Course syllabus

Course-PM

ARK626 ARK626 Transformation projects and environmental care lp3 VT23 (22.5 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Architecture and Civil Engineering

Contact details

The teaching team includes practitioners working in architecture, conservation, and transformation as well as academic staff involved in teaching and researching sustainability, circularity, and the continued use of built environments. In addition, external expertise will be brought in for lectures and special tutorials.

Examiner: Paula Femenías, femenias@chalmers.se, 031-7722458 / for sms use 0735570048

Course Coordinator: Anita Ollár, architect, PhD student, ollar@chalmers.se

Teachers and supervisors: 

Oscar Carlsson, oscar@bjorg.se

Sven Olof Ahlberg, so@kulturbyggnadsbyran.se

Tabita Nilsson, tabita@chalmers.se

Paula Femenias, femenias@chalmers.se

Anita Ollár, ollar@chalmers.se

Janneke van der Leer, janneke.vanderleer@chalmers.se

Johanna Rimstig Isaksson, johanna.isaksson@gmail.com

Guest lecturers and supervisors

Laura Conradi – Architect (Album RIDS)

Koenraad van Cleempoel – Professor Art History (Adaptive Reuse)

Ola Wetterberg – Professor (Conservation theory)

Claes Caldenby – Professor emeritus (Architecural history)

Bri Gauger – Genie@ACE post-doc (Power & gender)

Elisabeth Punzi – Associate Professor Social works (Difficult memories)

Charlotta Berggren – ByDemand (Ventilation & Energy)

Course purpose

The studio will develop your practical and theoretical skills as an architect to contribute to the extended life, use, and value creation of existing built environments. The course is set in a framework of current climate and energy crises as well as strives for sustainable and equal rights to resources and to places for all. Supporting the continued use of existing built environments, the efficient use of existing spaces, and contributing to recycling and usage of existing components and materials will be of increasingly importance for the future built environment.

The studio focuses on the understanding of a specific limited site and set of buildings which will inform and drive the design process. You will study and analyse the built structures, their technical, spatial, cultural, functional qualities and usage, natural environment as well as socioeconomic and political context. Based on that knowledge you will design a project for the future of the site and its buildings. Your proposals should contribute to the avoidance of redundancy of sites and buildings, strive to minimise resource extraction, waste production and the addition of surplus materials, consider economic feasibility and the relation to social and political realities, and carefully consider history, heritage, and collective memories.

The core of the studio is based on practical training and tutoring to use architectural tools, methods and valuation (inventories, analysis, design, review). This work will be supported by critical-analytical analysis of the continued use of built environments (literature studies, seminars, dialogues and debates), academic approaches (selection, identification and use of theoretical frameworks) and the training in representation and communication (model-making, writing, drawings). You will study and use theories for transformation, and conservation in the development of your concept and visions, and to motivate you approach. There exist a variety of strategies for the continued use of built environment from preservation to renovation, reprogramming, adaptive reuse, transformation, and/or additions, and you can also use a combination of those strategies. You will also work with physical models from analysis in the conceptual phases to presentation.

Schedule

We will use a One Drive Calendar in this course. The reason is to be able to give a more detailed overview than what the Canvas Calendar allows, and it is more flexible for changes.

The schedule is also available on TimeEdit. However, changes to the schedule might take place at short notice and therefore the One Drive calendar is always updated BEFORE TimeEdit. The explanation is that the course manager cannot independently go in and make changes in TimeEdit.

Content and structure of the course

This year we are working with the Konstepidemin area in Annedal in Gothenburg. The area was originally built as an epidemic hospital for the poor and overcrowded working class quarters in Annedal, Haga and Majorna. The oldest buildings in the area were built in the 1880s. After recurrent epidemic outbreaks of cholera, the need for both treatment and isolation of this infectious disease appeared. The facility was also used for other epidemic diseases such as smallpox and diphtheria which made the facility overloaded and additional buildings completed the hospital during the early 20th century. Since the 1980s, the area has been used for artistic activities and is a creative meeting place for events, training, and exhibitions. During a period in the 1970s and 1980s the area was also used for mental health care for youth.

