Welsh School of Architecture (WSA). Masters in Architecture Design (MA AD) 2019-2020 Handbook

MA AD Masters Architectural Design Masters in Architecture Design (MA AD)

Handbook

2019-20 MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

1

MA AD AD prospectus Handbook 2017-18 2019-2020 MA

2

Contents Preface 4 Section 1: Research by Design at the MA AD 1.1 MA AD Structure 1.2 MA AD Practice-Based research and multidisciplinary approach 1.3 MA AD Learning and Assessment

1.4 MA AD Core Modules

5 6 8 12

Section 2: MA AD units 2.1 The Design Units

Unit A. EMUVE Palermo 2020: Refugees + Migrants

Unit B. Synergetic Landscapes

Unit C. Circular Landscapes

Unit D. Questioning the Ambivalence of Urban Commons 2.2 MA AD Reading List

2.3 MA AD 2018-19 Selected Work

21 22 24 26 28 30 31

Section 3: MA AD support 3.1 Other Optional Components

3.2 Studio Culture and Conduct

3.3 Supporting facilities

3.4 Unit leaders and module leaders

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

36 37 40 42

3

Preface This one year full-time MA in Architectural Design is aimed at students who are looking for a rich, engaging and design-focused post-graduate programme, but do not wish to qualify as a UK registered architect. It shares many of the design elements of our established MArch (Master of Architecture/ Part 2) programme, but provides greater flexibility in terms of study choices, allowing you to engage with the interests of our research staff.

In the programme, we will focus on using designled research to inform your learning process and research explorations.

You will develop your existing design skills by focusing on how design thinking might address current global challenges. This approach offers an intense and lively forum for the exploration and the discussion of design issues. This is why we place particular emphasis on using design as a means to

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

conduct research. Researching through design is a creative activity that closely integrates the process of designing with the act of researching, so they can mutually inform each other. You will explore problems by making and testing design propositions, introducing and developing established knowledge as and when required. Through project work, you will draw on knowledge from many disciplines.

This prospectus is issued to MA AD post graduate international students, staff and external contributors.

The MA AD is benefitting from a well developed multidisciplinary educational environment and a carefully programmed framework, both responsive and dynamic. The MA AD course is as well in synergy with other WSA PGT courses in Design, such as the MA UD and other under graduatre including the MArach. We are exploring the development of a rich and stimulating interaction between these courses.

4

Section 1: Research by Design in the MA AD 1.1 MA AD Structure This programme is available on a one year full-time basis. You will be based at the Welsh School of Architecture for the duration of the programme. The taught element of this programme is structured around Architectural Design and Research (ADR) design module worth of 60 credits, where you will use techniques of research through design to explore an issue of interest related to one of the School’s design units.

This will normally run between October and March, and will conclude with a final presentation in front of a panel of reviewers. Your work in the design studio is complimented by the 30 credit module Analysis of Precedents, and a broad range of choice of optional study modules.

The MA AD structure encompasses three Core modules, summarised as follows: ART701 Architectural Design and Research (60 cr) ART703 Analysis of Precedent (30 cr.)

ART704 Design Thesis (Dissertation) (60 cr.)

In addition, The MA AD, encompasses six further Optional modules, that in 2019-2020 are: AR3003 Issues in Contemporary Architecture (10 cr.)

(20 cr.)

ART101 Perspectives on Performance (20 cr.)

ART802 Computational Form Finding (10 cr.)

ART028 Passive Design (10 cr.)

ART035 Low Carbon Buildings (20 cr.)

ART041 Climate Comfort & Energy (10 cr.)

ART702 Architectural Technology 3a You will usually start the dissertation element of the programme in May and complete this over the summer. The dissertation is the culmination of your design research throughout the programme. The dissertation usually comprises of a documented design project, accompanied by a 6000 word critical commentary. Support for developing the necessary skills of research through design will be provided during the taught elements of the programme.

Detail of the requirements of each of the above modules is provided in briefs, guides and handbooks specific to each module, as well as in the relevant module descriptors.

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

5

1.2 MA AD practice-based research and multidisciplinary approach The MA AD, with its unique and distinctive structure will bridge the gap between practice and research by strengthening learning outcomes from Practice Based Research, Design and Reflective Practice.

A varied range of optional modules will inform the students’ research and design outcomes from different multidisciplinary approaches. Students will have the options to develop their design thinking in the School’s principal research areas which currently include: - Urban regeneration - Architectural practice - Low carbon/energy design and construction - Building performance, prediction and evaluation - Making/prototyping - Materials - Sustainable cities - History and theory of architecture and urbanism - Building conservation

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

Project work in MA AD balances the disciplines of design, practice and research that will be applied critically through Practice-Based Research.

During your year on the programme, you will focus on developing a design-research agenda, defining and establishing your own position in architectural design. The topics covered are usually structured around thematic studios, or ‘design units’ under the guidance of an experienced design tutor who have expertise and interest in specific areas of research and practice. The themes are often related to areas of research expertise within the School.

You will also work independently to develop a research-focussed approach to your studies. This will require you to question and evaluate evidence and think creatively and iteratively. Emphasis will be both on individual discovery and personal reflection in addition peer discussions and debates will be developed in your group and individual works to

6

foster the collective intelligence of each Unit. The aim is to promote your own individual critical thinking and therefore your learning experience.

MA AD Design practice-based research Design-Based Research is an original investigation undertaken in order to gain new knowledge partly by means of practice and the outcomes of that practice. In MA AD context, such practice will be your exploratory analytic and desing work. The emphasis is on creative process and the works that are generated from that process: the ‘artefact’ (in our case, the design project) The originality and contribution to knowledge that is key to any consistent research should be demonstrated through the creative outcomes your design work, together with other physical outcomes such as art installations, built artefacts and/or curated exhibitions.

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

Under this intellectual framework, you will undertake the analysis of architectural precedents within the studio environment and choose 30 credits worth of optional modules, chosen from a list of subjects based on the research interests of the staff in the school. This list is reviewed on an annual basis. You can choose any combination of 10 and 20 credit modules for your option.

For your dissertation you will work independently using the skills that have been developed during the taught programme, for developping a critical research argument through design. This will involve completing a design thesis project. You will be expected to supplement this with a 6000 word critical written commentary.

7

1.3 MA AD Learning and Assessment Most of your time in the School will be spent in our design studio. Our key teaching method in the studio will be a combination of weekly presentations, participative seminars. In addition, we will deliver one-to-one tutorials supported by lectures and group assignments, into which all aspects of the subjects will be integrated. We offer a varied range of working spaces, workshops and computer-aided design facilities to support these different kind of teaching activities. The MA AD Studio is the location for the design teaching, model-making tutorials, workshops and intellectual debates. It is also used for exhibitions and “crits” – at which students display their work for critical discussion and assessment by staff, fellow students and visiting critics. Working both formally and informally with your fellow students in the studio provides you opportunities for valuable peer-review and discussions around your work.

You will be taught both by permanent academic staff and tutors from leading UK practices, that will provide

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

you with an exciting mix of design approaches and experiences.

As one of the top-ranked schools of architecture in the UK and leading in Wales, we have strong and lastling links with the Welsh Governmentn and other public Institutions, additionally we undertake close collaborations with construction industry and professional practices. Strong international links at European and International levels, with EU public Institutions (EU), other schools of architecture and internationally renowned practices, makes the WSA is a cosmopolitan hub for the development of innovation in Architectural design thinking and practice.

The School encourages effective student-led and independent learning, whether through site analysis, library research or “reflective practice”.

8

Your studies will also include lectures and seminars as part of optional modules, and as support for the design module. Teaching also includes the provision of online learning materials, such as briefs, bibliographies, readings and precedents, as appropriate to the module. We aim to make appropriate use of audio-visual support to aid learning and for the development of subject-specific skills. You will be given access to relevant teaching materials through the University’s virtual learning environment, “Learning Central�.

