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ARK496 Reality Studio lp3-lp4 VT22 (22.5 hp)
Course offered by the department of Architecture and Civil Engineering
Master’s Programme Architecture and Planning Beyond Sustainability /MPDSD

logo RS (white background).png  

Contact details

Examiner/teacher: Emilio Brandao, brandao@chalmers.se, +46 762 343 647
Course coordinator/teacher: Shea Hagy, shea.hagy@chalmers.se, +46 709 847 067

Other teachers:
Liane Thuvander, liane.thuvander@chalmers.se
Marco Adelfio, adelfio@chalmers.se 
Anita Ollár, ollar@chalmers.se 

Advisors:
Larry Toups, toupslarry@gmail.com

Details about external collaborations and partners, external lecturers and other resources are included below under Course structure.

Course purpose

The main aim of the master studio Reality Studio is to provide each student with necessary skills and methods that are valid in any situation of change where architectural and urban design approaches are required at different system levels and scales, from urban structures, infrastructure, buildings and technical support systems to detailed construction elements and products within the built environment. The overall point of departure is human everyday needs and the support of human survival and decent life in rapidly changing or sometimes extreme environments.

The master studio works in close cooperation with stakeholders in different parts of the world, in industrialised countries as well as in developing countries, always in highly challenged contexts. The purpose is to offer the students the potential to develop professional skills that are valid and needed in challenging situations and where the aim is to find adapted solutions to the problems at hand. The overall perspective stays the same: the development and implementation of aesthetic, affordable, socially and culturally appropriate, energy and material efficient, healthy and user-friendly, always innovative design solutions that support dignified human everyday life.

The design studio Reality Studio in an extreme environment in an unfamiliar and often challenging context, involves collaboration and cooperation with local communities, NGOs, local universities, governmental institutions and wider organisations (such as UN-HABITAT). The aim is also to integrate the master education in the field of architecture, urban design and planning with development research in ways that offers the students a solid basis for their work. Vice versa the students will contribute with investigations and ideas that could be further used and developed in future research projects as well as implemented in collaboration with local stakeholders.

Masters Thesis

The studio will also aim to provide the students with inspiration, ideas and contacts for eventual future projects within the students upcoming masters thesis, especially within the masters thesis direction Design Activism Beyond Borders.

UNSDGs

The studio relates to and focuses on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (17)

Theme Reality Studio 2022:

Cross-Cultural Collaborations: Extreme Environments and the Post Pandemic Reality

Message

Designing for Dignity and Resilience

Mission

The development and plan for implementation of resilient, socially and culturally appropriate, healthy and innovative design solutions that support dignified human everyday life. These design solutions are situated in real-world extreme environments (often in a challenging low- or middle-income foreign context), and co-created through collaboration and cooperation with local communities, NGOs, universities, governmental institutions and other organisations.

Schedule

The studio start is on February 7th of 2022, right in the middle of study period 3 and goes on until the end of study period 4 on June 3rd of 2022.

For the detailed and updated daily schedule, please check your Canvas Calendar.

During the weeks preceding the start of the course, more information will be made available also on Canvas (https://chalmers.instructure.com/) under the event with the course code ARK496. Students get access to the course information and material on Canvas, after admission and respective course registration.

Following Chalmers regulations, the daily schedule for booked events is placed between 8:00-17:00 (with short breaks within every 1 hour working session) and the following is the general daily structure with 8 sessions (some exceptions may occur):

  • 8:00-8:45
  • 9:00-9:45
  • 10:00-10:45
  • 11:00-11:45
  • 13:15-14:00
  • 14:15-15:00
  • 15:15-16:00
  • 16:15-17:00

NOTE: This is a full-time study course. The expected workload is of max 8 hours per day of scheduled activities and/or course work + max 1 hour per day for eventual homework activities (this hour is to be managed by the students themselves).

Start

Please note with special attention that the course will start on Monday 7th of February at 9.00 online and via Zoom (the main studio Zoom link available on Canvas). The details for this and all other sessions in the studio are provided in the studio calendar on Canvas.

Course structure

The course consists of lectures, seminars, workshops, exercises, literature studies, FIELD WORK, project work of an architectural or urban design project, presentation and critique.