There are about 20 buildings in a parc area, both brick buildings from the 1880s and wooden pavilions from the early 20^th century. The central part has a symmetrical composition with four buildings. The main building is in four stories and most of the buildings in the area has 1-2 stories. The area is described as worth of preserving in the local heritage programme for the built environment.

The studio is built around the development of a project from site analysis to final submission which will be supported by lectures, seminars, literature studies, workshops, tutorials, review, and a study trip.

The course is structured in four phases: Phase 1: Contextualisation, Phase 2: Conceptualisation, Phase 3: Project and Phase 4: Presentation and exhibition. The first two phases are built around the inventory and analysis of the site, its natural, socio-economic and political context, and buildings and will lead up to a concept for the continued design. The concept is a more developed programme and will also include a vision, spatial programmes, a presentation of economic feasibility as well as drawings. In Phase three your will develop the project which must include the development of existing buildings and focus on one or several building, and include additions. In the final phase, you will work with the presentation for the final review and an exhibition which will also take place at Konstepidemin

Figure 1: How the different phases of the course interact.

Phase 1, the contextualisation of the inventory phase, is your preliminary investigation where you learn about the site, the buildings, its stakeholders, its history and memories. You map problems, opportunities and qualities and describe their nature and get to understand the site from social, economic, and political perspectives, and gather archive material such as maps, drawings, photos and also document the areas as it is today.

During Phase 2, the conceptualisation phase, you formulate the rules of the game for your project. During this phase, you will continue inventory of materials that is need for your proposal. You will produce working documents in the form of drawings based on on-site measurements, corrected archive documents, photos, notes, sketches, interviews etc. In this phase theoretical frameworks are introduced relating to architectural theory on preservation, reuse and transformation, and objectives and strategies for sustainable continued use of the built environment (energy provision; resource efficiency; life-cycle thinking; circular design). Based on the inventory, the theoretical frameworks, and your own visions, you formulate a concept and programme for the continued use which will be drawings, texts and a conceptual model. Your concept should be justified with reference to theoretical frameworks and literature that should include both ideas from conservation and adaptative reuse and sustainable development of the built environment. You should describe the values ​​you want to create for whom, and how this will be achieved.

In phase 3 you will develop a project. The concept becomes the red thread that leads you through this processing phase. As a start you will do more in-depth research, on site, on buildings and among stakeholders, with respect to issues that affect your project. Your design will be supported by regular tutorials and special input from experts in the field of conservation/transformation and sustainability. You will work out a well-thought-out and coherent proposal that must include the building scale.

During Phase 4, the communication phase, you mainly focus on completing and presenting the project in the best possible way in drawings, images, text and models. You will also practice presentation orally and communication during the final review and a public exhibition at site at Konstepidemin. In this phase, you will make an individual review where you reflect of your work process and the proposal you have developed. By individually highlighting strengths and weaknesses in process and proposals, you have an opportunity to highlight parts that you have had to compromise with in the group work. But above all, you give yourself an opportunity to decide what you want to work on and perhaps give a special focus in the next project. Architecture education is an individual and iterative journey where each completed project, wisely reflected, contributes to the implementation of the next one. You will have a tutorial after the final review where you go through your reflections and where there is an opportunity to supplement and discuss the response you received from your reviewers.

Figure 2: Time line of course and phases

Organisation of teaching

The studio is full time and will take place both at the University and at the site we are working with, Konstepidemin at Annedal, close to Linnéplatsen. At Chalmers you have an indicated space on floor five. At Konstepidemin we have booked what is called the “Green room” on some occasions, indicated in the schedule, and at other times we will have access to a smaller space where you can warm up, and eat your own food.

As a second cycle student you are expected to take significant responsibility for your own studies and progress. Full attendance is expected at lectures, seminars, supervision, and review. When you have a legitimate reason (illness, doctors’ appointment) for not attending, a message should be sent to Paula, the examiner prior to that occasion or by latest the same morning. When you miss a compulsory seminar (one I scheduled to discuss literature and another one on individual texts) a supplementary task will be requested. In the same way, a longer absence due to illness might be subject for supplementary tasks. Attendance will be taken at lectures, seminars, review and supervision.