The dissertation element of the programme is conducted through the process of design, continuing on from your taught design project completed in the first part of the course.You will be meeting with with your design unit tutor on a weekly basis until the end of June. This is usually followed by a period of reflection and writing where you will work independently under the guidance of your tutor and

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

under the supervision of the programme leader or another member of the academic staff.

How will I be supported?

Contact time with staff is high and you will receive regular feedback on your progress throughout the course through the weekly tutorials. The Programme director is responsible for overseeing student progress. You will also have a personal tutor with whom you can (in confidence) discuss any concerns that may affect your progress. Regular progress reviews are held throughout the year with the year team, and an open-door policy exists throughout the School.

The School provides opportunities for you to reflect on and define your individual learning needs. This generally takes the form of a reflective diary or a sketch book. Increasingly, these take the form of online journals.

9

The Architecture Library is located in the same building as the WSA, and provides easy access to resources and support. Electronic course materials are also generally held on the University network.

You will usually receive your feedback from the module leader. If you have questions regarding your feedback, module leaders are usually happy to give advice and guidance on your progress

Modules within the programme make extensive use of the University’s virtual learning environment, Learning Central, where you can access discussion forums and find course materials including recordings of lectures, and links to related materials.

How will I be assessed?

Design projects and related exercises are assessed continuously, often through pin-up reviews and symposia where feedback is given. At the end of the year, a portfolio of all design-related work is presented for formal examination by a panel of reviewers.

The University also offers a range of services for students to access, including the Careers Service, the Counselling Service, the Disability and Dyslexia Service, the Student Support Service, and excellent libraries and resource centres.

Feedback Feedback on coursework is usually given using a standard feedback pro-forma or can be given orally.

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

Optional modules are usually assessed through written examination and coursework submitted during the semester. Please read the module descriptions for your chosen optional modules to find out more about the ways they are assessed.

10

The criteria by which assessments are made are contained in the School’s Teaching Handbook, in project and coursework documentation, and explained at introduction to the various modules and design projects.

MA AD learning outcomes The Learning outcomes for this Programme describe what you will be able to do as a result of your study at Cardiff University. They will help you to understand what is expected from you. Academic staff will focus on what they want you to achieve within each Module.

Knowledge & Understanding: - Critically understand how knowledge is advanced through design-led research to produce clear, logically argued and originally written design work related to architectural culture, theory and design.

Intellectual Skills: - Pursue a personal research agenda within the context of the School’s research portfolio;

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

Professional Practical Skills: - Generate complex design proposals showing understanding of current architectural issues, originality in the application of subject knowledge and, where appropriate, ability to test new hypotheses and speculations at professional level.

- Evaluate materials, processes and techniques that apply to complex architectural designs and building construction, and to integrate these into practicable design proposals; Transferable/Key Skills: On completing the programme you should be able to: - Demonstrate problem-solving skills, professional judgment, and ability to take the initiative and make appropriate decisions in complex and unpredictable circumstances; - Identify individual learning needs and understand the personal responsibility required to prepare for work within the architectural profession; - Evaluate and apply a comprehensive range of visual, oral and written media to test, analyse, critically appraise and explain design proposals;

11

1.4 MA AD core modules Architectural Design and Research (ADR) ART701 This module represents the core of the taught part of the MA in Architectural Design. It aims to extend the students’ knowledge and skills of architectural design through the conception, development, communication, and presentation of a complex design proposal. The development of this design proposal unfolds over the course of the year in response to challenges set by a series of design thesis unit leaders, tutors and consultants (as elaborated below in Section 2). Alongside to the design project, this module enables students to develop skills in design as research – forming an essential pre-cursor to the design-based dissertation module that will follow. As part of developing a design thesis, students are expected to and should show understanding of current architectural issues and be informed by appropriate history, theory and

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

precedent in addressing specific contexts. Students will learn how research questions might arise in response to formulated design problems and how issues can be addressed in informed, responsive, creative and propositional ways.

ADR is organised around the ‘Design Thesis’, which has a long history in architectural education, having figured in institutions as diverse as the Ecole des Beaux Arts and the Bauhaus. It remains a strong tradition in architectural education, not least at the Welsh School. It has been an opportunity for students in school to demonstrate their abilities and take a stand in the discipline before beginning life as an architect in practice. Notwithstanding, the synthetic and propositional skills which it develops are valuable resources for a wide range of settings beyond practice.

12

The design thesis provides an opportunity for graduates to formulate an intellectual position regarding architectural design, with the support of Practice-Based research methodologies.

Its architecture can ‘say’ whatever you want it to – but it must be responsive to the work that has gone before, accepting or rejecting it knowledgeably from a consistent and well-informed intellectual position. Architecture is a research activity and the design proposition should demonstrate the research which underpins it in all respects: cultural, social, formal, political, technological, contextual, tectonic, environmental, historical, philosophical, and economic. In synthesising an approach to these facets of the discipline, projects will proclaim architectural positions.

The main project of the ‘Design Thesis’ may be informed by a research process with the support of preparatory, analytical work, a built artefact or a

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

‘primer’ project which may substantiate and help in defining the design hypothesis or question.

A thesis describes a reasoned argument as a response to a research question which stems from a knowledge gap previously identified in a first analytic or exploratory work. A practice-based researchled architectural proposition should set out a clear and cogent argument. It should demonstrate the reasoning and evidence which it supports. It should show coherence of purpose – and is therefore systematic and methodical. Any representation should be well structured and be robust enough to withstand testing through criticism and review, but it is fair to say that there is an equivalence of valency of design development to ‘final’ solution.

Unlike the undergraduate education, it is the graduate in collaboration with staff who set the parameters and extends the possibilities of the design project. And unlike in the undergraduate

13

years – where Technology, History, Theory, Urban Design and Economics are presented in separate courses alongside design studio – there is no such separation. The design thesis should demonstrate the fundamental integration of the many facets of architecture. The emphasis in the final design is on the graduate’s own initiative and responsibility.

The educational framework set by the MA AD team will help graduates develop the thesis and provide opportunities to work with like-minded colleagues.

The school is not prone to projects that rest on self-indulgence. Architecture has moral and ethical responsibilities. The design thesis must be rooted in a serious question or questions. The choice of question and details of resolution will be determined through the particular processes adopted by each unit. Investigations may focus on a social need or economic situation; or the distinctive character of a particular site; or the architecture which might

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

derive from a particular material or materials; or phenomenal qualities of light or sound or touch, or much else besides. The MA AD also demands that design proposition should be grounded in the needs of the real world: not only “can you have an idea?” but “can you make the idea work?” in the contexts of inhabitation, site, climate, culture and feasible technologies. The school believes that such pragmatism is not inhibiting; architects must be able to deliver their speculations. And from necessity comes richness. In this respect, your project should be conspicuously made.

Professional architecture is an expert practice, and the elegant resolution of the thesis demonstrates expertise. The school of architecture, staff, and collaborators have international reputations in their respective fields of specialism. It is to the advantage of the graduate to engage with these fields and specialists. It is also important to collaborate with

14

colleagues in a studio environment, especially for the MA AD students with the MA UD cohort. For these reasons, the design module is aiming for teaching collaborations between MA AD, MA UD and MArch.

Each Unit will normally have a maximum of 9 students working together. Graduates may choose from a number of themes. We try our hardest to ensure that each student has at least her or his first or second choice of Unit.

MA AD cohort will come together to frequently sharing lectures, seminars and crits as appropriate, and work broadly to the same timetable until Easter.

Graduates are encouraged to pay attention to Units other than their own, to spend time together, and to learn from what each other is doing, including the other design courses accros the school.

set criteria and will work, develop and progress in different ways throughout the year. Therefore, attempting to gauge personal progress through direct comparison between the different Units wouldn’t be always helpful.

In the UK, the Arts and Humanities Research Board (now Council) (AHRB, 2000) defines Research primarily in terms of research processes rather than outputs. This definition is built around three key features: 1. It must define a series of research questions or problems that will be addressed in the course of the research. It must also define its objectives in terms of seeking to enhance knowledge and understanding the questions or problems to be addressed.

