Studio MA1 (Malterre-Barthes)

AR-401(ah) / 12 credits

Teacher: Malterre-Barthes Charlotte

Language: English

Withdrawal: It is not allowed to withdraw from this subject after the registration deadline.

Remark: Inscription faite par la section

Summary

"To be useful, helpful, of assistance to someone:" The "In Service of: Le Mirail" studio reflects on the architectural project as a form of public service. It explores how architecture and design tools can engage in spatial struggles for the common good.

Content

In Service of: Le Mirail

Fall 2024 Design Studio

Office Hours as requested

Instructors: Charlotte Malterre-Barthes charlotte.malterrebarthes@epfl.ch, Elif Erez elif.erez@epfl.ch, Kathlyn Kao kathlyn.kao@epfl.ch, Nathalie Marj nathalie.marj@epfl.ch, Carolina Pichler carolina.pichler@epfl.ch (TA), Eva Oustric eva.oustric@epfl.ch (TA)

 

Teaching Format:

Depending on enrollment, students will work in groups of two/three after the first week. Each desk crit will require the attendance of at least (2) student groups for peer-to-peer feedback. Desk crits will happen on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. All group attendance is required for episode reviews, guest lectures, and mid-term and final reviews.

 

Course Description:

Nota Bene: This studio is part of the 'In Service of:...' studio fall series that seeks to redress uneven access to design and planning literacy for the majority (Previous studio: 'In Service of: Marseille'). Architecture and design are powerful tools to conjure, materialize and unlock horizons. But who has access to and can afford design? The studio series places architecture as a tool at the service of a place, a population, a narrative - in benefit of the common good. In this class, we seek to deploy architecture processes - with values and interests different from those of capital.[1] In that sense, 'In Service of:...' reflects on architecture as a form of public service.

 

 

In Service of: Le Mirail

"Remember those walls I built? Well, baby they're tumblin' down"

Beyonce, "Halo," Ryan Tedder/ Evan Bogart/ Beyoncé© Knowles © Columbia Records

 

In 2012, the new university of Toulouse II- Le Mirail was inaugurated by three men, Jean-Michel Minovez, President of the University, Martin Malvy, President of the Regional Council, and Olivier Dugrip, the Rector. About the new Languages, Literatures and Foreign Civilizations Training and Research Unit (UFR) - the newspapers report: "A building that bears little resemblance to its predecessors... 'Before we were cold, here we work better,' sums up student Antoinette," quoted by local newspapers. The new building is erected on the ruins of the previous 23-hectare campus, constructed in 1971 in the La Reynerie district, part of the new city designed by three other men: Georges Candilis, Alexis Josic, and Shadrach Woods: Le Mirail. Between 1962 and today, the three members of legendary post-CIAM Team X materialised a modernist vision, which was constructed and then partially knocked down. More demolitions are ongoing and planned. An array of reasons can explain why, le Mirail, organized along an elevated slab ('la dalle,' now demolished), structured in 3 districts (Bellefontaine, La Reynerie, and Mirail-Université) suffers such a fate. Today the city is home to some 20,000 inhabitants, 67% of which are living in social housing - modest, racialized populations under police surveillance.

 

This studio is not interested in a nostalgic and romanticized approach to modernist urbanism and its demise, nor is it after canonizing the works of Team X and its architects. Instead, we seek to explore how dense urban forms respond to housing needs and the politicization of this architecture. To grasp what is happening in Le Mirail, it must be relocated in the context of France's national housing programs, petty politics, and global narratives. Once understood as the materialization of utopian projects under inter and post-war welfare policies, modernist estates have been under attack, perhaps ever since the first moment they were constructed (i.e., Pruitt-Igoe, St Louis, by Minori Yamasaki, 1954-1972). Decades of punitive narratives targeting these districts and their architecture - arguing of their obsolescence, blaming their urban forms, perceived 'ugliness,' and the social crisis they allegedly foster have almost succeeded in depicting these projects as failures. Updated arguments traffic around 'ghettoization' and sustainability sermons, accusing these estates of being asphalted deserts and poorly isolated 'thermal sieves' contributing to the climate crisis. While it is true that renovations would be necessary in several of these districts, many of these assertions are grounded in racist planning approaches, neo-liberal policies aiming at discrediting public housing, and state betrayal vis-a-vis the working class and modest populations.[2] Voluntary negligence, lack of maintenance, racial and economic discrimination, and absence of infrastructures are the real culprits of the multiple-faceted intensifying warfare against modernist mass housing. A quick glance a well-maintained and functioning estates of similar forms and age but with different locations and ownership status unveils the lie (i.e. Cité Radieuse, La Rouviére, La Tourette, in Marseille). While some renovation projects are ongoing, public authorities consider demolition a valid policy, an approach prevailing towards aging modernist mass housing in many places worldwide. In France, this is the doing of the public agency ANRU (Agence Nationale pour la Renovation Urbaine).

