Duration
Workshop 1: spaces and forms : 2h Th, 22h Pr
Workshop 2: from the random to the built : 2h Th, 22h Pr
Number of credits
Lecturer
Workshop 1: spaces and forms :
Workshop 2: from the random to the built : N...
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
The 'Writing space' learning units are part of the offering in the field of Art and drawing techniques, available to students in blocks 1, 2 and 3.
Writing space
These classes are about writing, describing and recording architecture.
Drawing is also a language with various applications (with multiple intentions) for
the architect who looks, decides and designs with graphic, digital and three-dimensional means of expression.
During the second year, students focus especially on composition, ranging from drawing to three-dimensional explorations.
The emphasis is on creativeness and exploring forms, and discovering the mechanisms that govern a composition: the notion of proportion, rhythm, volumes, balance ratios, and symmetry.
The learning unit in block 2 is divided into two workshops, 1 and 2, which each develop complementary points of view.
Workshop 1: spaces and forms
The workshop focuses on the draft where composition begins.
Composition in space, a notion introduced in the architectural project course in B1, is studied in detail here. In these exercises, the constructive and functional aspects are put to one side in favour of the stakes involved in composition.
Based on the experience of trial and error, the course allows students to discover the formal mechanisms of composition: the relationship between the details and the whole, research into materials, the importance of scale and its relationship with the human body and the circulation of light.
The course will begin by focusing on the sketch, the first draft or the outline, which help to elucidate the initial questions asked by the future architect. Next, the course will teach students to present these sketches and communicate them by consolidating the use of drawing tools.
This year, the workshop, which is composed of six classes, will explore the ins and outs of architectural language in three places: the laboratory, the swimming pool and the bridge, by translating the drawing into a model. A reflective and concrete process with a tribute to the work of Charles and Ray Eames as the overlying theme. The various architectural designs by the Eames are a source of reference for the students' progress in the different stages of the workshop.
Workshop 2: from the random to the built
This workshop focuses on the paths leading to creation. The course develops the students' skills in the methods of representation that link architecture to the arts.
The course is based on the continuous recycling of forms produced by the students. These forms will undergo a metamorphosis as the course progresses.
The approach varies from year to year. The first few classes are dedicated to observational drawing, which serves as a basis for a repertoire of forms. Students learn to apply them, enlarge them, shape them and compose.
The forms produced are graphically and spatially arranged to ultimately become built works with architectonic qualities. By the end of the course, students will be able to graphically design and arrange volumes in space.
There are four major themes in workshop 2 that call upon the perception of space:
- Kinaesthesia
- Subjective mapping
- A repertoire of forms and strengths
- Colours and metaphors
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
1st part: link with the competency framework
Everything learnt in DE 4 allows the student to develop the competences specified in the faculty's competency framework, by providing tools that help in the development of the following competences: 'investigation', 'elaboration' and 'interaction'. The workshops provide an introduction, which students can build on through their practice, especially in the architectural project.
INVESTIGATE an architectural issue
- study the different components of the theme and the context: graphic and plastic approach
- identify the spatiality that the components generate, their relationship with the context and their meaning in relation to the function
ELABORATE a spatial response
- appropriate graphic languages as tools to design, structure, verify and provoke thought
- introduce an aspect of experimentation
- translate spatially
- retranscribe and look for an initial proposal in the form of diagrams and models that will evolve over time
INTERACT with all those involved
- master the graphic and plastic elements as tools to share ideas
through experimentation, conduct a mature development of a project, express the essential and explicitly formulate an approach.
2nd part: learning outcomes of the learning unit described from an operational point of view
Since 2D and 3D representations are the obvious essential languages in an architect's training, observing, designing and formalising are the three fundamental complimentary objectives pursued up until B3.
At the end of the course, students will therefore be able to:
- tackle an observation subject by defining a precise field of investigation
- structure their view and prioritise information in hierarchical order
- construct a sketch in accordance with the rules of perspective
- develop a graphic language that is autonomous and coherent with the subject
- make proper use of the terminology specific to the workshops
- adapt their work to the format
- choose their tools and make proper use of them
- associate elements to create volumes
- tackle and understand objects, spaces, environments
- understand and master the proportions of bodies (mineral, plant, animal)
- create by combining shapes, materials, colours, etc.
- master the evolution of their work process as the project advances
- use the research instructions in such a way as to exceed them and freely and creatively explore the defined framework
- promote their research
- put in all the necessary care required to present it
- synthesise an approach, structure, organise and communicate
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
To be able to participate in this learning unit, you must have taken the following courses:
Block 1:
ARCH3265: Writing space 1A
ARCH3266: Writing space 1B
The 'Writing space' workshops 1 and 2 are indissociable and are based on what the students have learnt and practised in parallel.
Students are also invited to make useful links with the courses in aesthetics, theory of architecture, history of architecture, history of the town and landscape, which they took in the first year of the bachelor's degree (courses and workshops).
In short, everything is aimed at developing the understanding of forms, whether they be open spaces or places of everyday life.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
This course is organised in the form of workshop-laboratories, where the emphasis is more on the approach, and is divided into the four following aspects:
1. observation (knowledge, learning),
2. understanding,
3. research (exploration, formalisation),
4. communication (layout, argumentation, clarity).
The classes are part of an evolving process, where each new lesson is based on the exercise done in the previous class. Students experiment alone first, then through the participatory dynamics of working in a team.
Workshop 1: spaces and forms
This workshop develops the students' skills in the conventional methods of architectural representation, i.e. the sketch, the scale drawing of the plan, cross-sectional and elevation views, and the model.