Note should be made, however, that individual Units

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

15

2. It must specify a research context for the questions or problems to be addressed. It must specify why it is important that these particular questions or problems should be addressed, what other research is being or has been conducted in this area and what particular contribution this project will make to the advancement of creativity, insights, knowledge and understanding in this area.

3. It must specify the research methodology for addressing and answering the research questions or problems. In the course of the research project, how to seek to answer the questions, or advance available knowledge and understanding of the problems must be shown. It should also explain the rationale for the chosen research methods and why they provide the most appropriate means by which to answer the research questions.

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

Creative Design output can be produced, or practice undertaken, as an integral part of the research process. However, the outcomes of such design practice must be accompanied by documentation of the research process, as well as by some form of analysis or explanation to support its position and to demonstrate critical reflection.

The MA AD Design Thesis, the Reflective diary and the accompanying research project [known as the dissertation] may be linked to one another. The dissertation may then act as critical commentary covering aspects of design and contextualising design within the broader issues of the subject area.

More information on the precise specification of this piece of work is provided in the relevant module descriptor.

16

The project work will be aimed at the higher level of creative ambition. Therefore the level and complexity of the problem set for and tackled by each student will be of a sufficiently high order to enable the following levels of achievement:

The themes offered are expected to be founded on areas of research and expertise that are established and can be supported from within the School.

Specialist advice from outside the School will supplement the work of each thematic studio.

• Systematic knowledge • Critical awareness • High level of visual thinking and representation • Processes and solutions informed by the

forefront of the discipline of architectural design.

As specific outcomes will necessarily vary between units, unit tutors will map their aims and envisaged outcomes against the general attributes and criteria in their extended Unit briefs. The distinctive nature of each Unit has been displayed in various exhibitions we have held in recent years and we look forward to seeing this continue this coming year.

Projects will be developed under one of several Units.

These Units are led by tutors who are equipped to assist students translate ideas that are often abstract and conceptualized into briefs and realisable architectural proposals.

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

17

Analysis of Precedent (AP) ART703

This module focusses on how architecture can learn from that which precedes it and on how we analyse precedents in order to learn something that can be applied to future design thinking. The emphasis will be on the discovery of issues that are not always immediately obvious. As part of your design project units, you will work in groups to identify a relevant set of precedents from any design field or from other built, artificial or natural environment, and then conduct an in-depth analysis in order to address your research questions. The methods of analysis that you will use vary depending on the nature of your unit project and the issue being investigated. It will include graphical analysis of form, space, environment (physical as well as virtual), ecosystem, performances and atmospheres physical measurements and observations together with written reflections and analysis. Such approaches will be integrated in a individual or collective Gigamap (Davidová, 2018; Sevaldson, 2018). The final output will be a portfolio, that will cover either individual or collective gigamaps. In addition, you will define an abstract and serie4s of explanatory texts. The gigamaps will be submitted for Relating Systems Thinking and Design 9 (RSD9) conferenc, and will be displayed on an exhibition (https://systemic-design. net/).

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

Reading List: • Bjørndal Skjelten, E. (2014). Complexity & Other Beasts: Guide to Mapping Workshops (1st ed.). Oslo: AHO. • Davidová, M. (2014). Generating the Design Process with GIGA-map: The Development of the Loop Pavilion. In B. Sevaldson & P. Jones (Eds.), Relating Systems Thinking and Design 2014 Symposium Proceedings (pp. 1–11). Oslo: Oslo School of Architecture and Design. Retrieved from http://systemic-design.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/MD_RSD3_Gener atingtheDesignProcesswithGIGA-map.pdf • Davidová, M. (2017). Systemic Approach to Architectural Performance: The Media Mix in the Creative Design Process. FormAkademisk - Research Journal of Design and Design Education, 10(1), 1–25. https://doi. org/10.7577/formakademisk.1713 • Davidová, M. (2018). Roles, Agency and Relations of GIGA-Maps in Systemic Approach to Architectural Performance: The Special Prototypes of Post-Anthropocene. In J. Bean, S. Dickinson, & A. Ida (Eds.), AMPS Proceedings Series 12. Critical Practice in an Age of Complexity (pp. 114–132). Tucson: University of Arizona. Retrieved from http:// architecturemps.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/AMPS-Proceedings12-Critical-Practice-in-an-Age-of-Complexity.pdf • Davidová, M., & Raková, D. (2018). Biodiversity and Climate Change Adaptation through Non-Discrete Architectural Spaces and Architectures: Systemic Approach to Traditions for Sustainable Futures. FormAkademisk - Research Journal of Design and Design Education, 11(4), 1–31. https:// doi.org/https://doi.org/10.7577/formakademisk.2287 • Davidová, M., & Zímová, K. (2018). COLridor: Co-Design and Co-Living Urban Adaptation. FormAkademisk - Research Journal of Design and Design Education, 11(4), 1–30. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.7577/ formakademisk.2647 • Romm, J., Paulsen, A., & Sevaldson, B. (2014). Practising Systems Oriented Design: A guide for business and organisations that want to make real changes (1st ed.). Oslo: Oslo School of Architecture and Design.

• Sevaldson, B. (2011). GIGA-mapping: Visualisation for complexity and systems thinking in design. In J.-J. Lee (Ed.), Nordes ’11: the 4th Nordic Design Research Conference (pp. 137–156). Aalto: Aalto University.

Retrieved from http://www.nordes.org/opj/index.php/n13/article/ view/104/88 • Sevaldson, B. (2013). Systems Oriented Design: The emergence and development of a designerly approach to address complexity. In J. B. Reitan, P. Lloyd, E. Bohemia, L. M. Nielsen, I. Digranes, & E. Lutnaes (Eds.), DRS // CUMULUS 2013 (pp. 14–17). Oslo: HIOA. https://doi.org/ ISBN 978-82-93298-00-7 • Sevaldson, B. (2015). Gigamaps: Their role as bridging artefacts and a new Sense Sharing Model. In Relating Systems Thinking and Design 4 (pp.

1–11). Banff: Systemic Design Research Network. Retrieved from https:// app.box.com/s/tsj7ewtcy9dr63knf64tvo3yrepmzdov • Sevaldson, B. (2018). Visualizing Complex Design: The Evolution of Gigamaps. In P. Jones & K. (Kyoichi) Kijima (Eds.), Systemic Design (pp.

243–269). Tokio: Springer Japan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-43155639-8_8 18

Design Thesis. Dissertation (DT) ART704

This module represents the culmination of the MA in Architectural Design. It builds on the skills and intellectual position developed as part of the Architectural Design and Research and aims to extend the students’ knowledge and skills developed through the realisation of their own design proposal.

The final design thesis should show understanding of current architectural issues and be informed by appropriate history, theory and precedent in addressing specific contexts. As a ‘thesis’, it should evidence how research questions arising in response to formulated design problems and issues can be addressed in informed, responsive, creative and propositional ways.

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

References Reading lists specific to each thematic design thesis unit are included as part of the Units briefs.

Directed reading lists related to the thesis topic will be led by the Thesis tutor.

19

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

20

Section 2: MA AD units

2.1 The Design Units The four MA AD Units cover complementary aspects of contemporary architecture design. We strongly encourage the cross-feeding between the four Units and with the other design masters (MA UD and MArch) in order to promote the common intellectual reflection and foster collaborative practice culture.

The themes of the Units are part of the diverse and rich research agenda that exists across the Welsh School of Architecture. These themes also respond to the world in which architecture will be practised.

Architects must equip ourselves to confront and respond to the need for low carbon futures. Architectural education at this level at the Welsh School Architecture must be responsive to this context.