RS2022 - general structure.png

The Reality Studio 2022 is divided into three phases:

Pre-Field Study:

  • Orientation and Understanding (weeks 6-8)
    During these 3-4 weeks, together as a whole class, we will meet various stakeholders from 3 different contexts from around the world, while gaining knowledge on the different challenges and communities presented by the stakeholders and delving deep into each of the presented contexts and local challenges in each location/community. Assignments with quick design iterations focusing on these contexts and their challenges will help us understand the way Reality Studio shapes another perspective over our roles as designers. Lectures, literature studies, workshops, and a 2 days seminar on Field Studies will support the preparations for the field work. Students will delve into different important discussions and themes such as: Spatial Agency, Power, Anti- and De-colonization, Development Policy & Agenda 2030, Child Perspective, Poverty & Ethics, International Aid, Safety, Culture Shock & Personal Crisis Management, Preparation for Field Research, Existing Initiatives & Partnerships, Norms & Laws, Your Goals & Others' Experiences. This phase concludes with the forming of the project groups for the rest of the course, based on the students' skills and topics of interest.

Field Study:

  • Analysis and Project Creation (weeks 9-16)
    At the studio’s context in Pretoria, South Africa, the class will be merged with the unit for Urban Citizenship (a masters design studio at the University of Pretoria) and after a series of visits such as to project contexts and communities, they will be broken into their project teams, and each team will develop, together with their respective project stakeholders, more specific project questions, ideas and a plan. Through a series of specifically tailored workshops, each team will be challenged to develop methods and tools to collect information and data in order to define, analyse and understand the project sites, communities and cases. A special attention to the child perspective on each project will be raised in the field studies. This period ends with a virtual exhibition (on Miro) after the Easter weekend.

Post Field Study:

  • Project Development, Design and Plan for Implementation (weeks 17-22)
    Each project team will work to create and design spatially contextualized proposals to meet the needs and challenges of the project site and community. The design proposals will address different time and spatial scales, short-term /long term, small scall/large scale, and they will be based on the information collected during the field study and knowledge gained from the stakeholders. All groups will also produce a video-reflection on child perspective in relation to their projects. Finally, each team will document and package their work in a way that will be available and useful for the stakeholders to easily implement some of the ideas proposed. This phase ends with the presentations seminar with guests and the final submissions of project reports.

The main assignment and outcome of the studio is a student project formulated and conducted (in group) within the frames of the course, an adequate sensitive and ethical approach, and the expected academic prerequisites, but with a necessary flexibility for adapting to local conditions and needs.

Partners and lecturers

This year we will work with 3 different contexts and collaborate with local and international stakeholders such as Universities and NGOs. The field work and in-depth projects focus on the context of Pretoria, South Africa:

VT22_list of PARTNERS-1.png

 RS2022 - map of partners.png   

More information about partners and lecturers involved in the studio:

Course elements

Groups criteria – all studio projects will be developed in groups of 3 or 4 students from Reality Studio collaborating each group with 1-2 students from the unit for Urban Citizenship. The groups will be formed based on the students interests and backgrounds. Transdisciplinary working teams is a core of Reality studio. Therefore, the mix of disciplines will be prioritized in the formation of groups. The course ARK700 will be focusing on the writing and definition of the theoretical and practical framework for the Reality Studio projects. A Project Boundary Definition (following the NAIL methodology) will be developed in that course and therefore each project group in Reality Studio should have at least 2 members that are taking the ARK700 course.

Projects - the project work of an architectural or urban design project is central in the studio and the students are expected to be able to develop their own projects through interaction with teachers, fellow students and local stakeholders.

Project topics - The topics are broad and to be narrowed down to workable projects. The development and delimitation of the projects will be directly supported  by the main assignment of the ARK700 course.

Child Perspective - regardless the choice of project theme, the child perspective should be included in all projects in some way, concrete or theoretical, inductive or reflective. Assignments following this aspect will have to be followed and a short film animation/presentation shall be handed-in. For description in detail, go to Child Perspective (link)

Communication - the general day to day course information will be shared through Announcements section in Canvas and/or via Canvas messages to the students. Any changes/updates on the Canvas-site will also be announced in those ways. In order to keep a continuous contact with our partners and collaborators from outside of our Canvas platform, the online based tool Slack will be also used as a tool for daily communication in your project work. We therefore recommend you to create a free account in Slack and join the Reality Studio workspace there.
link: Reality Studio Workspace on Slack

Tutoring - times will be set up through the Canvas Calendar. Each project group will be assigned a main supervisor and in some of the tutoring sessions additional supervisors may join.

