Studio MA2 (Eliasson)

AR-402(be) / 12 credits

Teacher: Eliasson Susanne Josefine

Language: French/English

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Résumé

Le studio explore de nouvelles perspectives collectives dans la ville contemporaine décentralisée, à travers l'hypothèse des jardins critiques comme espaces d'action. Deux territoires seront étudiés au cours de l'année : Bordeaux Métropole et le Grand Genève.

Contenu

Since the beginning of urbanization, the city has been the place where people live together: for the opportunities and safety it provides, for economic reasons, to fulfill a need for social bonds, and for all the other reasons that bring us together as a society. Living together in a shared environment requires forms of collective organization that always manifest themselves physically. Our urban structures reflect both our values and the challenges faced by society.

 

In this studio, we investigate the contemporary urban condition, which differs profoundly from the traditional vision of the city that still shapes our collective imagination and continues to inform political discourse and real estate development. The contemporary city, built over the last 150 years, is mostly horizontal, dominated by space rather than structured by built form. The conventional distinction between public and private has left little room for the commons. It is a city in which functions (housing, production, commerce, nature) and infrastructures are clearly separated.

 

We therefore ask the following question: what is our collective perspective within a horizontal urban condition? We can no longer rely on the public square or the ancient agora as our primary models of collective life, nor can we accept that the only spaces for collective action are those dedicated to consumption and leisure. We need places of action, in the sense articulated by Hannah Arendt in The Human Condition: spaces where we appear before one another and collectively shape the world.

 

The studio formulates the hypothesis that the critical garden, understood as a social and political space, can become a structuring element that creates proximity between inhabitants and fosters new collective perspectives within the contemporary city. It can serve as the starting point for a renewed form of urbanity.

 

The studio has a dual ambition: first, to read the territory in order to reveal situations that already belong to the commons; second, to propose new collective perspectives where they are absent. It adopts a research-by-design approach that seeks both to produce knowledge about the territory and to transform it.

 

During the spring semester, our field of exploration is a 2.5 × 2.5 km territory within the greater Geneva, a cross-border metropolitan region of more than one million inhabitants, over 80% of whom live outside the City of Geneva. Situated between the airport and the French border, it brings together a diversity of conditions characteristic of contemporary metropolitan landscapes: road infrastructure, major research facilities (CERN), business parks, shopping facilities, a hospital, residential neighborhoods, schools, and Tram line 18. An ordinary territory with no obvious qualities, precisely what makes it a particularly relevant site of investigation. We will visit Geneva and the site of exploration in February.

 

'ACTION on territory' is a design studio that engages with the contemporary city by proposing concrete actions to transform it. Through design, it explores how architecture, landscape and urbanism can together create the conditions for collective action and enable us to shape the world together.

 

Mots-clés

critical garden, decentralized city, housing and work, metropolis, territory, collective perspective, urban design

Acquis de formation

A la fin de ce cours l'étudiant.e doit être capable de:

  • Explorer et comprendre un territoire urbain à différentes échelles, de l'espace intérieur jusqu'au territoire élargi
  • Identifier , analyser et transférer des idées issues de projets existants, en extrayant des principes spatiaux et en les testant dans de nouveaux contextes
  • Formuler des hypothèses, les expérimenter par la manipulation spatiale et produire des connaissances
  • Développer des prototypes
  • Négocier avec le groupe

Méthode d'enseignement

The studio as a framework for discussion : the studio is a space for reflection, experimentation and collective learning, in which the project is not only a product but also a method for understanding and transforming the world : it is research by design. We provide students with the tools needed to observe the world so that they can act within it with full awareness and autonomy. The studio operates through a shared methodological framework: common drawing methods, collective schedules, regular group reviews, with drawing holding a central place as a tool for both thinking and negotiation. A specific spatial device structures the discussion: a central 1:1000 scale model (mobile and demountable) will be placed, and a shelf holding books and individual models. Frames intended to house the research threads complete the setup.

 

Study trip to Geneva

The study trip to Geneva will take place in February. The personal budget required will be approximately maximum 100 per day (travel, food). We will explore the site as well as specific projects within the metropolitan area.

 

Semester Organisation

The studio its organized in three distinct phases :

 

Phase 1: Collective research and shared tools

- production of a collective model

- our thematic research themes (Housing / Economy / Nature / Rest)

- personal critical garden case study

Group work for the research themes and the model; each student individually analyses one or two examples of critical gardens.The collective investigations are led through visual research and a site visit.

 

Four research themes are explored :

1. Economy (blue) : economic activities, types of employment, how people work

2. Housing (red) : different housing and domestic life configurations, how people live

3. Nature (green) : quality and role of existing green spaces/structures

4. The rest (grey) : how and where people meet and interact, activators, unexpected things

 

Phase 2: Projects : collective perspectives

In groups of two, students will propose a new collective perspective within the study territory. In relationship with a critical garden proposal, projects can explore new living and working configurations within the territory

 

Phase 3: A shared vision

Drawing from the different projects produced, students will build a collective narrative on the potential of the commons in the decentralized city. Cross-studio work in the form of a collective workshop.

 

Weekly rhythm

- Monday afternoon: collective reviews, all groups gathered

- Tuesday morning: collective exchanges around lectures and writings

- Remaining time: group work and individual exchanges

 

Travail attendu

1. One large collective model at 1:1000 (2.5 × 2.5 km territory)

2. Four thematic research themes

3. Group projects proposing new collective perspective

4. One shared vision on the commons in the territory

 

Encadrement

Office hours Oui
Assistant.e.s Oui

Ressources

Liens Moodle

In the programs

  • Semester: Spring
  • Exam form: During the semester (summer session)
  • Subject examined: Studio MA2 (Eliasson)
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Project: 4 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: mandatory
  • Semester: Spring
  • Exam form: During the semester (summer session)
  • Subject examined: Studio MA2 (Eliasson)
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Project: 4 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: mandatory
  • Semester: Spring
  • Exam form: During the semester (summer session)
  • Subject examined: Studio MA2 (Eliasson)
  • Courses: 2 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Project: 4 Hour(s) per week x 14 weeks
  • Type: optional

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