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

The Design Thesis Units for 2019-2020 Academic Year are as follows:

Unit A: Euro-Mediterranean Urban Voids Ecology EMUVE Palermo 2020 Unit B: Synergetic Landscapes Unit C: Circular Landscape Unit D: Questioning the Ambivalence of Urban Commons

21

Unit A. EMUVE Palermo 2020: Refugees + Migrants

Dr. Federico Wulff Barreiro

Our European cities are undergoing profound changes as a reaction to the subsequent crises faced in the last decade.

From recent 2008 economic downturn and its urban and social impacts degradation to the ongoing refugee crisis. This is by far the most important displacement of people fleeing from warfare that Europe has experienced since WWII. Current European planning models and design methodologies have proven to be excessively rigid, obsolete and too slow to address these complex and rapidly evolving crises. Showing an inability to give resilient, efficient, economically feasible and socially inclusive responses to these challenges.

There is an urgent necessity for a profound reformulation of the existing design approaches for the reactivation of these crisis landscapes which will prioritise the common values of social inclusion, cultural diversity and the well-being of the citizenship over any other particular economic interest.

The European research project EMUVE (Euro Mediterranean Urban Voids Ecology), hosted at the WSA, funded by the European Commission and directed by EMUVE Unit leader Dr. Federico Wulff Barreiro, focuses on the search for innovative urban and architectural design reactivation strategies to address these European urban and social degradation processes. EMUVE has developed research in several case studies in Spain, France and Italy with the Mediterranean at the centre as the most conflictual area of the Continent, and references to precedents in the UK, London and Cardiff Bay. EMUVE Unit Palermo 2019: Refugees + Migrants In the last years, Sicily has been the principal arrival MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

point for a growing number of refugees and migrants mainly from African countries that have travelled through Libya and across the Mediterranean in overcrowded, unseaworthy vessels and have been frequently jailed and abused in prisoners’ camps in Libya, with high numbers of unaccompanied minors.

The Port of Palermo, the capital city of Sicily, became a landing ground for dozens of rescue disembarkations coordinated by the Italian Navy.

Survivors were often greeted on the quayside as new Palermo citizens by Leoluca Orlando, the Mayor of Palermo and Corrado Lorefice, the Catholic Archbishop of Palermo.

“Sicily” is, by contrast, says Mayor Leoluca Orlando in 2016, “a positive example for the rest of the world.

In the last 20 months, 300,000 immigrants arrived in Sicily without any single act of racism from the locals. The charter of Palermo, which bears the subtitle: ‘From migration as suffering to mobility as an inalienable human right’, affirms the right to work, health care, social assistance, and housing to all refugees that are arriving to Palermo”.

EMUVE Unit will work in collaboration with Palermo City Council, SOS Ballaro community assembly, the University of Palermo (UNIPA), activists, social workers and educators, local artists and the migrants and refugees in Palermo. We will explore innovative approaches for the development of design strategies for the social inclusion of migrants and refugees as a key opportunity for the reactivation of derelicted historical city centre of Palermo.

We will work under the logic of a design think tank, developing useful design proposals for the local 22

stakeholders, with the support of Palermo City Council and SOS Ballaro citizenship assembly.

The focus will be on redesigning the public spaces and abandoned heritage buildings in the Albergheria district of Palermo Historic city Centre, to provide spatial support to the multicultural exchange and social integration of the new incomers with the local inhabitants, creating spaces for productive activities and human relationships that will contribute to their well-being and social development.

EMUVE Palermo 2020 Unit will explore the strategies for the development of spatial translations of both the Charter of Palermo and the manifesto We, the cities of Europe into design strategies for the urban realm of the city of Palermo. We focus on the redesign of public spaces that will give spatial support to the intercultural exchange and the social integration of the new incomers with the locals. In addition the aim will be the reactivation of heritage derelict buildings of Palermo city centre that could become spaces for social exchange and new productive activities from the social economy. These will contribute to the integration process of refugees into the social and urban landscape of the city: Inter-Cultural Nodes (ICN).

According to Bhabha (1994) and Bloomfield (2007) approaches, an Inter-Cultural Node (ICN) could be identified as a ‘third space’, a pluralist space which is in-between that develops a relational practice at multiple scales (urban, public space, architectural).

The participants, including locals and all kinds of culturally diverse migrants that have been frequently subjected to exclusion, could collaborate together in creative expression and dialogue on joint projects MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

within shared ethical bounds – such as openness, cultural recognition, equality, anti-discrimination, dialogue and sharing of knowledge (Bloomfield, 2013; Landry and Wood, 2008).

Phase 1: Design-based research in groups about the existing urban and social context of Palermo Historical city centre, including an understanding of the social issues of refugees and migrants, their integration processes and the institutions and NGO’s that are working with them. This multi-scalar analysis will reveal the social and morphological complexity of the site, aiming for the selection of ‘opportunity spaces’ for the individual design interventions at the architectural scale in phase 2.

Phase 2: Development of individual intervention proposals in the selected buildings and public spaces on the grounds of the previous analysis, from its conceptual framework as a Design Thesis to its architectural and urban design development, including tectonic approaches, technology integration and construction detailing.

Reading List:

A full reading list is available from the Unit Brief.

• EMUVE European Research Summary published in the EU European Commission Website: EMUVE EU Research Project • EMUVE project Blog: https://emuvebcn.wordpress.com/ • EMUVE Barcelona book (EMUVE Unit 2015-2016) • The Charter of Palermo (English Version): • https://www.iom.int/sites/default/files/our_work/ICP/IDM/2015_CMC/Session-IIIb/ Orlando/PDF-CARTA-DI-PALERMO-Statement.pdf • Migrant Sicily: http://migrantsicily.blogspot.com.es/ • From Mafia city to a haven for refugees: Palermo moves on from its criminal past https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/27/palermo-rejects-mafia-safehaven-refugees-sicily-mayor-leoluca-orlando • Part of the neighbourhood: Syrian refugees in Amsterdam http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/06/part-neighbourhood-syrianrefugees-amsterdam-160606075150971.html • African refugees find new home in Palermo, Italy http://www.dw.com/en/african-refugees-find-new-home-in-palermoitaly/a-18066439 • AWAN N., SCHNEIDER T., TILL J. (2011), Spatial Agency: Other Ways of Doing Architecture, London: Routledge.

• BUNDELL-JONES, P., PETRESCU, D. AND TILL, J. (eds., 2005) Architecture and Participation. Abingdon: Spon Press.

• BLOOMFIELD, J. and BIANCHINI, F. (2004), Planning for the Intercultural City.

Stroud: Comedia.

• LA BARBERA, M. (2015), “Identity and Migration: An Introduction”, In: La Barbera, M. (ed.) (2015), Identity and Migration in Europe: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, International Perspectives on Migration, vol 13. New York: Springer.

• LANDRY, C., WOOD P. (2008), The Intercultural City, Planning for the diversity advantage, London: Earthscan.zz

23

Unit B. Synergetic Landscapes Dr. Marie Davidová The aim of the collaborative unit is to investigate the synergy of ‘non-anthropocentric architecture’ (Hensel, 2013), co-design across human and nonhuman communities and its linkage to emerging technologies. It will test how the emerging technologies (blockchain, reading and prototyping devices) and innovative approaches to life and business (circular economy, platform and token economies) help us rethinking established forms of exchange and value with regards to sustainability and cultural landscape eco-systems. By doing that, the Unit will investigate the possibilities of integration of decision-making process on landscapes from the ‘bottom-up’ on a community level.

The Unit will be run in close collaboration with Circular Landscapes Unit that specialises on circular economy. The collaborative unit proposes handson experience-sharing, built on synergising multiple research interests across of the unit team members.