You are expected to work in groups for most of the course with other students for contextualisation, conceptualisation, analysis and development of concepts and project. Groups are preferably made up of three students. The course also involves individual assignments. Individual assignments include literature studies and seminars, a written text that describes your understanding and stand with respect to continued use and transformation, and reflections at the end of the course.

Supervision is scheduled and compulsory. Supervision is an important tool for teaching and guiding you through the course. It is also one part of the assessment and examination of your individual learning outcomes. Regular supervision takes place in an individual booked room on level 3, see onedrive schedule for information. Each group has 1 hour for supervision starting from 8-14:15, and a schedule will be posted through a link to an external site (google drive) for you to sign up. In case of illness, make sure to cancel the supervision in good time! It is important that you come to the supervision well prepared and that you bring relevant material and have prepared questions to pose.

Zoom

For all online lectures and activities we will use the following Zoom link: https://chalmers.zoom.us/j/69162016509

Passcode: ARK626

Course literature

List will be added before course start with all mandatory literature, including descriptions of how to access the texts (e.g. Cremona, Chalmers Library, links).

Also list reference literature, further reading, and other non-mandatory texts.

Learning objectives and syllabus

Knowledge and understanding

After the course the student should be able to:

1. Recognise and describe various architectural approaches and strategies to work with continued use, renovation, and/or transformation of existing built environments.
2. Identify and select methods for inventory and analysis of existing built environments with respect to material and immaterial information and values.
3. Identify challenges and possibilities for sustainable futures for a specific site and its buildings.

Skills and abilities

After the course the student should be able to:

1. Select and apply methods to describe and analyse a specific site and its buildings from different perspectives with respect to material and immaterial perspectives.
2. Search for, identify and select references for institutional frameworks, scientific and grey literature, and exemplary architectural projects for the development of a concept and design proposal.
3. Formulate a written vision and strategy for the sustainable continued use of a specific site and buildings that makes references to institutional frameworks, scientific literature, and exemplary architectural projects.
4. Develop a vision and strategy into a design proposal that will extend the lifespan of a site and its building(s)/building components and with the ambition of reducing (unsustainable) resource use through production and use phase.
5. Develop an architectural project that will enable the continued use of a place and its buildings and create new or sustain existing values in relation to and respect for existing material and immaterial values.
6. Visually and orally communicate and defend the proposed concept and design.

Formulation of judgements and attitudes

After the course the student should be able to:

1. Critically reflect on challenges, and at times competing objectives and interests, for sustainable continued use or transformation of the built environment.
2. Critically reflect upon the effect of an architectural intervention/proposal upon existing material and immaterial values.
3. Justify and critically reflect on a proposal for vision, strategy, and design intervention, from the perspective of efficient use of recourses, the current climate and energy crises and a sustainable continued use with respect to social, cultural and historical values.
4. Critically reflect on the role of the architect and architectural knowledge for sustainable continued use and/or transformation of existing built environments

Link to the syllabus on Studieportalen.

Study plan

Examination

The course examination is based on the active participation at scheduled activities, and the assessed quality of submitted assignments, individual and group work. Occasional absence from scheduled lectures, seminars and review as well as shorter sick leaves are replaced by supplementary assignments. 

Grading

Grading depends on the level of the quality of the students work. Failed (F), good quality (3), high quality (4), very high quality 5

Grade 5 Very high quality of design project. Show excellent ability to integrate practical and scientific knowledge from different disciplines in concept and design proposal. All assignments should have high quality. Be able to formulate a written concept with academic quality using references to scientific and grey literature. Very high presence at all scheduled activities and active attendance in seminars, review, discussions, and group work.  

Grade 4 High quality of design. Show ability to integrate practical and scientific knowledge from different disciplines in the design. Be able to formulate a written concept using references to scientific and grey literature. All assignments should have a high quality. High presence at all scheduled activities and active attendance in seminars, review, discussions, and group work.  

Grade 3 Good quality of design. Show ability to integrate practical and scientific knowledge from different disciplines in the design. Be able to formulate a written concept using references to scientific and grey literature. All assignments are submitted and approved. Attendance at all scheduled activities and taking active part in seminars, review, discussions, and group work. 

Changes made since the last occasion

The course has been remade since last academic year to focus more on working with the existing built environment and emphasising more on including sustainability and environmental perspectives.