘rose’ and the architectural connotation is what he would have labelled ‘passion.’

    This is a creative exploration, interpreting architecture through storytelling and choosing words and sounds to communicate an idea. There is no right or wrong answer.

    As students of architecture you need to become storytellers, and this workshop will help you to do so.

     

    AIMS /

    Over the two weeks from 16th to 27th November you will work (via the internet) in groups with students from other universities. You will all speak different languages and come from different cultural traditions. First, you will need to decide on a common language(s) of communication for the group. Then, you will need to think about how we express feelings through words by using rhythm, tone, inflection etc…As well as doing this you will be guided in developing ideas about what is a ‘story’. Would the same story told in one language be the same when translated into another? And if architectural space is a ‘story’ we might then ask would the same architectural space be understood differently depending on the language, words, rhythm, tone and inflection used to describe it.

    When we are familiar with a language the words we use carry meaning. Our cultural development gives words (signifiers) a particular cultural meaning (signified). So whilst we can translate a word into another language it is the meaning that’s all too often lost in translation. The listener does not give the word the same meaning as you. When applied to architecture we can think of this as the difference between the building (the signifier) and the architect’s intention. But we can take it a step further an explore the difference between the architect’s intention (signified) and a reading of the building as experienced by the user (which might be a different ‘signified’ to the architect’s).

    We aim to explore the translation of architectural idea into architectural experience through storytelling.

    By the end of our two weeks, you will have found a way within your groups of describing an architectural space that we (as architects) know well, and of situating a narrative within that space, that helps someone else experience it as architecture. In other words, we will tell a story about something that happened/happens/will happen somewhere, but in an immediately intelligible language.

     

    METHOD /

    At the start of the workshop, under the guidance of Mike and Thom, we will work together to answer the questions posed above. We will you into groups that are deliberately multi lingual. We hope as many native languages as possible will be brought together, and none dominate. We will introduce you to the ideas of language and storytelling and how to apply them to three dimensional space. We will encourage you to be confident in expressing yourself using unfamiliar language and in recognising how ‘sound’ is just as important a concept as ‘word.’

    Each group will be allocated a building well known to students of architecture but which no-one in the group will have visited. Each group will have a different building. Information on the building will be easily available on line and it will be able to be visited ‘virtually.’ The building will have been the subject of architectural writing and the intentions of the architect will be readily found via the internet. Getting an architectural understanding of the building will be the starting point for each group. That will happen quickly.

    The group will then be allocated a persona and will be asked to develop a one act radio play (story) exploring that persona’s interaction with the building in a fictional way. Guidance will be given on the storyline but the important point is that the interaction must be such that it is with the architecture. In other words the action of the play could not take place meaningfully anywhere else but in the building given. The play will last 5 minutes and will be spoken, but accompanied by sound effects (but only such that can be made by students’ voices) as appropriate. The play must not mention the name of the building or give express clues as to what or where it is. No expressly architectural terminology must be used and you must not simply describe the space – the important thing is the narrative. There must be a clearly understandable narrative (beginning, middle and end) to the story, all of which must be appropriate for the architectural space. The choice of words, rhythm, intonation and tome are vital as will be the sound effects. The play is to be pre-recorded by the group. The speakers must not use their native tongue nor English.

    If done well the other groups should be able to describe the architectural space (perhaps by drawing it as they listen) and even guess the name of the building in which the play is set, just as a play about passion might lead us to draw a rose (without ever using the word rose in the play).

     

    SCHEDULE /

    To be developed, when we establish other unis’ schedules.

    Monday 16:

    • Participants identified.
    • Initial briefing.
    • Understanding what a story is.
    • Using language to convey meaning.

    Tuesday 17:

    • Allocation of building.
    • Identification of ‘signified’ and ‘signifier’
    • Further briefing to all groups.

    Wednesday 18 and Thursday 19:

    • Allocation of persona – the storyline in the architectural space.
    • Mike and Thom ‘visit’ each group for live tutorials

    Friday 20:

    • The story – guidance and development.
    • Plenary for all groups

    Monday 23, Tuesday 24:

    • The ‘script’ and ‘roles’ (voice, sound, effects)
    • Mike and Thom ‘visit’ each group for live tutorials.