The overall holistic team-built project will explore possibilities for cities’ transition towards PostAnthropocene for promoting the co-living between species. This will be approached through co-design and full-scale prototyping in the complexity of real life and real time in a scenerio of ‘real life co-design laboratory’. The ‘laboratory’ will be central to the unit’s collective project and is located in Grangetown community in Cardiff. It will investigate prototyping of materialised eco-systemic interventions for cross-species habitable and edible landscape. The ‘prototypical urban interventions’ (Doherty, 2005) to be developed in form of non-human dwellings and agriculture will test a generative agenda across the eco-system and its potential to interact with larger food chains and bio-corridors across the city. The project will test its linking through QR codes to online recipes for DIY. This is to investigate if such action MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

can support local- and visiting- makers’ communities (empowering people by skills, tool sharing and open access design). Therefore also, if it can grow a number of its own iterations. Subsequently, such prototypes and recipes will investigate on how they can be networked to a blockchain system of values investigating its use for socially and environmentally sustainable circular economy. Or generally, it will investigate on how to develop new structures for social/economic exchange of 21st century models.

The design-research methodology will be approached through combining co-design (Sanders & Stappers, 2008) as well as individual design, both grounded in Systems Oriented Design (SOD) (Sevaldson, 2013) and full-scale prototyping (Hensel & Menges, 2006) The world today faces an Anthropocene Extinction that is defined as an ongoing current event in which a large number of living species are threatened with extinction or are becoming extinct because of environmentally destructive human activities (Wagler, 2017). The Living Planet Report suggests that the decline in wildlife populations in past 40 years has reached 60% (Grooten & Almond, 2018). Various environmental ecologists show that many species are adapting for life within the cities(Nemeth & Brumm, 2009). Therefore, the previously anthropocentricallydeveloped cities need to adapt for co-living(Davidová & Raková, 2018). As humans have equal—neither privileged nor pejorative—roles within the overall eco-system and biosphere (Boehnert, 2015; Davidová & Zímová, 2018), human world citizens must understand and pursue their active equal role within the co-creation of biosphere. The World Economic Forum has recognised that blockchain, crypto-currency and the ‘token economy’ provide a means for 21st century communities and distributed organisation to reclaim power and enact their 24

values in a way not possible through 20th century centralised banking, industrial and commerce models (World Economic Forum, 2018). This research extends existing knowledge (rethinking the blockchain) and explores how these technologies and concepts might empower communities, reconfigure eco-systems of people/plants/animals/things to create sustainable ecosystems of commerce and exchange. These ecosystems of exchange are based around things people value (water quality, sustainability) rather than the (monetary) value or things.

Together with the Circular Landscapes Unit, the collective design will be submitted to one of the world’s most significant competition for sustainable design, the Lafarge Holcim Awards.

The most promising theses will be, with the supervisors’ co-authorship support, turned into conference papers and together with our posters submitted for Relating Systems Thinking and Design conference.

Reading List: • • • • • •

• • •

Baibarac, C., & Petrescu, D. (2019). Co-design and urban resilience: visioning tools for commoning resilience practices. CoDesign, 15(2), 91–109. https://doi.org/10.10 80/15710882.2017.1399145 Barbero, S., & Bicocca, M. (2017). Systemic Design approach in policy-making for sustainable territorial development. The Design Journal, 20(sup1), S3496–S3506. https://doi.org/10.1080/14606925.2017.1352853 Beesley, P., Hasting, S., & Bonnemaison, S. (Eds.). (2019). Living Architecture Systems Group White Papers 2019. Kitchener: Riverside Architectural Press.

Retrieved from http://livingarchitecturesystems.com/publication/white-papers-2019/ Bjørndal Skjelten, E. (2014). Complexity & Other Beasts: Guide to Mapping Workshops (1st ed.). Oslo: AHO. Boehnert, J. (2015). Ecological Literacy in Design Education - A Theoretical Introduction. FORMakademisk, 8(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.7577/ formakademisk.1405 Bratton, B. H. (2013). Some Trace Effects of the Post-Anthropocene: On Accelerationist Geopolitical Aesthetics - Journal #46 June 2013 - e-flux. E-Flux, 46(6), 1–12. Retrieved from https://www.e-flux.com/journal/46/60076/some-traceeffects-of-the-post-anthropocene-on-accelerationist-geopolitical-aesthetics/ Bratton, B. H. (2019). Further Trace Effects of the Post-Anthropocene. Architectural Design, 89(1), 14–21. https://doi.org/10.1002/ad.2382 Capra, F. (2005a). How Nature Sustains the Web of Life. In M. K. Stone & Z. Barlow (Eds.), Ecological literacy: educating our children for a sustainable world (1st ed., pp.

XIII–XV). San Francisco: Sierra Club Books.

Capra, F. (2005b). Speaking Nature’s Language: Principles for Sustainability. In M. K. Stone & Z. Barlow (Eds.), Ecological literacy: educating our children for a sustainable

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

•

• •

•

•

• • • • • • • •

•

• • •

world (1st ed., pp. 18–29). San Francisco: Sierra Club Books.

Davidová, M. (2014). Generating the Design Process with GIGA-map: The Development of the Loop Pavilion. In B. Sevaldson & P. Jones (Eds.), Relating Systems Thinking and Design 2014 Symposium Proceedings (pp. 1–11). Oslo: Oslo School of Architecture and Design. Retrieved from http://systemic-design.net/wpcontent/uploads/2015/03/MD_RSD3_GeneratingtheDesignProcesswithGIGA-map.pdf Davidová, M. (2017). Systemic Approach to Architectural Performance: The Media Mix in the Creative Design Process. FormAkademisk - Research Journal of Design and Design Education, 10(1), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.7577/formakademisk.1713 Davidová, M. (2018). Roles, Agency and Relations of GIGA-Maps in Systemic Approach to Architectural Performance: The Special Prototypes of PostAnthropocene. In J. Bean, S. Dickinson, & A. Ida (Eds.), AMPS Proceedings Series 12. Critical Practice in an Age of Complexity (pp. 114–132). Tucson: University of Arizona. Retrieved from http://architecturemps.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ AMPS-Proceedings-12-Critical-Practice-in-an-Age-of-Complexity.pdf Davidová, M. (2019). Intelligent Informed Landscapes: The Eco-Systemic Prototypical Interventions’ Generative and Iterative Co-Designing Co-Performances, Agencies and Processes. In M. H. Haeusler, M. A. Schnabel, & T. Fukuda (Eds.), Intelligent & Informed - Proceedings of the 24th CAADRIA Conference (pp. 151–160).

Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. Retrieved from http://papers.cumincad. org/cgi-bin/works/paper/caadria2019_242 Davidová, M., & Raková, D. (2018). Biodiversity and Climate Change Adaptation through Non-Discrete Architectural Spaces and Architectures: Systemic Approach to Traditions for Sustainable Futures. FormAkademisk - Research Journal of Design and Design Education, 11(4), 1–31. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.7577/ formakademisk.2287 Davidová, M., & Zímová, K. (2018). COLridor: Co-Design and Co-Living Urban Adaptation. FormAkademisk - Research Journal of Design and Design Education, 11(4), 1–30. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.7577/formakademisk.2647 Irwin, T. (2015). Transition design: A proposal for a new area of design practice, study, and research. Design and Culture, 7(2), 229–246. https://doi.org/10.1080/17 547075.2015.1051829 Jones, P., & Kijima, K. (Eds.). (2018). Systemic Design (Vol. 8). Tokyo: Springer Japan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-55639-8 Mulder, I. (2018). Co-creative partnerships as catalysts for social change. Strategic Design Research Journal, 11(3), 178–185. https://doi.org/10.4013/sdrj.2018.113.01 Prieto, J., Das, A. K., Ferretti, S., Pinto, A., & Corchado, J. M. (Eds.). (2019).

Blockchain and Applications (Vol. 1010). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23813-1 Romm, J., Paulsen, A., & Sevaldson, B. (2014). Practising Systems Oriented Design: A guide for business and organisations that want to make real changes (1st ed.).

Oslo: Oslo School of Architecture and Design.

Sanders, E., & Stappers, P. J. (2008). Co-creation and the new landscapes of design.

