Studio Positions offers in depth studies of the fundamental structures that make up architecture and how these structures relate to an architectural program. The studio draws on established knowledge but also challenges our understanding of historical and existing buildings. What we know about things is not always corresponding to what we perceive and experience. We are preoccupied with not only how architecture is made but also the presence of architecture and the affect (aesthetic experience) it produces.

Title of course: Studio Positions_Distant Mandate
In the fall semester 2017 the studio will continue to investigate the relationships between the four fundamental architectural categories; substructure, structure, space and material. Starting out from a historical building reference, the palace of Alhambra in Spain, the focus of the discussion will be on 1. How ideas of structural and material assembly, are inseparable from the formation of spaces with character / spatial qualities and 2. Learning from history – how we position ourselves as architects relative to the history of architecture.

Architects have always sought inspiration and knowledge from other cultures and from the history of architecture, be it Sverre Fehn, influenced by his travels in Morocco, Ferdinand Poullion’s strong connections to Algeria, Corbusier’s travels in Greece that had a decisive influence on his future work, or Frank Lloyd Wright’s strong affinity to Japanese building traditions. In this way places and time influence and enrich architecture, opening new insight into our present condition or situation.

The palace of Alhambra is said to be founded about 1250 on the ruins of a roman fortress. The building complex consists of several structures and gardens erected over a period of hundreds of years. The experience of the richness of the palace structures, materiality, surface ornament and spaces will serve both as an immediate inspiration and as a case study to be analyzed according to the categories substructure, structure, space and material.

The semester task will be to develop a series of autonomous structures that together form a whole.

Parallel to the main task the students will produce a reflecting text.