TRANSITION WORKSHOP 2023: ECOLOGICAL DENSITIES

 

The Transition Workshop offers a complete interdisciplinary and intensive training on the pathways for decarbonizing and resilient cities and regions. It aims to offer, in the fields of architecture and planning disciplines, the necessary knowledge and know-how to address the complex problems of the ecological transition for buildings, cities and regions. The target is to boost a new form of engagement reinforced by up-to-date interdisciplinary expertise on all scales of the design process.

 

The TW offers a new educational framework to accelerate the ecological transition of the built realm. It aims to deepen the knowledge on the built environment and its sustainable development, create and transmit design tools and methods for decarbonizing and resilient cities, and train a new generation of professionals to face the climate emergency.

MODULE 1 / THEORY MASTERCLASS

 

The aim of the Theory Masterclass is to propose a concise and rigorous overview to the issues and dimensions of the ecological transition in the spatial organization and transformation of the built environment, with a cross-disciplinary overview of data and tools for the analysis of the climate emergencies and the ways we need to invent to face them.

The Theory Masterclass is based on 28 lectures delivered by renowned experts in a variety of fields that are indispensable for the understanding of the ecological transition: climate change, biodiversity, resources, energy, water management, food systems, psychology, sociology, economics, demographics, architecture, urbanism, regional planning, landscape. The courses offer a concise introduction to the challenges, the latest theoretical advancements and the most recent data on the environmental crisis.

The lectures are organized in the following four 2.5 day modules, and presented by an array of international experts:

 

1. The Challenge of the Ecological Transition / Climate change, water resources, food systems, and the ecological footprint.
March 2nd - March 4th.

 

2. Parameters and Dimensions / Energy, resources, biodiversity, economy and history.
March 30th - April 1st.

 

3. The Human Factor / Psychology, innovation, mobility, entrepreneurship, and activism.
May 4th - May 6th.

 

4. The Building Factor / Buildings, cities, landscapes and regions

Parallel to the courses, participants are handed with a Comprehensive Reader composed of scientific articles of the lecturers.

 

Evaluation
Following the Module 1, PhD students will be asked to provide a final paper based on the scientific matter presented live and in the Comprehensive Reader. The paper is invited address the student's particular interests and scopes regarding the Transition by Design.

 

The workshop is being held on site (or online, for exceptional reasons only) in the exceptional historical headquarters of the Foundation, in Central Geneva.

MODULE 2 / DESIGN STUDIO

 

Focusing on the critical issues of Geneva's changing landscape, the Transition Workshop 2_Design Studio offers a research-by-design approach to the issues of the ecological transition. The Greater Geneva is an ideal setting for the study of environmental action through architectural, urban and landscape design, thanks to a network of important public and private partners. Thanks to the concrete fieldwork the course offers a unique experience for learning cross-scalar strategies, focused on stakeholder cooperation and concrete results, at the cutting edge of design, technology and collective action.

Invited tutors: Michèle Tranda-Pittion, Guillaume de Morsier, Anna Grichting

WORK METHOD

The Design Studio develops the transitional frameworks of:

• Theory and architectural, urban and landscape project frameworks
• Environment and resources management
• Economy and cities development
• Anthropology and sociology of habitats

The Design Studio offers insight in:

 

• Reuse, refurbishing, recycling of materials
• Landscape and biodiversity management
• Production/consumption of energy and other resources
• Infrastructure and mobility models
• Urban lifestyles: work, leisure, production, consumption
• Urban agriculture, permaculture and gardening
• Citizen participation

The Design Studio inter-relates the scales of:

• Buildings and neighbourhoods
• Landscapes and metropolitan regions

The Transition Workshop 2022 focuses on the crucial issue of the urbanisation of increasingly large parts of our regions, such as the metropolitan front of the Geneva Airport, and its future development challenges. There will be explored a matrix of possibilities, in terms of urban densification, alternative programming and mobilities, protection of natural resources and biodiversity, local agriculture and permaculture. These themes will be discussed with public and private stakeholders, under the prism of decarbonisation and resilience, according to the strategic foresight methods developed by the Fondation Braillard Architectes in the framework of The Eco-Century Project®.

Evaluation
Students will participate in interdisciplinary intensive two-week Design Studio and will deliver a final project sketch, as a teamwork. Final presentation will take place on July 22nd, before a jury composed of Geneva stakeholders and experts.

Invited lecturers

Duncan Baker-Brown, Dominique Bourg, Tobias Brosch, Carmen de Jong, Peter Droege, François Gemenne, Gregory Giuliani, Susanna Hecht, Andrea Gritti, Alexandre Hedjazi, Pierre Hollmuller, Sonia Lavandinho, Anthony Lehmann, Winy Maas, Yupar Myint, Robert Sadleir, Marlyne Sahakian, Martin Schlaepfer, Werner Sobek, Paola Viganò, Marjolein Visser, Mathis Wackernagel