Master in Integrated Architectural Design

Master in Integrated Architectural Design

Logics of evolution for contemporary contexts

An approach to tectonics and the architectural project

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Description
From anthropocentrism to anthropocene, we will be observing the role of timber in the history of construction. We will follow a personal approach to some of the main episodes that led to the most important shifts and the presence of timber in all the cases. We will recall the birth of the Renaissance in the Italian Quattrocento through the construction of Santa Maria in Fiore’s dome by Brunelleschi or the reasons behind the success of timber-frame in the United States of America during the 19th century and its oblivion after Chicago’s great fire in 1871. Nowadays, timber construction and the emerging engineered wood products, beside forests management, hold a big hope in the necessary fight against climate change as a main strategy related to carbon storage and the reduction of embodied GHG.
Type Subject
Primer - Obligatoria
Semester
Annual
Course
1
Credits
3.00
Previous Knowledge

Hold a Bachelor in Architecture or in Building Engineering.

Objectives

The main objective of the seminar is to provide the students with a solid background to inform their own design process. The purpose is to achieve a certain grade of awareness related to some basic aspects such as historical perspective of present context, tectonics as an architectural skill or the specificities of timber.

Contents

The seminar will combine a theoretical approach to the topics included with the exploration of a practical solution related to each student's work. The subject of the seminar is, then, not autonomous from the Façade and Structure Workshop studio and will be explicitly linked to it. We will enhance an holistic approach to design where analysis and action can coexist, and will try to decode the knowledge embedded in previous explorations from the case studies in order to be able to learn from It and enrich the students' own vision.

Methodology

The course will consist on three kinds of activities:
A. Topic presentation (professor)
B. Debate on the practical application of the topic (the whole group)
C. Reading of the statement related to the topic (each student)

Evaluation

Students are requested to submit all the material on the MIAD Gdrive every wednesday, related to the topic presented the week before. The requested material consists of a written statement linking each one of the topics to the student's work In progress.
System MIAD for grading exercises:
0–4.9 Fail (this means that the tutor will have to ask the student to submit a supplementary work).
5.0–6.9 Pass.
7.0–8.9 Good.
9.0–10 Excellent/Distinction.

Evaluation Criteria

The evaluation system is as follows:
- Individual or group work: 40%
- Public presentation of works: 40%
- Class participation: 20%

Basic Bibliography

- Gastón Cristina y Teresa Rovira. Pautas de investigación, 1era ed. Barcelona: Ediciones UPC, 2007.
- Rovira Teresa (coord.) Documentos de Arquitectura Moderna en América Latina 1950-1965, 1era ed. Barcelona: Institut Català de Cooperació Iberoamericana, 2005.
- Centellas Miguel et al. La vivienda moderna, 1925-1965 Registro. Docomomo Iberico. 1era ed. Barcelona: Fundación Caja de Arquitectos, 2009.

Additional Material

- García-Quiñones Belen (coord.) AC Publicaciones del GATEPAC, 1era ed. Barcelona: Fundación Caja de Arquitectos, 2005.
- Erwin Broner 1898-1971´, Mallorca: D'A Revista de Arquitectura Monográfico 11-12, COAIB (1994).
- Folch Carles, J.A. Coderch de Sentmenat, 1913-1984, 1era ed. Barcerlona: Gustavo Gili, 1989.
- Kliczkowski Guillermo (coord.) Antonio Bonet, 1era ed. Buenos Aires: Espacio Editora, 1985.
- Abalos Iñaki et al. Alejandro de la Sota, 1era ed. Barcelona: Fundación Caja de Arquitectos, 2009.
- Dimitri Konstatinidis (ed.)Projects + Buildings Ais Konstantinidis, Athens: Agra Publications, 1992.