CoDesign, 4(1), 5–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/15710880701875068 Sevaldson, B. (2013). Systems Oriented Design: The emergence and development of a designerly approach to address complexity. In J. B. Reitan, P. Lloyd, E. Bohemia, L. M. Nielsen, I. Digranes, & E. Lutnaes (Eds.), DRS // CUMULUS 2013 (pp. 14–17).

Oslo: HIOA. https://doi.org/ISBN 978-82-93298-00-7 Sevaldson, B. (2018a). Beyond User Centric Design. In S. Barbero (Ed.), Relating Systems Thinking and Design 2018 Symposium Proceedings: Challenging complexity

by Systemic Design towards Sustainability (pp. 516–525). Torino: Systemic Design Association. Retrieved from https://systemic-design.net/wp-content/ uploads/2019/03/6-Sevaldson-def.pdf Sevaldson, B. (2018b). Visualizing Complex Design: The Evolution of Gigamaps. In P. Jones & K. (Kyoichi) Kijima (Eds.), Systemic Design (pp. 243–269). Tokio: Springer Japan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-55639-8_8 Thackara, J. (2019). Bioregioning: Pathways to Urban-Rural Reconnection. She Ji, 5(1), 15–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sheji.2019.01.002 Yuan, P. F., Menges, A., & Leach, N. (2017). Digital fabrication. Tongji: Tongji University Press. Retrieved from https://whel-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/ primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=44CAR_ALMA21109931370002420&con text=L&vid=44WHELF_CAR_VU1&lang=en_US&search_scope=CSCOP_ EVERYTHING&adaptor=Local Search Engine&tab=searchall@cardiff&query=any, contains,Digital

25

Unit C. Circular Landscapes Dr. Marianna Marchesi Challenge Our cities are struggling with the effects of the increasing urban population combined with our current unsustainable operating system in which we “take, make, and dispose of�. Cities are unable to deliver current priorities like housing, mobility, and economic development in sustainable ways while they remain wasteful in terms of resource consumption, and waste generation contributing heavily to the climate crisis. A change in our operating system seems necessary. An alternative system is a circular economy. It provides a framework to rethink how we design, make and use the things we need and allows us to explore new sustainable ways of producing, consuming and living (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017). It is based on the principles of designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use distinguished in technical and biological cycles, and regenerating natural systems. This framework fosters the optimal use of materials, energy and water resources, while it also supports positive impacts on biodiversity, human culture and society, health and wellbeing and the creation of multiple forms of value. A transition to a circular economy can play an important role in tackling current global challenges such as sustainable development and climate change.

Aims and activities The Circular Landscapes Design Unit will work on envisioning and designing the reuse of an abandoned industrial area in Grangetown (Cardiff) for developing a regenerative and restorative urban development based on circular economy principles.

The design unit will have the chance to explore opportunities for implementing a circular economy in this area focusing on the following key urban MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

systems: buildings; mobility; products; food; water; energy; and green infrastructure. Circular economy principles will be integrated into the planning, designing, operating and maintaining of the envisioned urban development.

Students will be guided to rethink how buildings and surroundings are designed, made and used, how resources are managed, and what it is done with materials afterwards to explore new sustainable ways of producing, consuming and living. The implementation of circular economy principles will promote the design of buildings that are durable, adaptable, modular, free-from-waste and easy to maintain, with repurposed components and materials.

Modular designs will allow the easy reconfiguration of buildings and products to meet changing needs.

The use of digital tools will be envisioned to track the composition of buildings and products to support repair and reuse. Materials will be selected to be locally sourced and from renewable supplies where appropriate, and to be composted, reused and recycled. Building components will be designed to be easily repaired and refurbished in local labs within the area promoting local skills and people’s access to space, and products through sharing or service.

New possibilities and jobs will be envisioned. This envisioned system will encourage the creation of local value loops: maker-labs will encourage local production, repair, and distributive manufacturing; collective resource banks will even out the materials demand and supply while digital applications will support the exchange of goods, materials, and services. Energy systems will be designed to be renewable, localized, and distributed, reducing costs and having a positive environmental impact. The mobility system will be envisioned to incorporate public transportation with on-demand shared cars 26

while excessive road infrastructure will be converted for pedestrian and bike paths. Through urban farming, the planned area will be able to supply part of its own food. Food and water systems will be envisioned to capture nutrients from the municipal solid waste and wastewater streams and from food waste, process them to develop an organic fertilizer in urban and rural agriculture and generate electricity and then to return the rest to the soil in an appropriate manner.

Over the course of the year, the design team will grow their ideas from a master plan into an integrated building solution for a circular economy. Initially, students will develop a collaborative master plan implementing team working skills through this experience. Then they will select an urban plan lot and they will develop an individual building project including its surroundings. Through this experience and by direct feedback from the design leader, each individual student will be guided in the development of an individual design thesis on the creation of regenerative and restorative urban-architectural systems.

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

Reading List

• Arup, 2016. The circular Economy in the Built Environment. Available at: https://www.arup.com/perspectives/publications • Ellen MacArthur Foundation & Arup, 2019. Circular economy in cities.

Available at: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/our-work/activities/ circular-economy-in-cities • Cheshire, D. 2016. Building Revolutions: Applying the Circular Economy to the Built Environment, RIBA Publishing • Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017. What is the circular economy? Available at: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-economy/what-is-thecircular-economy • Ellen MacArthur Foundation, SUN, and McKinsey Center for Business and Environment (2015). Growth Within: a circular economy vision for a competitive Europe. Available at: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/ downloads/publications/EllenMacArthurFoundation_Growth-Within_July15.pdf • IDEO & Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2018. The Circular Design Guide.

Available at: https://www.circulardesignguide.com/ •Manzini, E. & Jégou, F., 2003. Sustainable every day. Scenarios of urban life. Edizioni Ambiente. Available at: https://www.strategicdesignscenarios.net/ sustainable-everyday-book/ • UK Green Building Council, 2019. Circular economy guidance for construction clients. Available at: https://www.ukgbc.org/ukgbc-work/circular-economyguidance-for-construction-clients-how-to-practically-apply-circular-economyprinciples-at-the-project-brief-stage/ • A framework for circular building. Available at: https://www.metabolic.nl/ publications/a-framework-for-circular-buildings-breeam/

27

Unit D. Questioning the Ambivalence of Urban Commons: A Comparative Investigation Dr. Giorgio Talocci

The commons are a crucial terrain of socio-political and intellectual struggle in the current urban age.

Commons are sites of experimentation of postcapitalist cooperative relations; or even sites where anti-capitalist practices of resistance take place (Enright and Rossi 2018). Collectively run cultural spaces, urban farms, gardens, workshops, cooperative forms of housing, community land trusts.

But also, broadly speaking, squat-occupied buildings and reclaimed pieces of leftover land: places which groups of people care for and use in a shared way through a variety of norms, and underpinned by a set of values. The act of commoning is therefore a chiefly political one, which allows to eschew the solely market-driven exchange value of urban land, housing and facilities. Instead of excluding others by the means of property, the commons, endeavour to reclaim a potentially inclusive use of goods.

The literature, however, remarks how the commons are characterised by a fundamental ambivalence, by a tension between openness and exclusion – and how the very notion of ‘commons’ is in conflict with the one of ‘public’. The Unit grounds in such debate, and wants to stimulate a reflection on the significance and challenges of producing and maintaining urban environments whose use and resources are shared amongst a group of people; whose access is (to some extent) open; whose ownership is apparently subtracted to the tyranny of urban capitalism.

Importantly, the Unit wants to question the role of such environments at multiple scales, understanding the commons as a complex assemblage of urban knowledge and resources.