 

However, these estates cumulate many qualities beyond their fetished modernist designs: affordable, dense, and efficient housing blocks with good circulation and inherent plastic attributes. They are also just homes to people who hope to live in peace, hosting, at times, communities with strong ties that organized to defend their districts - despite suffering policing, prejudice, and discrimination. Plus, since 'the most sustainable building is the one that already exists,' these constructions have intrinsic value as they have already expended the energy needed for construction (i.e., embodied energy). They can be retrofitted with energy-efficient systems, reducing their operational carbon footprint without demolition and new construction, and their layouts updated for new needs. These estates make good use of land resources, avoiding new development on greenfield sites, and are already connected to necessary infrastructure (e.g., roads and utilities).

 

This studio argues there is an urgent need to revert those punitive narratives to address aging modernist estates as precious housing stock and homes to humans and non-humans and think collectively about engaging urban design strategies - on the site of Le Mirail. We believe the topic to be particularly urgent, as fascist politicians preach for the demise of these estates. In a 2013 interview, French extreme-right Marine Le Pen called for "demolishing public estates built between 1955 and 1970" to replace them with "housing of traditional size and aesthetics."[3] Such irresponsible statements exemplify in the most bitter way that architecture can never be neutral, a position defended by the studio and RIOT at large. We strongly oppose the idea that architects are powerless in making and unmaking the built environment. This belief is not grounded in a delusional view of architecture as a humanist discipline - rather the opposite. Acknowledging that architecture has generated and still generates harm, unwillingly or not, via extraction, segregation, or gentrification, the profession can also undo that harm. We celebrate the potential for design to propose other imaginaries with repaired urban conditions and social cohesion, while limiting environmental damage and contributing to the overall betterment of society instead of being the lackey of capital that it too often is.

 

Trip

A 4-day excursion will take us on-site (Friday, 4 Oct 2024 - Tuesday, 8 Oct 2024 ). Estimated  travel costs for accommodations, travel, and food: 300CHF

 

Scales

This studio is based on a conception of urban design as a multidimensional trans-scalar discipline. Not only political, economic, social, cultural, and geo-tectonic forces affect and shape the built environment at the global scale, at the territorial and landscape scale, at the neighborhood and urban scale, down to the architectural and material scale - to the body, but space and its arrangements have a reciprocating effect on these forces, humans, and non-humans acting upon them. We will design within these gradations, positing that each constituent scale is distinct and can be considered on its own, yet the piece as a whole is only complete with each scale, resulting in the sum of all the small scales producing a large-scale total.[4] We will also think around temporal scales to challenge "impatient capital" as it dictates architectural, urban, and landscape projects for immediacy, exploring seemingly contradictory notions of ephemeral and impermanent, durable, and longevity as frameworks for operation.

 

End notes

  1. Pedro Fiori Arantes, The Rent of Form : Architecture and Labor in the Digital Age, ed. Adriana Kauffmann et al. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2019), 152.
  2. "Jennifer Mack: "Creepage and Seepage in the Modernist Suburb That Never Was"", Uppsala Universitet https://www.uu.se/en/staff/events/archive/2024-02-06-jennifer-mack-creepage-and-seepage-in-the-modernist-suburb-that-never-was (accessed June 30 2024).
  3. AFP, "Marine Le Pen Veut Détruire Les Cités," Le Point (2013). https://www.lepoint.fr/politique/le-pen-veut-detruire-les-cites-07-05-2013-1664548_20.php (accessed 3 July 2024).
  4. Donna Haraway, "Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective," Feminist studies 14 , no. 3 (1988)

Keywords

Territory, Urbanism, Architecture, Labor, Political Economy, Public Service, Le Mirail

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, the student must be able to:

  • Critique a specific project brief and a specific context and respond with a meaningful data-driven design concept.
  • Translate a data-driven design concept into meaningful architectural and/or urban propositions at appropriate scales and levels of granularity.
  • Produce coherent architectural representations and models at sufficient levels of detail.
  • Formulate the morphogenetic narrative and create convincing arguments for the design propositions.
  • Develop Develop convincing final diagrams, drawings, renderings, simulations, physical and digital models.

Teaching methods

Structure/Method


Note: The structure and method of this studio follows prior RIOT studios. As such, we do not recommend students to take our studio more than once.