    Wednesday 25:

    • A rehearsal

    Thursday 26:

    • Recording and submission
    • Mike and Thom available as required

    Friday 27:

    • On-line performance
    • On line interviews with the directors and actors
    • Simultaneous posting of individual live drawings as each performance ends

     

    EVALUATION – ASSESSMENT /

    Each university has its own expectations and requirements and you will be informed of those separately. As a general guide to assessing your involvement in this workshop the following will be considered:

    • A demonstration of understanding the application of ‘signifier’ and ‘signified’ to architectural space.
    • A grasp of the architectural intention behind a given space.
    • The use of rhythm, tone and delivery as regards language to convey feeling.
    • The creation of a story that evokes architectural atmosphere through its telling
    • The creative process and participation to a professional level.

     

    UOU_05_Language

     

    UWE BRISTOL (UK) /

    Mike Devereux (Mike.Devereux@uwe.ac.uk)

    Thom Gorst (Thom.Gorst@uwe.ac.uk)

     

  • ARCH: elements of architecture for the confinement

    CONTENT /

    The COVID-19 crisis has obliged us to rethink the evolution of our models of architecture, our squares and streets, our homes and other typologies of buildings. Our entire cities are being judged due to new relationships within society.
    Under these novel circumstances we have listened to more experts from different disciplines to give their opinions about necessary changes in architecture than to architects themselves. During the last months, epidemiologists, economists, politicians, anthropologists, sociologists, scientists, policemen, reporters or general citizens from all over the world have been the real spokesmen for new architecture. Without a doubt, it is time to question the single authorship of the future of Architecture: more than ever, as a discipline, it cannot continue being taught alone, nor on a local level.
    From the architect’s point of view, all of us we have also being secluded in our architecture. The confinement that forced many of us to be at home has encouraged to reduce the speed of our fast life and reflect on our social-political engagement within this new reality. This period has been a real impulse to assume those commitments and transform them into architecture, opening new ways of working and collaborating with other colleagues and disciplines internationally, something that just some months before would have been rather arduous.
    A direct example, in terms of the pedagogy of architecture, is our ambitious project “UNIVERSITY of Universities”. Although this exchange of workshops was technically possible before, it is only now when it became a reality.

     

    AIMS /

    Rem Koolhaas directed the exhibition “Elements of Architecture” at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale. It consisted of a massive recollection of information about the evolution of selected fragments of building details of architecture:

    WINDOW
    FAÇADE
    BALCONY
    CORRIDOR
    FIREPLACE
    STAIR
    ESCALATOR
    ELEVATOR
    FLOOR
    RAMP
    CEILING
    ROOF
    DOOR
    WALL
    TOILET

    Here you can find more information on the catalogue of this exhibition:
    https://oma.eu/publications/elements-of-architecture

    The aim of our workshop is to complete that book. We consider that this research on historical evolution of elements from early times to the end of the 20th century, directed by Koolhaas, calls now for an additional reading. Foreseeing new confinements, our society starts to ask for therapeutic qualities of these same elements. And we believe that this will be the result of an international collaborative work between architects and other disciplines.

     

    METHOD /

    To achieve this, the participants in the workshop will be organized in groups of 6 members, each one from a different school of architecture.
    Every group will choose one of the elements listed above to develop during this workshop for confinement.
    Since each member belongs to a different culture, the task consists of collaborating with an expert from a different discipline than architecture and to compare the diverse applications in your particular realities.

    1 st day: Individual introduction / each student chooses an element and produces a document (free technique: video, drawing, model…) that speaks about him/her or the way it inspires him/her (memories, interests, reflexions…). After his/her personal presentation, we will arrange the groups by affinities and interdisciplinary collaborations.

    2 nd day: Group proposal / produce a conceptual image that contains the new interdisciplinary qualities that your element of architecture should adopt due to a future confinement and apply it to the work developed in the former UOU Workshops.

    3 rd day: Final Crit of the precise constructive details of group’s Therapeutic Elements of Architecture.

     

    SCHEDULE / 2-Week Workshop. Weekly 4-hour class arranged with the students:

    Introduction / 30-04 Dec 2020.
    Development / 07-10 Dec 2020.
    Lecture: Architecture can heal, by Francisco Colom and Ana Fernández Martínez (MASS design group).
    Final Crit / 11 Dec 2020.