Submissions - all course assignments hand-ins are digital and on Canvas, except for some workshop and exhibition material which will use the online platform Miro.

Resources – this course will use a few digital tools that might be new to you. Access to the tools and guidance in their use will be provided. One of such tools is the web-based platform for collaborative work called Miro (https://miro.com/). You will be asked to create a free account on Miro in order to be part of the Reality Studio Miro team and projects, and in that way have full access to the platform features. As mentioned above, Slack will also be used as a digital tool for communication.

Previous projects

The reports from the student projects in Reality studio in 2020 are available at Chalmers Open Digital Repository (ODR).
link https://odr.chalmers.se/handle/20.500.12380/302067

For previous projects, you can access them on Box here: link

Changes made since the last occasion

The course has been changed to match the students’ feedback through the course evaluation survey, the risk assessment and collaborative decision together with students, prior to the course start, regarding travelling to Pretoria during the Spring of 2022, the reduction of external teaching resources, the current restrictions and recommendations from Chalmers regarding the covid-19 pandemic and to avoid the spread of the virus. The main changes include:

  • Reduction in the number of lectures prior to the field studies;
  • In the pre-field studies period there is a focus on 3 contexts instead of 5 from last year;
  • The pre-field studies include the 2 days seminar Field Studies Crash Course;
  • The studio will be travelling to Pretoria in South Africa, including all the work with the necessary arrangements;
  • Child Perspective shall be identified and registered already during the field studies;
  • The grouping of students with students form UP will be equally balanced in number, and with minimum 3 Chalmers students in each project group;
  • UP students might not be able to be involved in the in-depth design period in the post-field studies, so another collaborative format is introduced here;
  • Tutoring will be assigned with a specific teaching team per group;
  • The ARK700 course is re-scheduled in relation to the basic schedule from Chalmers in order to synchronise better with the field studies.

Learning outcomes and syllabus

Learning outcomes:

Knowledge and Understanding

  1. Describe and relate to the political vision of Sustainable Development within architecture, urban design and planning.
  2. Understand the meaning and impact of their professional work and agency in a broader and global perspective.
  3. Understand the complexity of everyday life in specific spatial, cultural and social environments and situations.
  4. Understand, behave and navigate respectfully and collaboratively in an unfamiliar context.

Ability and Skill

  1. Be able to identify, select and critically analyse the most relevant information, data and elements in a local situation and on different levels (micro to macro) integrate them into both the local and larger systems and spatial contexts at play.
  2. Be able to create and develop design solutions through a methodology of goal setting, data collection, design iteration and testing/prototyping.
  3. Be able to define, formulate, design, visualise and communicate realistic architectural, urban design or planning proposals and sustainable solutions for and with clients, stakeholders and experts in different stages of the design process.
  4. Be able to combine knowledge from different disciplines and sectors in proposals for actions and measures in architectural and urban design for sustainable development.

Ability of Assessment and Attitude

  1. To combine scientific and artistic approaches in the design process.
  2. To discuss and reflect critically on the work made and experiences in the studio.
  3. To broaden the understanding of their own perspective and its limitations, through meetings with other professional and cultural perspectives on sustainable development.
  4. To further develop a critical thinking and reflections on the professional role, the professional ethics and the needs for lifelong learning.

Link to the syllabus on Studieportalen: Study plan (Links to an external site.)

Examination form

As a minimum, to pass the course and receive a grade, you need:

  • Presence at all scheduled activities is required. Some absence can be accepted if there are legitimate reasons (e.g. temporary sickness). In other cases, supplementary assignments have to be handed in in order to compensate for absence (e.g. written reviews on literature). Non-compensated absence will negatively influence the grades (Regarding missed deadlines or other compulsory activities, please contact the teachers for solution on how to compensate);
  • Active participation at seminars, workshops and in group work;
  • Course participation, hand-ins and assignments of sufficient quality (i.e. that fulfils the course objectives and specific requirements);
  • Delayed submission of hand-ins without any approved motivation will negatively influence the grades;
  • Electronic course evaluations should be filled in.