Through a comprehensive exploration of the forces (i.e., social, legal, political, economic, cultural, environmental) that generate, use, and control space to first expose how, why, and by whom architecture is done and undone, we seek to gain a deeper understanding of how architecture affects and is affected by its users and communities at large. First, we will investigate the correlation between urban form and politics, looking at mass housing modernist buildings (existing and demolished) produced over the inter and post-war period globally. We seek an honest conversation on the role of architecture as a facilitator of patronizing, extractive and colonialist endeavors, but also to take stock of the qualities of these - affordability, plastic, comfort, composition, community-building, etc. We will solidly engage with readings with themes that we will use as lenses, such as colonial images (Azoulay), liberation through education (hooks), coercive spaces (Gilmore), materials (Hutton), carbon and obsolescence (Abramson) and many others. These lenses will help us understand the complexities we encounter before engaging with the site. We shall then produce collective research works (i.e., model, super mapping) and, on-site, engage with local inhabitants, actors, and the built fabric towards articulating a strategy 'In Service of: Le Mirail,' toward emancipatory designs. Informed by the readings, the research, and the fieldwork, we will seek to enunciate a full-fledged, multi and trans-scalar urban design strategy or tactic.

 

In parallel, the studio also conducts a self-critical reflection on its format to question architecture attachment to solutionism, the expectation to 'fix problems', and other tropes that have led to socially and spatially unjust situations. It also acknowledges the limitations of seeking engagements with communities within the given format of the studio. Within these limits, we strive to produce works that have some utility for active local groups engaged in struggles against demolition, neglect, and expropriation, to name a few of the questions faced by inhabitants of Le Mirail. By focusing on the idea of being helpful without idealizing the task, this design studio hopes to articulate an agenda for a self-critical architecture practice with a heightened sense of responsibility and a commitment to creating spaces that truly serve the needs of the people.

Expected student activities

Goals/ Learning Outcomes

The studio's goal is to articulate questions about design's role in inventing futures liberated from the debilitating inert structures we find ourselves entrenched in, facing social and climate crises, to start articulating an understanding of practices that are truly at the service of others. We will attempt to deploy the skills and organizing abilities of designers to think about new constructions of emancipated practices of urban design and architecture. We shall develop abilities to think critically about the status quo while developing ways of engaging with the built and the unbuilt environment, pushing forward forms of spatial practice. For that, we will develop literacy in policy, economy, technology, intersectional activism, care, preservation, etc. borrowing from other disciplines, and learning to doubt, while staying hopeful as we help planning disciplines to pivot toward becoming better practices of stewardship.

Assessment methods

Assessment methods

The grading will be based on the consistent engagement and learning/unlearning curve of the students with each episode in the Studio. The grades will be proportionately distributed over the episodes listed as follows. The studio relies on self-assesment questionnaire to help the grading.

  • Episode 01: 10%
  • Episode 02: 20 %
  • Episode 03: Phase 01 > 20 %
  • Episode 03: Phase 02 > 50 %

Supervision

Office hours Yes
Assistants Yes

Resources

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)