     

    EVALUATION /

    Develop these actions:

    – Finding opportunities of Interdisciplinary relationships to start a project.
    – Describing the differences when dealing with different cultures.
    – Finishing with a precise building detail of an element that defines Therapeutic Architecture.

     

    Bibliography /

    Sacks, Oliver. (1995). An anthropologist on Mars: Seven paradoxical tales (1st ed). Knopf.

     

    UOU _ ws6

     

    Alicante University (SPAIN) /

    Joaquín Alvado Bañón (joaquin.alvado@ua.es)

    Javier Sánchez Merina (jsm@ua.es)

     

  • ARCH: cognitive mapping

    CONTENT /

    The process of mapping extends and enriches our interaction with the specific conditions of site, therefore it allows the reader to understand and experience the unique characteristics of a specific place.
    In his article “The Agency of Mapping, Speculation, Critique & Invention”, James Cornertalks of the map as having the power to ‘Reformulate what already exists’. The ‘agency’ of the map, is that which exploits the research to identify, decode and create the potential of possibilities for the place. Mapping is understood, not as a process of representing geographies or ideas, but ‘effecting the way they are manipulated’.
    Cartographic maps correspond to the dimensional reality of the external world. This in many ways makes them totally inappropriate for reading and representing site qualities/phenomena because of their objective qualities.
    Mapping is often understood as a technique for representing (predetermined), i.e. given – entities. This conception of mapping as a tool to visualize spatial concepts does not utilise the full potential that the map has to ‘reveal the specific qualities of the site’.
    Cognitive mapping is an abstraction covering those cognitive or mental abilities that enable us to collect, organize, store, recall and manipulate information about the physical environment. Underlying this definition is a view of behavior that, although variously expressed, can be reduced to the statement that human spatial behavior is dependent upon the individual’s cognitive map of the spatial environment.
    From a cognitive map, the individual can tell where certain valued things or experiences are to be found and how to reach them as required. The map assigns preferences, determines attitudes and predicts possibilities. It changes at all levels of timescale and is modified by education, experience and available resources. Cognitive maps could be simply understood as perceptual maps and cannot be merely a series of photos or measured drawings of what a place is.

     

    AIMS /

    • To introduce and explore the idea of mapping as a tool for reading the site.
    • To understand and experience the unique characteristics of a specific place.
    • To acquire the understanding of site to transcend the standard and often inappropriate objective analysis of just a dimensional reality.
    • To explore site as multiple systems and processes.
    • To introduce the notion that any given site may mediate between the scale of humans, of the city and the environment.

     

    METHOD /
    Week 1: Students have to document a chosen site through producing a photography mapping. They will be allowed to only capture twenty frames (20 photos) and manipulate them accordingly to communicate their findings.
    Important factors:
    – How the specific topology (enclosures, light/shadow, introvert/extrovert, accessibility, materiality of the ground, noise/quietness, visibility) affects the ways the site is inhabited / How the inhabitation practices are related to the qualities of the site.

    – Patterns of inhabitation in time (repeated actions, rhythm of activities, same location with different activities depending on the day/hour, individual activities happening rarely, permanent/temporary activities).

    – Patterns of inhabitation in place (activities related to the specific topology are repeated every time you encounter the same topology, how every activity affects the others, what are the connections between different activities, how different activities overlay, what activities cannot take place at the same time with others, activities that exclude others)

    Week 2: Developing cognitive mappings of the chosen site.
    Cognitive mappings could deal with a spatial fragment, a sectional quality or 2D maps. The mappings should be developed as hybrid drawings incorporating a variety of media (2D+3D, collage, text, sketch, photos, maps, drawings, memories etc).