The expected student’s submissions in the studio in order to pass is divided into 2 groups:

  • Hand-ins – non-graded compulsory submissions:
    • Group Dynamics & Project Organisation
    • First Project Summary
    • Communications from the Field
    • Interactive Online Exhibition Plan
    • Future Projects
  • Assignments – compulsory and graded (Fail, 3, 4, or 5), either individual or group submissions:
    • Literature Review
    • Reflections from the field
    • Child Perspective
    • Final Project Presentation
    • Final Report

For grading details, see (ARK496 Reality Studio 2021_Evaluation matrix.pdf)

Formal Specifications for the Course

Course code at Chalmers: ARK496
22,5 ECTS higher education credits
Grading: TH - Pass with distinction (5), Pass with credit (4), Pass (3), Fail
Education cycle: Second,-cycle, Advanced level
Major subject: Architecture
Department: Architecture and Civil Engineering
Teaching language: English
Study period: 3–4, Spring term 2022
Credit distribution: At the end of study period 4

Studio working spaces for 2022

Due to the international collaboration with stakeholders and students in other parts of the globe, most of the events scheduled in the studio calendar before the field studies will be run online via Zoom.

Still, and in order to provide the students with a working place, Chalmers has assigned studio facilities. Similar to previous years, the assigned working spaces for students in this course are in the Chalmers studio facilities in Hammarkullen (the former Centre for Urban Studies).

Address for the facilities in Hammarkullen:
The address is Hammarkulletorget 62B (the entrance is in front of you when you exit the tram station, and it’s between the Folkets Hus and the library), then take the elevator or the stairs up to the 7th floor. The door code up there is: 7901. You can get to Hammarkullen with tram 4, 8 or 9 from the city centre and towards Angered, then get off at the station “Hammarkullen".

The planning of the studio follows thoroughly Chalmers central instructions and recommendations and a detailed risk-assessment has been made to the field studies in order to support and adjust the plan and structure of the studio to the challenging circumstances and some limitations.

Please consult the course’s calendar on Canvas in order to orient yourself throughout these matters and don’t hesitate to contact the course teachers in the case you have any questions.

Course literature

Main literature references according to course syllabus:

  • Architecture for Humanity (2006). Design Like You Give A Damn. Architectural responses to Humanitarian Crises. Metropolis Books.
  • Architecture for Humanity (2012). Design Like You Give A Damn 2. Building Change from the Ground Up. Abrams Books, NY, USA.
  • Architecture Sans Frontières International (2012). Challenging Practice: Essentials for the Social Production of Habitat. (available on link: https://challengingpractice.wordpress.com/)
  • Awan, Nishat; Schneider, Tatjana; Till, Jeremy (2013). Spatial agency: other ways of doing architecture. Routledge.
  • Easterly, W.R. (2007). White Man’s Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good. Oxford
  • Frediani, AA; Fench, MA; Ferrera, IN; (2011). Change by Design - Building Communities Through Participatory Design. Urban Culture Press, New Zealand.
  • Hamdi, Nabeel (2004). Small Change. About the art of practice and the limits of planning in cities. New York: Earthscan
  • Hamdi, Nabeel (2010). The placemaker's guide to building community. London, CPI Antony Rowe.
  • Hamdi, Nebeel (2014). The placemaker's guide to big change. New York, NY Routledge.
  • Lepik, Andres (cur.) (2013). Think Global Build Social, ARCH+ nr. 211/212 – Journal for Architecture and Urbanism.
  • Lepik, Andres (ed.) (2011). Moderators of Change: Architecture That Helps. Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern, Germany.
  • Lepik, Andres (2010) Small scale, big change: new architectures of social engagement. New York: Museum of Modern Art
  • Nyström Maria (2002). Making -Research. In Nordic Journal of Architectural Research 2002:04
  • Nyström Maria and Lars Reuterswärd (2003). Meeting Mars- recycling earth. Svensk Byggtjänst
  • Pitera, Dan & Wilkins, Craig L. (2014). Activist Architecture: Philosophy and Practice of the Community Design Center. Detroit Collaborative Design Center, USA
  • United Nations (2015). Transforming our world – The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. (available on link: https://sdgs.un.org/publications/transforming-our-world-2030-agenda-sustainable-development-17981)
  • https://hercity.unhabitat.org/
  • https://globalutmaning.se/her-city-toolbox/?lang=en

Lists of all mandatory literature, including descriptions of how to access the texts (with links), reference literature, further reading, and other non-mandatory texts will be made available at the course start, here: (folder)

 

Course summary:

Date Details Due