Duration
128h Pr
Number of credits
| Master in architecture (120 ECTS) | 10 crédits |
Lecturer
Coordinator
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
"Habitat / Habiter" which addresses habitability in the broad and complex sense of the term. The dwelling as a focal point, but also all the places and itineraries of daily life forming the living environment, the environment in which each person lives. The spaces in their materiality, but also the complex and dynamic relationships that the inhabitants maintain with these spaces.
Combining ethnography and architectural design, this workshop is interested in the public/private - private/public interfaces of living, understood in terms of spatial compositions and the diversified investments made by the inhabitants. Considering the dynamic character of these investments, the interfaces are approached from the dimension of the spatial and temporal sequence (relations between windows, balconies and public exterior, circulations and collective spaces, pathways, cohabitation of functions...; variations according to days, hours, weather...).
The exercise consists in revealing data relating to the experience of space by means of ethnographic tools, and in mobilising and testing these data in an architectural project. In this way, the fine analytical observations of space constitute a resource in their own right for the project. Conversely, the project serves as a support, orientates and puts to the test the ethnographic investigations, the knowledge and reflections that emerge from them. This hybrid approach aims to raise awareness of the mediations between spatial and social devices, and to question the architect's posture in this respect.
Depending on the field of observation and the projects developed, the student will have the opportunity to address, in a reflexive and personal way, the transversal axes of the master's programme: sustainability (impact of human inhabitation on its daily (mi)place of life, place of nature in the city...); art (poetic and sensitive dimension of the occupation of public as well as collective and private space, creativity of the inhabitants, spatial interventions in space...); digital (use of digital to observe and make project); society (occupation, privatization, segregation, appropriation... of public, collective and private spaces).
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
The workshop allows the student to enter a final phase of his architectural training in which complexity and demands are increasing, requiring the mobilisation of all the learning accumulated in the bachelor's cycle, but also a progressive capacity for autonomy, working methods, organisation and reflection.
At the end of this particular workshop, the student will be able to :
- Reason about the complexity and nuances of the interfaces between public, collective and private spaces;
- Interpret and mobilise them in an architectural project;
- Understand the data relating to the lived space;
- Interpret and mobilise them in an architectural project.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
The prerequisites are made up of all the theoretical or practical notions and methodologies learnt in the previous courses and workshops, which are exploited and extended by the practice of the project. The workshop requires the demonstration of the evolutionary potentiality of assimilation and the appropriate use of all the prerequisites.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
The exercise is established through the intersection of four inseparable and simultaneous devices: ethnographic fieldwork, architectural survey, architectural project and theoretical supports.
Ethnographic fieldwork:
- The survey will focus on the extended project site, with particular attention to the building that will support the project.
- It will be carried out by means of a logbook, an inhabited survey, photography and wandering, understood as tools for observing and understanding spaces and the social dynamics that play out there.
- In particular, attention will be paid to the traces of appropriation of the space, to the routes taken, to the frequentation, to the variations according to the days, hours, weather, to the spatial and material qualities, to their shortcomings, to the tensions between inside and outside, etc.
- If relevant, this work could be refined according to a particular reading of the interfaces (cohabitation, privatisation, exclusion, culture, gender, etc.), based on specific theoretical contributions.
- The ethnographic survey is carried out in groups of 2 to 3 students. The objective of this group work is not to reach a consensus but to feed the reflections resulting from the observations by sharing them. Each student will appropriate the results in the context of the development of his or her architectural project.
- Although some of this work will take place during workshop hours, the observation work must also be carried out outside of supervision time.
- In order to gain a detailed understanding of the built environment, the students carry out a precise architectural survey of the interface elements of the building they are responsible for.
- This approach is as much technical as it is sensitive: it aims to ensure the link between the survey and the project.
- The architectural survey is carried out by all the students working on the same site, but its interpretation and graphic rendering will be transcribed individually as part of the development of the project.
- The development of the project is based on the data from the ethnographic survey. It should be a testimony to a process of questioning, exploration and reinterpretation of the interface of living.
- The basic programme is the transition from building to family housing. The typologies and the number of housing units are to be defined according to the ethnographic work. Non-residential functions can also be added according to the ethnographic work.
- The project will focus more specifically on the public/collective/private interfaces of the building, i.e. essentially the facades, common areas, transitional spaces and any external spaces (windows, entrance doors, walls, balconies, terraces, corridors, thresholds, etc.). These spaces must be designed as places and moments of transition and articulation between public, collective and private space. The design of the interfaces must simultaneously consider (1) the constraints of the exterior seen from the interior (views from the dwelling towards the exterior, intimacy, relationship to noise, odours, feeling of entering - being at home, etc.); (2) the constraints of the interiors seen from the exterior (facades, views from the street, interior courtyards, neighbouring buildings, relationship to neighbours: neighbours' landings, landing of the dwelling in question, etc.).
- To facilitate the work, taking into account the time allocated to the course, only the existing load-bearing structures, facades and roofs of the buildings will be considered (floors empty of any occupation, partition, technique, etc.).
- The level of completion of the dwelling(s) will depend on the state of progress. As a minimum, it is expected that each of them will sketch the general organisation of the dwelling(s), and detail the relationships with the collective and public spaces.
- The development of the architectural project is individual.
- Although it will take place partly during the workshop hours, the project must also be developed outside of supervision time.
- Theoretical and methodological contributions: lectures, internal presentations, participation in external events (e.g. conferences, exhibitions, visits, etc.) and readings of scientific articles will help to nourish the ethnographic approach and the development of the project, in a reflective and informed posture.
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Teaching takes place mainly face-to-face at the workshop and in the project field.
Recommended or required readings
Common reference texts are made available to students via the eCampus platform. Some of these readings will be compulsory. Where appropriate, students will be notified one week in advance.
Where necessary, more specific texts are provided to the students or groups concerned.
More generally, students are encouraged to engage in their own research and reflection (library, lectures) in order to build up their critical judgement.
Assessment methods and criteria
Exam(s) in session
Any session
- In-person
oral exam
Written work / report
Out-of-session test(s)
Additional information:
Attendance and participation in all workshop and field activities is compulsory. Unjustified absence of a student from more than 30% of the workshops may be grounds for refusal to submit the final paper.
The work, whether personal or collective, is monitored and commented on weekly. It is therefore expected that the student will present his/her progress at each session.
The work will be graded at two presentations:
- An intermediate submission (see provisional timetable) - for 25% of the overall mark, assessed by a jury made up of the teaching team, other teachers from the faculty and, possibly, external experts.
- A final presentation - for 75% of the overall mark by a jury made up of the teaching team, other teachers from the faculty and, possibly, external experts.
- The ethnographic survey will be assessed on the basis of the student's ability to mobilise the tools, the finesse of the observation work, the quality of the interpretation of the data, the cross-referencing of field data and theoretical data.
- The project will be assessed on the basis of the student's ability to question and explore the interfaces of living through the project, its effectiveness (a fair architectural response using proportionate means), the quality and finesse of the details (materiality, management of safety, accessibility, maintenance, ergonomics, etc.) and the quality of the documents submitted.
- Their articulation will be assessed in terms of the student's ability to develop and synthesise reflections, explorations and positions in the project based on the observation work and theoretical supports.
- Verbal communication and graphic documents will be assessed according to their relevance, effectiveness and quality.
Work placement(s)
Organizational remarks
Contacts
Julie Neuwels : Julie.Neuwels@uliege.be
Pierre de Wit : pdewit@uliege.be