Class 1: theory introduction: studies of architectural and artistic references
+ Biro drawing on three sheets of A4 of three places
Class 2: making of a 3D model
Class 3: ink drawings on A3 graph paper of the model from the previous class, in plan, cross-sectional and elevation views, and a detailed view.
Class 4: making of a new 3D model and / or adaptation of the former one produced
Class 5: further research, improvement to the model
Class 6: graphic composition, synthesis Students give an account the project's development in a given format, like a trailer but in graphic form.
Workshop 2: from the random to the built
This workshop sharpens the eye and trains the sense of artistic design through various activities, which are reviewed every year:
-observational drawing in charcoal, pencil, Biro, brush
-different approaches to sketching such as line drawing, negative drawing, mass drawing, drawing of movement, vectors, search for an "able form"
-graphic exploration of framing, dividing the image, changing scale, proportional enlargement, exploration of textures, colours (colour wheel and greyscale)
-going from 2D to 3D, three-dimensional design
-study of photographic, sculptural and pictorial references
By way of a conclusion, students create a synthesised composition during the last two workshops. This will be in the form of a book, a sculpture, a mobile or a map depending on the suggested themes.
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Practical work is carried out individually in the classroom according to the current health regulations. However, an interactive blog, a virtual workshop space, serves as an additional means of exchange. It is accessible to all students. The blog is the platform for the transfer of practical work in pdf files. The work goes through a stage of submission of the production (observation drawings, graphic compositions, thematic research, photographs, written notes). The blog is a collaborative tool thanks to the collective visibility of all the works posted by the students. It allows students to recall content, expectations, work framework, objectives, evaluation criteria, and to ask questions. For people in quarantine, the use of the blog is privileged in order to follow the course, the instructions from a distance, and to post their work from home. The work is placed under the supervision of the teacher who accompanies the process of realization by delivering feedback written on the blog at different stages of progress
Recommended or required readings
A blog brings together the references and materials provided over time
Workshop 1: spaces and forms
Recommended reading and bibliographic guidelines:
- Herman HERTZBERGER, Leçons d'architecture, In Folio, Archigraphy collection, June 2010.
- René HUYGHE, Formes et forces, Flammarion, 27 May 1993.
- Henry PLUMMER, The experience of Architecture, Thames and Hudson, 2016.
Workshop 2: from the random to the built
Recommended reading and bibliographic guidelines:
- Tim INGOLD, Une brève histoire de lignes, seventh edition: October 2016, Zones sensibles.
- Georges DIDI-HUBERMAN, L'homme qui marchait dans la couleur, Editions de Minuit, 2008.
- Maurice MERLEAU-PONTY, L'Œil et l'Esprit, collection Folio essais n°13, Gallimard, 1964.
- Wassily KANDINSKY, Point et ligne sur plan, essai de 1926, collection Folio essais n° 168, Gallimard,1991.
Assessment methods and criteria
The assessment criteria connected with the learning outcomes are as follows:
-subject scoping
-structuring
-respect for the rules of perspective
-work coherence and autonomy
-mastery of the terminology specific to the workshops
-sizing and layout
-tools and materials
-volumetry
-relationship to the subject
-study of proportions
-composition
-design procedure
-production autonomy
-communication
-care
-synthesis
There is no extra assessment at the end of each quadrimester. The test during the second session will allow students to improve on the work for that year; hence, it is based on what they have learnt during the workshop and therefore, can't replace it.
The exam in September lasts 4 hours. If the September exam is in the form of a file that has to be submitted, students will be informed in advance. Both are worth 50% of the points for the year.
Students must attend the workshops on a regular basis. This is where the dialogue required for the training is formed. While students can finish some work or preparatory research at home, most of the work, in terms of production, exchange, exploration and validation takes place within the workshop.
As for students who are taking the course because of remaining credit and are finding it difficult to attend regularly because of timetable clashes, they must inform the teachers right at the beginning of the quadrimester. An adapted follow-up can be set up according to an agreement made between teaching staff and the student repeating the year.
Workshop 2: from the random to the built
The evaluation includes the works regularly posted on the blog and also a synthesis work (possibly carried out in pairs) at the end of the quadrimester. The personal work of synthesis which closes the course consists in the realization of a work from the drawings made during the first four work sessions. This is presented in digital form, via the blog. It can take various forms: book, booklet, poster, index cards. The tools, however, in addition to the final "computer" form, can be made with simple means without sophisticated software, from scans of previously made drawings, collages, superimpositions, manual cutting...
Work placement(s)
Organizational remarks
Location: Botanique site, 'basement' workshop (garden level).
Students must be punctual. Late arrivals won't be admitted owing to the problems this causes.
Students are asked to respect the time relating to the group to which they belong. It is forbidden to change groups upon your own initiative.
Mobile phones must be switched off during the workshop, and earphones are forbidden.
Students are required to respect the equipment and spaces at their disposal; they must use the relevant recycling bins and make sure they tidy up the workshop.
They are told what equipment is required at the start of the year.
Contacts
Workshop 1: spaces and forms
Course leaders and student relay teachers:
Michèle Hougardy, mhougardy@uliege.be
Supervisory teachers:
Michèle Hougardy, mhougardy@uliege.be
Claude-Lucie Hick, claude.hick@ uliege.be
David Crambert, dcrambert@uliege.be
Workshop 2: from the random to the built
Course leaders and student relay teachers:
Sarah Behets, sbehets@uliege.be
Supervisory teachers:
Sarah Behets, sbehets@uliege.be
Carine Driesmans, Carine.driesmans@uliege.be
Aniceto Exposito-Lopez, aniceto.exposito-lopez@uliege.be