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
This "experiential" workshop is part of the "Habitat / Habiter" Master's workshops, which address habitability in the broad and complex sense of the term. It focuses on the interfaces of inhabitation, i.e. the intermediate spaces that articulate the public, the collective and the private, with particular attention to the mediations between the spatial devices and the diversified investments that are made by the inhabitants. It addresses:
(1) Urban housing, but also all the places and devices that form the living environment beyond housing.
(2) Spaces in their materiality, but also - and above all - the complex and dynamic relationships that the inhabitants have with these spaces.
Placing the lived space at the center, the exercise is established by the crossing of three devices, indissociable and simultaneous: ethnographic field investigation by means of the "inhabited survey", architectural project and theoretical supports. This hybrid approach aims to consider the mediations between spatial and social devices, and to question the architect's posture in this respect. Thus, careful observations of the investments made in space constitute a resource in their own right for making a project. Conversely, the project serves as a support to test the reflections resulting from 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 mode, the transversal axes of the master's program 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 both public and 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 objectives of the workshop and the main learning outcomes that result from it are multiple:
- You will have the opportunity to acquire, to deepen, to implement and to experiment in a practical way ethnographic tools and scientific knowledge as supports to architectural design;
- You will be able to synthesize all the data collected in the field and mobilize them to develop hypotheses for architectural interventions;
- You will improve your skills in housing design;
- You will develop a reasoning on the complexity and nuances of the interfaces between public, collective and private spaces;
- You will develop a reasoning on the reasoned, balanced approach to an existing building.
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 by the crossing of three devices, inseparable and simultaneous: ethnographic field survey, architectural project and theoretical supports.
The ethnographic field survey focuses on the extended project site, with particular attention to the building that will support the project. Through the "inhabited survey" mixing drawing, photography and observation, it is a question of highlighting what poses a problem and what is important to the users of the space, by paying attention to the traces of appropriation, to the uses, to the spatial and material qualities, to their shortcomings, to the tensions between interior and exterior, etc. (In groups of 2 students, in the field).
The architectural project consists of the transformation of an existing building into family housing, reflecting a process of exploration and reinterpretation of the public / collective / private interfaces (Individual, in studio). It will involve:
- Developing reflections and explorations on an objective basis: Developing data from the survey work, from the actual lived space and, if necessary, from the scientific literature, and then mobilizing and testing this data in the architectural project.
- Demonstrate creativity: Go beyond the generally functional approach of windows, corridors, staircases, entrance doors, airlocks, interior and exterior space boundaries... Question, rethink, explore through the project what the interfaces of living in the city can be, what these spaces imply and can imply in terms of living together, quality of living in the city, levels of intimacy, pathways...
- Start from the existing: No tabula rasa, develop a surgical approach. Act on the existing with architectural tools: drill, hole, add, graft, subtract... to solve problematic situations and to reveal the potentials - what matters to people - highlighted by the observation work.
- Develop an efficient project: Do not deploy disproportionate or useless means but propose a "right" architectural response.
- Enter into the details of the project with care: Take into consideration the issues of safety, accessibility, maintenance, ergonomics, views, materials ... taking into account the field observations and uses of the designed space.
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Face-to-face course
Additional information:
Teaching takes place 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.
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
Justine Gloesener : justine.gloesener@uliege.be