Duration
40h Th
Number of credits
| Master in architecture, professional focus in architecture and urban planning | 5 crédits |
Lecturer
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
What if changing the way we build also meant changing the way we design, produce, and inhabit architecture?
Modular architecture proposes viewing the building as a system of components that can be assembled, transformed, relocated, reused, or replicated. It invites us to rethink not only design and production processes but also the relationships between various stakeholders, as well as the building's uses and temporalities.
However, these new construction methods raise questions that extend far beyond the technical realm. What kind of architecture emerges when conceived as a system? What does it enable, and what does it preclude? How does it transform work, expertise, and professional roles? How does it alter the way we inhabit space? What resources does it mobilize, what environmental impacts does it generate, and what becomes of it when it is transformed, relocated, dismantled, or abandoned? Who makes the decisions, who benefits, and who bears the costs?
This course explores these questions through various forms of building production and transformation. The aim is to understand how these systems function-but above all, to examine what they make possible, what they transform, and the effects (whether expected or unexpected) they have on architecture, the environment, and society.
Key topics will include:
- Prefabricated architecture
- Industrialized architecture
- Architecture and automation
- Ephemeral architecture
- Mobile architecture
- Adaptable architecture
- Architecture and self-building
- Participatory architecture
The aim is to understand that changing how we build can alter far more than just a technical process: it can transform project stakeholder relationships, trades and expertise, power dynamics within production chains, working conditions, ways of living, building usage, and the potential for future adaptation.
Particular attention will be paid to the environmental impacts of these systems. Prefabrication, standardization, mobility, adaptability, and demountability are often cited as ways to reduce environmental impact. The course aims to look beyond these claims to conduct a concrete analysis of material, energy, and transport flows, as well as production conditions, maintenance, lifespan, reuse, and the end-of-life of components and buildings.
Similarly, modular systems will be examined through their social and political dimensions: the transformation of labor, the shifting of expertise, the accessibility of technologies, the distribution of responsibilities, the relationships between designers and users, new ways of living, autonomy and dependency, the standardization of usage, and the capacity of inhabitants to transform their environment.
The course does not aim to determine whether a particular construction system is, in itself, "better" or "more sustainable." Instead, it seeks to develop a capacity for critical analysis regarding the relationships between technology, architecture, the environment, and society.
Students will first be introduced to various modular design and production techniques used in the construction sector-across all material types-both in Belgium and abroad. They will then analyze the impact of these construction methods on the design, execution, and use of buildings.
Finally, contemporary issues surrounding new architectural production methods will be discussed through case studies, contrasting the rhetoric and promises associated with these systems against the realities of their implementation and reception.
Subjects taught
- Overview of modular architecture
- Historical, technical, economic, social, and sociological contexts
- Existing construction systems: structural work, fit-out, and specialized systems
- Connections and construction details
- Impact of modular systems on the design process and information communication
- Production and implementation methods: off-site manufacturing, storage, transport, on-site assembly, maintenance, modification, disassembly, and end-of-life
- System evaluation: costs, quality, performance, safety, reliability, efficiency, flexibility, adaptability, service life, maintenance, etc.
- Environmental impacts: materials, energy, transport, waste, reuse, recycling, resource consumption, and end-of-life
- Social and economic impacts: labor, trades and expertise, production organization, accessibility, usage, stakeholder relationships, and living conditions
- The relationship between modularity and architecture
- Promises, limitations, contradictions, and unexpected effects of modular systems
- Case studies in Belgium and abroad
Four cross-cutting areas of reflection
The course's various themes are underpinned by four lines of inquiry that allow us to move beyond a strictly technical view of construction:
Sustainability
The systems under study are evaluated based on their environmental impact across their entire life cycle, as well as their economic and social dimensions. Key aspects include examining the resources utilized, material and energy flows, transportation, lifespan, maintenance, reuse, disassembly, and production conditions.
Art and Architecture
Mastery of construction techniques serves as a design tool. Modularity, standardization, repetition, assembly, and automation are not merely constraints; they can generate new spatial, formal, and structural possibilities. The course also examines how these systems transform the designer's role and freedom.
Digital Technology
Digital tools play a role in the design, coordination, fabrication, and evaluation of construction systems. They enable the exploration of new production methods, performance measurement, and the management of complex systems. The course also questions the new dependencies they may create regarding data, software, machinery, skills, and infrastructure.
Society
Building differently potentially implies living, working, and producing differently. Modular systems are therefore studied as mechanisms that organize relationships between stakeholders, knowledge, trades, territories, and inhabitants. The course specifically examines power dynamics within production chains, the transformation of work, user autonomy, the accessibility of technologies, and the impact of construction choices on lifestyles.
A critical approach to systems
Throughout the course, the central question will be less "how does this system work?" and more "what does this system produce?"
For each system studied, students will be encouraged to examine, in particular:
- What does the system enable, and what does it render impossible?
- What is produced by an architecture conceived as a system?
- Who benefits from it, and who bears the costs?
- What material, energy, human, and territorial resources are mobilized?
- What knowledge and professional skills are required?
- How is work transformed, relocated, or rendered invisible?
- What power dynamics are embedded in the production system?
- How does the system interact with social reality and the practices of its inhabitants?
- What lifestyles and forms of dwelling does it make possible?
- What are its actual environmental impacts across its entire lifecycle?
- What becomes of the building when it is relocated, dismantled, transformed, or abandoned?
- Which technical, environmental, or social promises are actually kept?
- What unexpected or contradictory effects may arise?
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
At the end of the year, the student will be able to state the various concepts of modular architecture and to design and analyze a modular architecture project in order to verify its compatibility with the specific needs of the project.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Nothing
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
Ex-cathedra lectures, practical work and presentations by students
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Blended learning
Further information:
face-to-face and/or distance learning
Course materials and recommended or required readings
Platform(s) used for course materials:
- eCampus
- MyULiège
Written work / report
Further information:
A report (Individual work) must be submitted no later than the day of the exam.
It must be uploaded in pdf on the e-campus platform.
The statement will be distributed during one of the class sessions.
Work placement(s)
not applicable
Organisational remarks and main changes to the course
Contacts
Dimitri Schmitz
Assistant Professor
dimitri.schmitz@uliege.be