What socio-spatial practices contribute to promote a common use of urban resources, in an open and inclusive fashion? The Unit will revolve around this design research question, and around a dialogue MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

between a South-East Asian urbanism (Phnom Penh, Cambodia) and a Mediterranean one (Rome, Italy – aiming to reveal a comparative account of dissimilar trends of urbanisation, and to explore the agency of design in addressing situation of uneven power relations in different contexts.The Unit will expose students to an iterative design-based research methodology, requiring them to investigate the reality of the two cities as projects – i.e. bearing in mind a transformative endeavour. Students will map urban actors and analyse their discourses, to critically understand forms of control, management and organisation of urban territories, to focus on individual and collective narratives of inhabitance and transformation, to analyse morphologically several grounds of investigation, to reflect on the aesthetic dimension of the production of commons in the two cities. In Rome, students will have the opportunity to collect data from primary sources – prior to the fieldtrip, a specific session will address the methodological and ethical challenges of doing field research.

Phase 1 of the unit will focus on a short-term remote investigation of the reality of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. While the city is certainly scarred by socio-spatial exclusionary patterns – most visibly evictions of informal populations from the city centre toward peripheral camp-like relocation sites – a refined investigation shows how practices of commoning do exist and contribute to open up, decommodify and repoliticise urban space. Students will be asked to focus their analysis on informal settlements along railway tracks and river banks, within dilapidated buildings, in periurban areas; and to question the exclusionary reality of profit-driven developments and relocation sites. What are the practices currently emancipating from a solely 28

Reading list capital-driven production of urban realm?

• Agamben, G. (2013) The highest poverty. Monastic rules and form-of-life.

What socio-spatial strategies, at multiple scales, can Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

• Borch, C. and Kornberger, M. (2015, eds.) Urban Commons: Rethinking we implement in order to empower such practices the City. London: Routledge. further?

• Dellenbaugh, M., Kip, M., Bieniok M. et al. (2015, eds.) Urban Commons: Moving Beyond State and Market. Berlin: Birkhauser Press.

In phase 2, the same questions will drive our • Enright, T. and Rossi, U. (2018) Ambivalence of the urban commons. investigation in Rome, that will be facilitated by a In: Ward, K. et al. The Routledge Handbook on Spaces of Urban Politics.

London: Routledge, pp. 35-46. series of local partners sharing our same interests • Ferguson, F. (2014, ed.) Make_Shift City: Renegotiating the Urban and endeavours. Rome has been often described as Commons. Berlin, Jovis Verlag.

• Squatting Europe Kollective (1965) The squatters’ movement in Europe: a city of commons, remarking the wealth of formalCommons and Autonomy as Alternatives to Capitalism. Edited by C. to-informal practices characterising its periurban Cattaneo and M. A. Martínez. space and its leftover spatialities, and the emergence of squatting practices in otherwise abandoned buildings. Against the background of an increasingly exclusionary urban realm – with skyrocketing housing prices, dilapidated transport infrastructures, high levels of unemployment and very slow investment patterns – the Unit will question commoning practices as being at the core of a potential open and inclusive idea of urbanity.

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

29

2.2 MA AD reading List

Design Research References • •

Fraser, M. ed., 2013. Design Research in Architecture: an overview.

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. Till, J. 2007., “Three Myths and One Model” in Collected Writing https://jeremytill.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/post/attachment/34/2007_Three_Myths_and_One_ Model.pdf / http://www.jeremytill.net/

•

RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects), Research in Practice Guide https://www.architecture.com/-/media/gathercontent/home-improvements-housing-research-inpractice/additional-documents/ribaresearchinpracticeguidepdf.pdf

• •

Sanders, L., 2008. An evolving map of design practice and design research. interactions, 15(6), pp.13-17.

Parsons New School of Design, NY http://sds.parsons.edu/transdesign/shedding-light-on-design-led-research/

•

Research Through Design (RTD) Conference series http://researchthroughdesign.org/

•

Coyne, R., 2006. Creative practice and design-led research.

Ways of seeing, thinking and doing architecture •

• • • • • • •

• • • • • • • •

Budak, Adam and Marta Anna Urbanska, eds., WHAT IS ARCHITECTURE?: texts on theory and practice of contemporary architecture (Krakow: Manggha Centre for Japanese Art and Technology, 2008 Burry, Mark; Burry, Jane, Prototyping for Architects, (London: Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2016.

Chard, Nat and Perry Kulper, eds., Contingent Practices (London: Ashgate, 2013) Deplazes, Andrea, (Ed) Constructing Architecture: Materials, Processes, Structures (Basel: Birkhauser Verlag, 3rd Edition 2013) Dovey, Kim, Becoming Places: Urbanism / Architecture / Identity / Power Fainstein, Susan, The Just City (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2010) Frampton, Kenneth, Studies in tectonic culture: The poetics of Construction in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Architecture, (MIT Press, 1995) Haydn, Florian and Robert Temel, Eds., Temporary Urban Spaces: Concepts for the Use of City Spaces (Basel: Birkhäuser, 2006) Hawkes, D. 1996. The environmental tradition: studies in the architecture of environment. London: Spon.

Hernandez, Felipe, Bhabha for Architects (Thinkers for Architects) (London: Routledge, 2010) Hertzberger, H. 2016, Lessons for students in architecture, Rotterdam : nai010 publishers Hill, Jonathan, Weather Architecture (London and New York: Routledge, 2012) Lynch, K. 1960 The Image of the City, London: M.I.T. Press Jacobs, J., 1992. The death and life of great American cities. 1961. New York: Vintage.

Rem, K., 1994. New York Delirious.

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

• • • • • •

• • • • • • •

Leach, Neil, Rethinking Architecture: A Reader in Cultural Theory (London and New York: Routledge, 1997) Reed, Chris and Nina-Marie Lister, eds., Projective Ecologies (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard Graduate School of Design and ACTAR, 2015) Rykwert, J., 2000. Seduction of place: The city in the twenty-first century.

Pantheon.

Sennett, Richard, The Craftsman (London and New York: Penguin, 2009) Sharr, A. ed., 2012. Reading architecture and culture: researching buildings, spaces, and documents. Routledge.

Sternberg, M. and Steiner, H. eds., 2015. Phenomenologies of the City: Studies in the History and Philosophy of Architecture. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd..

Till, Jeremy, Architecture Depends (Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press, 2007) Till, Jeremy, Nishat Awan and Tatjana Schneider, Spatial Agency: Other Ways of Doing Architecture (London: Routledge, 2011) Tonkiss, Francine, Cities by Design: The Social Life of Urban Form (Malden, MA: Polity) Tuomey, J., 2004. Architecture, Craft and Culture: Reflections on the Work of O’Donnell+ Tuomey (Vol. 1). Gandon Editions.

Unwin, S. 2014. Analysing architecture. Fourth edition,. London ; New York : Routledge.

Unwin, S. 2015. Twenty Five Buildings every Architect Should Understand, London ; New York : Routledge Vidler, Anthony, The Architectural Uncanny: Essays in the Modern Unhomely (Cambridge, Mass, The MIT press, 1992)

30

2.3 MA AD Selected Work 2018-19 MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

31

Student Name: Xiang Lin Unit: EMUVE Palermo 2019: Refugees + Migrants Project: Intercultural Node

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

32

Student Name: Youting Yin Unit: EMUVE Palermo 2019: Refugees + Migrants Project: Intercultural Dialogue Platform

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

33

Student Name: Asawari Sudhir Dalvi Unit: Communities on the Edge Project: Reimagine the Image of Suburbia

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

34

Student Name: Zhaozhan Lu Unit: Communities on the Edge Project: Architecture for the Wellbeing of Homeless Youth

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

35

Section 3: MA AD support 3.1 Other Optional Components You will choose 30 credits worth of optional modules, chosen from the list of subjects based on the research interests of the staff in the school described above. You can choose any combination of 10 and 20 credit modules for your option.

Optional modules available for 2019-2020 are the following:

ART028 Passive Design (10Cr.) Passive Design is an approach to environmental design in which emphasis is given to the building envelope and other parts of the building fabric in modifying the climate; making use of ambient energy to get as close to comfort as possible without use of mechanical building services. T

AR3003 Issues in Contemporary Architecture (10Cr.) This course is an introduction to critical thinking in architectural theory. The scope covers ‘contemporary’ issues – issues which are currently under debate in architectural theory, research and practice.

