Course syllabus

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ACE530 ACE530 Prototypes and assemblages lp4 VT24 (15 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Architecture and Civil Engineering

Contact details

Course purpose

The studio examines the role of architecture in the public realm through the design of a medium to large scale public building. It covers a comprehensive design project, including design research and experimentation, studies of a building programme, site context, massing, structure, circulation, and the interior. The studio handles a complex multifunctional programme with an impact on urban space as a design research problem. The outcome is an experimental architectural project that is based on emergent material, digital design and manufacturing technologies and medium to long span structures, but the project is also informed by issues such as cultural identity, contextual relationships, as well as programmatic adjacencies and sequences (public and private, indoor, and outdoor, etc.). The design emanates from a larger overarching geometric formal concept or diagram towards the detailed but bespoke resolution of a building. The aim for the course is to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of key aspects and the practical design and technical skills of architectural design appropriate to year 4. At the master level this effectively means that there is a level of freedom for you to develop, organize and take responsibility for your own learning. The course aims to enhance knowledge, understanding and develop design and technical abilities and skills learnt in previous courses related to the use of digital design, form and geometry, materials, detail, structures, based on design experimentation, consultancy, and current best practice. Ultimately, the studio aims to foster innovation through direct collaborations between students, teachers, architects, researchers, consultants, and the construction industry.

Schedule

TimeEdit

Course literature

List 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.

Course design

The studio consists of an introductory lecture, text and/or precedent studies seminar(s), desk crits, pin-ups, a midterm review, and a final review with invited guests. The lecture introduces the brief and the design problems that it contains, as well as gives an orientation into the design of public buildings as a field of knowledge. Guest lectures and/or study visits may further inform and contextualize the studio. The studio closes with a critical reflection on ethical and cultural aspects of public buildings in general and on the students own work. Students learn about current research relevant to materials, digital design and manufacturing process, structure and environmental performance through readings, precedent studies, and guest lectures.

Organisation
Learning is structured around project assignments specified in the course program and desk-based tutorials. The assignments break down the design process into manageable studies of different aspects of the building design. Students work individually or in teams of 2-4 students.

The studio course is divided into three distinct phases:

1. Morphology
Form, space, and structural system developed without a site context

2. Prototyping
Material, details, construction strategy, physical model making with partial site context

3. Proposition
Site context implementation, building program and organization, circulation, and representation.

Attendance is compulsory in all phases. The course description provides the specifics of site and program each year.

Changes made since the last occasion

A summary of changes made since the last occasion.

Learning objectives and syllabus

Learning objectives:

Knowledge and understanding

  1. Demonstrate how the work of the studio relates to contemporary architectural discourse related to digital design and manufacturing technology.
  2. Exemplify the re-iterative design process and modifications that a design undergoes as it is developed from concept diagram to detailed resolution through a design process fuelled by design experiments and instrumentality.
  3. Discuss and critically reflect on the design of public buildings as a field of knowledge in architecture and urban design related to contemporary challenges.

Competence and skills

  1. Use digital design tools such as design modeling, representation in the production of a medium to large-scale architectural design project of a public building.
  2. Deploy digital means of analysis and/or simulation and consultancy to inform aspects of structure, tectonics, detailing and environmental impact.
  3. Synthesizing site, program, material, and structural analysis for the purposes of design.
  4. Handle a complex urban site and program in a building design project.
  5. Design and present a design of a public building with respect to massing, structure, circulation, and interior.
  6. Handle advanced means of representation to highlight specific aspects of the design with regards to the public nature of the project.

Judgement and approach

  1. Formulate early assessments of peer design projects related to the design process, public buildings and the specific content of the studio stipulated in the course description.
  2. Critically discuss the role of public buildings in the city and in society, including cultural and ethical aspects as well as how they relate to the environment and emergent design and building technology.

 

Link to the syllabus on Studieportalen.

Study plan

If the course is a joint course (Chalmers and Göteborgs Universitet) you should link to both syllabus (Chalmers and Göteborgs Universitet).

Examination form

Student work is organized in three phases that are reviewed and evaluated with invited guests at the end of each phase according to the submission requirements stated in the course program. The course work is graded based on the results of the reviews and the submission of a design log or process diary at the end of the course. At least 80% attendance or participation in lectures, critiques, demos and visits is required to pass the course. Each project is also reviewed and graded after the final portfolio submission.

The course examiner may examine individual students in a different way than stated above if there are special reasons, for example if a student has a decision from Chalmers regarding educational support due to a disability.

Literature

An up to date reading list is an integral part of the annual course description depending on the material and technology selected for the year. Only the reference literature is listed below.
Manual of Section (Paul Lewis, Marc Tsurumaki, David J Lewis, 2016)
Structure System (Heino Engel, 2009)
1001 Building Forms (François Blanciak, 2008)
Form & Data (A+T Research Group, 2016)
The Function of Ornament (Farshid Moussavi, Michael Kubo, 2019)

Course summary:

Date Details Due