Start semester
80 612 Open Structures: Constructive Logic
Credits:
24
Full course name in Norwegian Bokmål:
Open Structures: Constructive Logic
Course code:
80 612
Level of study:
Master
Teaching semester:
2020 Spring
Assessment semester:
2020 Spring
Language of instruction:
English
Year:
2020
Maximum number of students:
16
Person in charge
Andrea Pinochet
Lina Elisabeth Broström
Required prerequisite knowledge
Good understanding of written and spoken English.
Intermediate to a good level of draughtsmanship and model making.
Interest in structural concepts, construction details, history and theory.
Course content
Open Structures
Open Structures reflects an interest in investigating structures that have the capacity to operate as frames for a myriad of programs or activities. Structures that may have been conceived to fulfill a particular need or host a particular program, but that are nonetheless open in character and capable of assimilating undetermined futures or dynamic contexts.
Constructive Logic
The studio will be concerned with the design of a small school that could be mass-produced with quick and easy assembly on multiple sites in a given region, focusing primarily on material experimentation and the design of construction processes.
The studio will observe the construction site as a laboratory of scientific management; a place of highly organized labor, fast paced production and diverse social capital. Therefore, in the design of the individual schools, participants will be asked to conceive of architecture as a dynamic process. Instead of thinking of architecture as a static object, we will address architecture’s capacity for reproduction and discuss the conception of an architectural work as multiple acts of synthesis and manufacture: building as structure and assembly—building as a verb.
Learning outcome
This studio will seek to develop an understanding of prototypical qualities through a material perspective. We will study a selection of materials commonly used in the building industry, examining their physical and chemical properties, how raw matter is extracted, transformed and assembled, and its inherent formal and aesthetic qualities.
Through an in-depth study of a particular material and technological development and we will gain an understanding of the complexity involved in the realization of a simple work of architecture. We will also address issues relating to resource extraction, division of labor, building ethics and the politics of the construction site.
Working and learning activities
The studio will work with precedent analysis of relevant built cases in order to study a selection of materials commonly used in the building industry, examining their physical properties, how their raw matter is extracted, transformed and assembled, and their inherent formal and aesthetic qualities.
We will organize visits to places of manufacture, and use experimental characterization techniques in order to understand material properties, structural capacity and position in the industry.
We will embrace the rational and direct aesthetics of the technical drawing, budget sheets, schedules and logistics plans, making discussion around labor and organizational systems as an important component of the course.
Curriculum
Syllabus will be distributed on the first day of class.
| Form of assessment | Grouping | Grading scale | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project assignment | Individual | Pass / fail | The final grade in the course will be given based on: — Design production and participation in studio meetings: 30% — Mid-review and Interim review presentation: 30% — Final review presentation and portfolio assessment: 40% |