Course syllabus
Course-PM
ACE460 ACE460 Building on context lp2 HT25 (15 hp)
Course is offered by the department of Architecture and Civil Engineering
Contact details
Naima Callenberg, examiner, course leader, supervisor
naima@chalmers.se
Peter Christensson, supervisor
peter@chalmers.se
Course purpose
This is the first studio in a sequence of three that revolves around the theme Before and After Building. It continues an on-going exploration of architecture that departs from existing environments, buildings, and materials. This involves extending the architect’s engagement with “a project” to include a longer time span and untypical responsibilities, ranging from what happens before building, such as ways of investigating a context or the sourcing of materials, to what happens after building, such as occupancy, transformation, and adaptation. Rather than dismissing these issues as mundane or relegating them to other disciplines, the studio will consider them as architectural and designerly problems.
Within this framework, this studio will explore the before-aspect of architecture through the notion of context. How can, or should, that which is already present in and around a site influence that which is about to be designed? What does “a context” in architecture encompass? What does it mean to be contextual? And what are the means of representation that can be used to investigate a context? The projects developed within the studio will draw from current discourse on context as well as from alternative representation techniques that study material, programmatical, situational, temporal, or other aspects.
Investigating both physical and cultural notions, we are looking into context as a device in the conception and production of architecture - as a “library” with inherent formal and material languages to draw from. Through this process we aim to broaden our understanding of the contexts, both as in site, as in design influence, and as in regulation. What are the agendas, motivations, and strategies one may have for building anew?
See further information in course description.
Schedule
See pdf schedule and canvas calendar
Course literature
See course description
Course design
See course description
Learning objectives and syllabus
Learning objectives:
Knowledge and understanding
- Define an architectural design process that departs from an extended investigation of an existing environment or situation through representation.
- Define notions of context in relation to current practice and theory.
- Discuss their own design work in relation to the above.
- Use and synthesize common as well as alternative techniques of architectural representation such as drawing, modelling, and scanning to analyse and explore an existing environment or situation.
- Design a small to medium scale architecture project that responds to and/or intervenes in an existing environment or situation.
- Use an iterative and speculative method to design a project.
- Demonstrate the capacity for teamwork and collaboration with various constellations.
Judgement and approach
- Integrate design, representation, and theory into a coherent argument for their design work.
- Reflect on the agencies of representation on how the use of representations influences the development and communication of the project.
- Show intention, commitment, and ability to identify needs for further knowledge and undertake on-going development of their skills, especially with regards to architectural representation.
Link to the syllabus on Studieportalen.
Examination form
See course description
Course summary:
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