ARCH3269-1

Duration

96h Pr

Number of credits

	Master in architecture (120 ECTS)	8 crédits

Lecturer

Jean-Philippe Possoz

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

All year long, with partial in January

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

How can we do better with less in a world where the finite size of the available resources (to allow each human being to flourish) defeats the growth model? This requires defining (negotiating) wath better means ...
The workshop is based on scracity as a pretext to question both the meaning of the answers we formulate through the project, and the starting point of our formulations. Combining the notions of "Means Oriented Desgin", "Users Oriented Design" and "Collaborative Design", it tries to anchor the design in architecture in reality while broadening its traditional basis. It invites a re-questioning of practices by broadening the field of vision, both upstream and downstream of the "project", in order to identify the process as an integral part of the project posture. Architecture as a cultural act (response) remains at the center of the device, but its confrontation with the field thus enlarged induces a questioning, a shift in goals. Where does relevance reside, who defines it and how? Where to act in order to deviate, to orient the process? What resources and means should be mobilized to formulate it? The workshop is an invitation to rethink in action the roles and stakes through a complete process of project design and construction.
The course is positioned with regard to the 4 axes put forward by the Faculty in the following way:

Sustainability: The course explores the sustainable dimension of the architectural project in its process as well as in its result. Sustainability is here based on a situated, holistic and pragmatic approach. Through the project process, the student makes choices and learns to measure their consequences.
art: architectural writing as much as the choices of intervention are here conditioned by the dialogue that engages with the material and the implementation. The means of representation are mobilized to explore the mediation of the project in all its depth.
the digital: Digital tools are invited according to the situations and needs generated by them: website, online collaborative platform, podcasts, videos, accounting and referencing spreadsheet.
the society: The course gives a special place to the user and to the client, through which it allows to explore the notion of service which is at the heart of the architectural practice, by integrating parameters of use, economy, environmental impacts ...

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

As a reminder, all of the Architectural Project's learnings allow the student to progressively develop components of the four competencies specified in the faculty's reference frame. Namely: Instructing an architectural question, Elaborating a spatial response, Implementing a situated spatial response, Interacting with all the actors.
While touching on the 4 competences, the workshop develops more particularly :

The implementation at the outset of the means and resources available, based on a multi-criteria approach;
The interaction between actors as a parameter in its own right of the project.

At the end of the workshop, the student will be able to :

Identify the stakes, processes and actors of a construction operation and deduce an adequate posture;
Use tools for collaborative practices in an appropriate manner;
Integrate environmental and societal stakes in the project process until its materialization;
Choose and develop mediation tools for builders and users according to the specific objectives and issues of the project (plan, sketch, specifications, note, meter, standard, model, meeting, schooling, visit ...).
To position oneself in front of the question of the result (quality, cost, durability, use, pleasure, ...) and its control by the architect.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

Prerequisites :
a 1/1 studio option workshop (A, B, C or D) followed in M1. The workshop is open to students returning from an Erasmus exchange, they are invited to testify about their skills acquired in one of the areas covered by the workshop.
Registration:
Each student wishing to register for the workshop must send an open letter (one A4 maximum) by e-mail to the teacher by Sunday 13 September at 23:59 at the latest. This letter must express the reasons and questions that push the student to get specifically involved in this workshop. This provision allows the integration of the group's questions while allowing the teacher to limit by selection the size of the group to 15 people.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

How the workshop unfolds :
Depending on the contacts established by the teacher, the group of students will be assigned one or more projects during the year. The process described below is based on a single project, so it can be revised as opportunities arise.
1. Implementation of the framework (2 workshops):
Through role-playing, discussions and debates, the group gets to know each other and define its operating mode for the coming year. At the same time, the stakes of the workshop are collectively debated, clarified and redefined with regard to the group's expectations.
2. Launching of the project design phase (10 workshops) :
The meeting with the customer marks the launch of the project. This is finalized by the presentation of the group's proposal to the future users. This phase is interspersed with moments of questioning on the practices developed. The stakes of the workshop will be highlighted and fed by readings, visits, or external contributions.
3. Finalization (4 workshops) :
The group works on the concretization of the project on the technical, financial, material, logistic, cultural level... The teacher makes the link with professional practice and brings tools and expertise.
4. Site preparation (2 workshops) :
The group works to prepare the intervention with the client and the future participants.
5. Realization (2 weeks) :
Collective and participative construction site where students, technicians and users collaborate.
6. Conclusion (1 evening) :
The workshop concludes with an event whose form and content is defined by the group at the beginning of the project. Each student will hand in a "report" summarizing his or her learning by Friday, June 1 at the latest.
Teaching method : The project work takes place in a workshop or on the project site. Debates, proposals and solutions take place collectively during these sessions. The teacher's role is limited to that of facilitator, technical advisor and "client advocate" to help the group move forward. The work of critical rereading is carried out by the students themselves, so it requires active participation and personal involvement in the respect of each person's word. Some specific sessions are led by the teacher in order to bring out certain knowledge or know-how in the service of the project. Some individual or sub-group tasks will be assigned and will have to be prepared at home for the next workshop.

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Presential

Organisational adjustments related to the current health context

Assessment methods and criteria

Below you will find information on the evaluation methods planned for in-person and remote exams as well as those planned for hybrid sessions. Depending on how the health crisis evolves, the chosen method will be communicated to you no later than one month before the start of the exam session.

Insofar as the result produced is collective but remains the fruit of everyone's involvement, the evaluation will be both collective and individual.
The collective evaluation will be done through the project produced and will focus on :

The quality of the process both on an organizational and relational level;
The capacity of the result produced to meet the expectations of the client;
The capacity of the result produced to integrate an environmental and societal purpose;
The capacity of the result produced to meet the challenge of economy of means;
The capacity of the group to communicate its approach through the media;

The individual evaluation will cover two distinct productions:
Collective production (project):

Involvement in the collective work;
Ability to take on a role, a task, and make the group benefit from it;

Individual production (report):

Ability to develop a critical and committed stance with regard to the theme of the workshop;

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

Contacts

Jean-Philippe Possoz
jp.possoz@uliege.be

Workshop B: Architecture and societal footprint Level 2 (Niveau 2)