     

    SCHEDULE / 2-Week Workshop. Weekly 4-hour class (schedule to be confirmed at a later stage)
    Photography mapping / 19-23 Oct 2020
    Cognitive mapping / 26-30 Oct 2020

     

    EVALUATION /
    The evaluation will be based on the following Expected Learning Outcomes. After completion of the workshop students are expected to be able to:
    -Examine and interpret site conditions in relation to the natural and built environment, materiality, boundaries, users, social issues, activities, usage of space, privacy issues, objects, ambience and immaterial qualities of space.
    -Use appropriate representation and presentation tools, including mixed media techniques and mappings, for recording existing site conditions.
    -To appreciate cognitive mapping as a tool that assigns preferences, determines attitudes and predicts possibilities.
    -To transcend the familiarity with cartographic maps (that correspond to a dimensional reality) and explore a plurality of experiences/ cultures/sites via alternative representation techniques

     

    UOU_ ws3_UNIC

     

    University of Nicosia (CYPRUS) /

    Maria Hadjisoteriou (hadjisoteriou.m@unic.ac.cy)

    Yiorgos Hadjichristou (hadjichristou.y@unic.ac.cy)

    Markella Menikou (menikou.m@unic.ac.cy)

     

  • ARCH: architecture as the art of building communities

    CONTENT /

    In 1982 the English-Swedish architect Ralph Erskine, opened his lecture reflecting on the definition of Architecture as the Art of Building Communities. Thirty-four years later the Urban age Conference held in 2016 in Venice opened up a series of reflections inviting experts from all over the globe, sharing ideas on the future of our cities. What is the role of the Architects? How can architecture respond to social challenges and environmental daily problems? Which are the limits of the design in facing the human condition scale and nature? It is more and more evident that nowadays the Architect does not stay within the boundaries of building construction but also seeks to building communities. An infinity of possibilities, both here and now.
    Infinite places are pioneering places that explore and experiment with collective processes for dwelling in the world and for building community. These are open places, possible places, un-finished ones that establish spaces of freedom and the search for alternatives. These places exist by virtue of their determination to engage in experiment. Almost all of them started with an abandoned building, or a neglected site. Here architecture finds its means of expression through the confrontation of pre-existing spatial qualities with an organic process of transformation, whose meanings depend on common needs and the aspirations of those who commit themselves to it with courage and determination (Hencore Hereux) 1 .
    The concept for “Infinite Places – Building or Making Places?”, developed by the Encore Heureux team in the Architecture Biennale of 2018, presents places produced by new and inventive processes that generate architectural processes of value. This exhibition project, which considers the territory as a whole, highlights initiatives on the part of civil society and communities that embody a certain free spirit of experimentation and the infinite possibilities opened up by architecture.
    This 2-week workshop aims to build a reflection in between territories, nations, regions, cities, places, and their own inhabitants, on the topic of the role of the Architecture in the society: each group of tutors/students will identify an “infinite place” in their own nation. These are not meant to serve as sites for the development of a project, but as sources for the elaboration of our own a trans-national/scalar/disciplinary community starting from the local context, culture and society, and going beyond borders, languages, national regulations.
    We will discuss and go from our “Infinite Places” to building an “Imaginary Land” where the architecture can re-conquer its function in “revealing”; the relationship between the humans and the world. (Dorfles 1968) 2 .
    The workshop will include short talks between tutors from different universities.

     

    AIMS /

    To unpack the city based on your own experience of the places in which you live at the moment. To find opportunities in neglected and forgotten area/buildings. To identify an “Infinite place”. To work with the imagination in defining new rules for a our collective “Imaginary Land” as a different idea for a trans-national/scalar/disciplinary community. To learn how to contribute to group work and exchange as a small experiment for a learning society.

    1. Encore Hereux, Infinite Places (Lieux Infinis) – Constructing Buildings Or Places?, Publisher Editions B42, 2018.
    2. G. DORFLES, 1968 “Artificio e Natura” Einaudi, Torino – pag. 20-21

     

    METHOD /
    Phase 1. SEMINARS / Reflecting on the role of “Architecture as the art of building communities” and its relationship with the society, through talks with tutors and other experts. Reflecting on the notion of ecological design thinking. “How will we live together” in the future city?
    Phase 2. EXERCISES / Unpacking the urban fabric. Reading the city, identifying the Infinite Places, understanding and communicating (exchanging) the spatial and social dimension and qualities of the communities around the globe.
    Phase 3. OUTPUT / Communicating the idea/strategy through the production of Collages (one for each group of students) that will define one or more “Imaginary Lands” – different media will be considered -. The Imaginary Lands will be displayed through an online exhibition/showcase.
    – 1 st day: Introduce yourself presenting an image of your Infinite Place.
    – 2 nd day: Group work according to your common interests. Build your Imaginary Land!
    – 3 rd day: Online Showcase + Final crit.