No

Bibliography

  • artsixMic, dir. 2013. Voyage Sans Retour : Bande Annonce. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-hF7P_gwPc.
  • Candilis, G., Josic, A., Woods, S., Toulouse-Le Mirail La naissance d'une ville nouvelle, Stuttgart, Karl Krämer, 1975
  • Candilis, Georges, Bâtir la vie. Un architecte témoin de son temps, Paris, Stock, 1977
  • Concheiro, Isabel. 2023. "Démolition(s) en question: une approche pédagogique,"  Espazium. December 29, 2023. https://www.espazium.ch/fr/actualites/demolitions-en-question-une-approche-pedagogique.
  • Courbebaisse, A. (2017). Toulouse, le sens caché des grands ensembles. Presses universitaires du Midi.
  • "3 - 1959 - Le Carré Bleu." Consulté le 8 juillet 2024. http://www.lecarrebleu.it/italiano-3-1959/.
  • Coppolani, Jean. "Le Mirail : une erreur ? Un échec ? Un projet audacieux ?," 2001. https://doi.org/10.3406/rgpso.2001.2761.
  • Europe des Cultures. "Europe des Cultures - Georges Candilis, architecte du Mirail à  Toulouse - Ina.fr." Consulté le 8 juillet 2024. http://fresques.ina.fr/europe-des-cultures-fr/fiche-media/ Europe00066/georges-candilis-architecte-du-mirail-a-toulouse.html.
  • France 3 Occitanie. "Ceux qui ont grandi ici ne comprennent pas pourquoi ils disparaissent: la démolition d'immeubles, symboles des années 60, divise les habitants," 4 juillet 2024. https:// france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/occitanie/haute-garonne/toulouse/ceux-qui-ont-grandi-ici-ne- comprennent-pas-pourquoi-ils-disparaissent-la-demolition-d-immeubles-symboles-des- annees-60-divise-les-habitants-2998232.html.
  • Guide d'architecture Toulouse: Architecture Moderne et Contemporaine 1950-2020. Berlin: DOM Publishers, 2021.
  • Fernández Salgado, Carlos, La construction de la stigmatisation: effets de la postmodernité sur l'image des derniers grands ensembles de logements sociaux au travers de l'étude de cas de Toulouse Le Mirail, Thèse doctorale, Université polytechnique de Madrid, UPM, 2020
  • Gruet, S. (2008). Le Mirail : mémoire d'une ville : histoire vécue du Mirail de sa conception à nos jours. POIESIS^^AERA.
  • Göbel, C., & Maison de l'architecture Occitanie-Pyrénées, editor. (2021). Architekturführer Toulouse: moderne und zeitgenössische Architektur 1950-2020. DOM Publishers.
  • Jaillet-Roman, Marie-Christine, et Mohammed Zendjebil. "Le Mirail: un projet de 'quasi-ville nouvelle' au destin de grand ensemble." Histoire urbaine 17, no 3 (2006): 85-98. https://doi.org/ 10.3917/rhu.017.0085.
  • Krispin, L., Friquart, L.-E., & Maisonabe, A. (2008). Toulouse : 250 ans d'urbanisme & d'architecture publique. Privat.
  • L'architecte CANDILIS retrouve Le Mirail | INA. Consulté le 8 juillet 2024. https://www.ina.fr/ina- eclaire-actu/video/rbc03004501/l-architecte-candilis-retrouve-le-mirail.
  • Lévy Jean-Paul. Le Mirail en 1977. In: Revue géographique des Pyrénées et du Sud-Ouest, tome 48, fascicule 1, 1977. Toulouse aujourd'hui. pp. 103-114.
  • Loez. "Toulouse : quand on veut raser un quartier." BALLAST (blog), 14 janvier 2023. https://www.revue-ballast.fr/toulouse-quand-on-veut-raser-un-quartier/.
  • Méheut, Constant. "For French-Algerian Families, Virus Disrupts Cherished Summer Ritual." The New York Times, 26 July 2020, sect. World. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/26/world/ europe/france-algeria-summer-vacations.html.
  • Papillault, Rémi. "1966-1972, l'Université du Mirail de Candilis, Josic et Woods comme composition ouverte." In Conservation-restauration de l'architecture du mouvement moderne, édité par Catherine Compain-Gajac, 185-98. Histoire de l'art. Perpignan: Presses universitaires de Perpignan, 2012. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.pupvd.6999.
  • Petdjd, Keijo. "PERCEPTION DE L'ESPACE REEL. Il," s. d.
  • "Rapport d'enquête publique 2023," s. d.
  • rédaction, La. "Lettre ouverte à Rima Abdul Malak - Au Mirail : le gâchis!" Chroniques d'architecture, 6 décembre 2022. https://chroniques-architecture.com/lettre-ouverte-a-rima-abdul- malak-au-mirail-le-gachis/.
  • "Reynerie Miroir - Le journal des habitants," 9 July 2024. https://reynerie-miroir.net/.
  • Riar, Inderbir Singh, et Mark Lyon. "Ideal Plans and Planning for Ideas: Toulouse-Le Mirail." AA Files, no 63 (2011): 74-86.
  • Toulouse Le Mirail | INA. Consulté le 8 July 2024. https://www.ina.fr/ina-eclaire-actu/video/ i07110334/toulouse-le-mirail.
  • Toulouse : projet du Mirail | INA. Consulté le 8 July 2024. https://www.ina.fr/ina-eclaire-actu/ video/i07275945/toulouse-projet-du-mirail.

Ressources en bibliothèque

In the programs

  • Semester: Fall
  • Exam form: During the semester (winter session)
  • Subject examined: Studio MA1 (Malterre-Barthes)
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Project: 4 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: mandatory
  • Semester: Fall
  • Exam form: During the semester (winter session)
  • Subject examined: Studio MA1 (Malterre-Barthes)
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Project: 4 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: mandatory
  • Semester: Fall
  • Exam form: During the semester (winter session)
  • Subject examined: Studio MA1 (Malterre-Barthes)
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Project: 4 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: optional

Reference week

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