     

    SCHEDULE / 2-Week Workshop. Weekly 4-hour class arranged with the students:

    • Monday 5th October 13-15
      Introduction and first ideas
    • Friday 9th October 9-12
      Optional Tutorial and feedback discussion
    • Wednesday 14th October 9-12
      Closing discussion

     

    EVALUATION /

    The evaluation will be based on the following Expected Learning Outcomes:
    After these two weeks workshop the student will be able to:
    Apply methods for quantitative and qualitative mapping, through the description of a city.
    Identify a potential for the reuse or reactivation of an area of the city. Explain the consequences
    of various urban development strategies and its relation to architecture and society.

     

    Bibliography /

    Encore Hereux, Infinite Places (Lieux Infinis) – Constructing Buildings Or Places?, Publisher Editions B42, 2018.

    UOU _ ws2

     

    Umeå University (Sweden) /

    Maria Luna Nobile (maria.nobile@umu.se)

    Malmö University (Sweden) /

    Marie Kraft (marie.kraft@mau.se)

     

     

  • ARCH: architecture & food – an international buffet

    CONTENT /
    Architecture, open and expansive in nature, has explored unlikely interactions and projected hybrids with unpredictable results. Danish architect Bjarke Ingels has defined it as bigamy; Take multiple elements that apparently don’t fit together and merge them to create a new creation or genre. This is a positioning that will allow us to get out of the accepted parameters of architecture and, in doing so, give life to new ideas that previously seemed impossible or unknown.

     

    AIMS /
    Propose a new way of interpretation for the teaching and the practicing of architecture through interaction with a different field of creativity such us the food world and the use of experimental design techniques.
    Study and understand the inherited relationships of the architecture-food bigamy with the intention of deriving in a better relational sustainability between both.
    Highlight local values and encourage, through online group work, the discovery of other gastronomic and architectural cultures.
    Create + Act + Collaborate + Iterate + Invent + Question + Disseminate + Transcend

     

    METHOD /
    In this workshop we will work on the architecture-food bigamy:
    • We will present edible products-objects.
    • We will draw the conditions demanded by objects that are perishable and edible, the actions and rituals
    associated with them and the spaces that are defined around their tasting protocols.
    • We will rethink architecture and context from the gastronomic objects and, on the contrary, we will rethink
    culinary art and its elements from an architectural approach.

     

    SCHEDULE / 2-Week Workshop. Weekly 4-hour class arranged with the students:
    Day 1 – Analytical-Descriptive (Individual Work)
    Find out an edible and man-made object/product that is iconic of your region-culture, with interesting shape, aesthetic and geometric qualities and that is perishable. Define the key parameters of its geometry and the relationships, proportions and rules between its parts.
    Day 2 – Representative (Group Work)
    – Part 1
    Group members choose by consensus a final edible object/product they will work with.
    – Part 2
    Represent the object through free graphic language. Draw with detail the architectural representation of the object, through a specific and free representation system. Include dimensions and annotations.
    Reference:

    Prats, E. & E. Miralles (1991). “How to lay out a croissant”. El Croquis 49/50: 240-241.
    https://unit01greenwich.wordpress.com/2013/12/02/how-to-lay-out-a-croissant-by-miralles/

    – Part 3
    Generate a never seen ritual and space for the tasting of your chosen food/product. Design the utensils and the spatial, social, sensorial, interactive and emotional conditions that define how to eat it. Show clearly the relationship with the human body through sequences, phases, times, temperatures…
    Output: One multi-layered drawing
    Reference:

    Philippe Rahm architects http://www.philipperahm.com/
    Day 3 – Performative Video (Individual Work)
    Create the physical setting and represent the architectural scenography generated by the object and its tasting.
    References:

    The Perfect Human by Jorgen Leth, 1967. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqJ1iX5n2d4
    Sublimotion by Paco Roncero, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoAX52FiDOM

    EVALUATION /
    Grades will be based on each university’s requirements.
    After completion of the workshop students are expected to be able to: TBA

     

    UOU _ ws1_AUD & UEM

     

    American University in Dubai (UAE) /

    Jose Antonio Carrillo (jcarrillo@aud.edu)

    European University in Madrid (SPAIN) /

    Miguel Luengo Angulo (mluengo@amarillostudio.es)