ART035 Low Carbon Buildings (10Cr.) The aims of the module are to introduce the ways buildings use energy, methods of matching building energy demands through renewables and low energy systems and to introduce techniques for assessing the energy footprint and sustainable performance of the building using benchmarking.

ART101 Perspective on Performance (20Cr.) This module will introduce the bodies of theories from phenomenology, systems thinking and performancebased thinking to develop the students’ critical perspective about building performance. This module builds upon the contents from shared modules while presenting in detail the context of building performance evaluation to develop an advanced knowledge of the industry and policy panorama.

ART802 Computational Form Finding (20Cr.) The aim of this module is to introduce you to the use of physical and digital prototyping methods of form-finding for creative design enquiry. It extends the concepts and techniques of design investigations to include principles of computational design. This module will allow you to investigate several design concepts and workflows and create form-finding solutions and workflows that address them.

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

ART041 Climate, Comfort and Energy (20Cr.) This module aims to provide knowledge and understanding of the physical mechanisms through which the built environment uses energy in order to attain human comfort.

ART702 Architectural Technology 3a (10Cr.) The module is intended to familiarise students with principles and information on various aspects of technology relevant to buildings of moderate complexity: Construction & Materiality, Structural Strategies, Building Physics and Science and Building Services.

A detailed information about these modules, their Learning outcomes and Assessment procedures are provided in the MA AD Module Catalogue.

36

3.2 Studio Culture and Conduct The school promotes a convivial and collaborative studio culture. The majority of MA AD students choose to work in studio, benefiting from shared learning amongst peers. Design studios are a location where students within a thematic studio can meet, where experiences can be shared across studios and where informal tutorials take place.

At MA AD level, students are expected to develop an autonomous and responsible attitude to their learning and also to the planning of their time. Weekly tutorials, seminars and consultancies should be considered to be a valuable resource, and students should aim to maximise the benefits that they get from these. This is best achieved when students adopt a professional attitude towards their conduct in the school.

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

This might include: • Attending all tutorials and consultancies at the allotted time. If a tutorial slot is missed, it may be difficult to reschedule a student to another time.

• Bringing with them, all necessary drawings and models: discussion around a students work can be difficult if key items are missing.

• Ensuring that any work completed on computer is printed out: tutorials cannot be conducted in front of a laptop computer.

• Ensuring that drawings are presented in a professional manner, using, where necessary, appropriate drawing conventions.

• In group tutorials, listening and contributing towards the discussions on the work of other students.

37

The school’s design studios should be an inviting, pleasant, clean, and organised space which is open to all architecture students in the school. MA AD students have 24 hour access to the studios, but this should be considered as a privilege that will be lost if due care and consideration is not given towards the school’s property and relevant health and safety obligations. Studios should be kept in a clean and tidy state, and students should ensure that appropriate facilities for cutting, spraying and model making are always used.

Studio culture is very important to MA AD course.

Not just the thematic unit, but also the physical space of studio. Everyone is encouraged to work in the school, to benefit from contact with each other and with staff, and for ready access to other facilities. We promote a lively studio environment.

Friary house studios The School is highly regarded and top-ranked both nationally and internationally.

However, no organisation can remain static. It has to change, if only to respond to changes that happen in the outside world. Rather than be reactive, it is usually better to be part of the change process, to lead the change. That is what we are trying to do within the School. Our goals are: 1 To create “critical mass” in key areas.

Expand the number of academic staff to develop research profiles and deliver education programmes in key areas.

2 To broaden and diversify the educational and research offering the School makes to society MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

so that we are not wholly reliant on a handful of specialisms. The context for both the built environment and architectural education is increasingly diverse, dynamic and uncertain.

We aim to flourish, not just cope.

3 To produce graduates with design skills who can operate across the wide spectrum of activity related to the sustainability of the built environment and who can solve the ‘wicked’ problems that involve working with contemporary issues of ambiguity, unpredictability and uncertainty.

In short, we want to spread the WSA experience more widely by building on our success so that others can benefit from what we have to offer. It differs from conventional built environment schools by placing design at the centre. At the heart of this is the knowledge that design can make a positive difference to people’s lives and that our graduates, who already make the world better place by designing buildings, might be joined by others from the WSA who can bring design thinking and skills to a whole range of problems that face the world. Typically, these problems require interdisciplinary approaches, which architecture thrives on. To deliver this, the school plans an expanded suite of master’s programmes and delivery methods.

As part of the school expansion, a space has been allocated to WSA in Friary House to provide an extra 30% of space. It will bring together four separate strands of our current educational provision — our MA in Architectural Design (MAAD), the MA in Urban Design (MAUD) and the Architectural 38

Science master’s programmes (ASM) — and create opportunities for interaction across these programmes as an added value for the student’s experience.

Studio Quiet Place

Frairy House facilities includes: • Dedicated studios for MA AD, MAUD and ASM Courses • 40 seat lecture theatre/ exhibition space • Seminar/ tutorial rooms • Modelling room for basic model making (Shared between the MA AD / MAUD courses).

• The studio will accommodate 150 students and 11 staff.

We hope and encourage the development of a Masters community where courses share space, knowledge, skills and resources.

Further details regarding health and safety, fire strategies, facilities and studio culture and expectations can be found in the student handbook.

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

39

3.3 Supporting facilities Supporting the Friary house studios are a range of the following facilities within the Bute building: Library The Architecture Library is located within the Welsh School of Architecture in Bute Building and is one of eighteen University site libraries.

Its location is exceptional amongst British schools of architecture, in that its collection of books, journals, reference and technical literature and audio-visual material is directly accessible to students and staff of the School. In addition to these resources it holds a rare books collection and provides access to a wide range of, online and CD-Rom databases, internet resources and electronic journals.

Workshop The workshop is equipped with several bench mounted electrical tools including 2 belt sanders, 2 disc sanders, 2 bandsaws, a scroll saw and a pillar drill. A number of portable electric tools include 3 drills, a belt sander, orbital sander, planer and router. All these items of equipment may be used by students after induction by the workshop Craftsman and a short period of training, which includes specific training in health and safety. There is also a professional combination woodworking machine for use by the workshop Craftspersons only, for some of the more heavy duty project work required by students. Across the corridor is a ventilated spraybooth. Access is normally available but graduates are expected to liaise with our craftspersons.

A sample collection of journals and desk top resource books will be made available in the studio in Friary house.

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

40

Environmental Laboratory The environmental laboratory underpins many of the activities of the Architecture Science Group as well as supporting those of the Design Research Unit. The facility offers support in physical scale modelling, numerical, or computational, modelling, laboratory based measurement, field monitoring. The major components of the laboratory are the: Sky Dome, Computer Modelling Facilities and the Meterological Station.

Media Lab Currently, numerous PCs are located around the design studios, together with A4 scanners and lightboxes. The School supports the use of laptops and wireless networking is provided. Students have access to a media lab which contains 10 high specification computers together with A1 Plotters, A3 Colour printing, an A4 Black and White Printer and A3 and A4 Scanners.

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

The School has digital cameras, a video camera, laptops and digital projectors for anyone to use for presentations. In addition to the facilities provided by the School, ‘open-access’ computing facilities are available in the Bute Library and also at other locations around the University. Some of these can be block-booked for teaching purposes. The School aims to provide students with a wide array of software for computer aided design, and digital presentation including: 3D/CAD (AutoCAD, Sketchup, 3DStudio, Rhino); Digital Media (Adobe Creative Suite); Environmental Design (Ecotect). These are available on the network and are therefore anywhere on campus.

FabLab Includes laser cutting facilities, 3D printers, CNC router and a robotic arm.

Access to all facilities should be arranged through the School’s Facilities Manager, who co-ordinates and manages the demand for resources.

41

3.4 Unit Leaders and Module Leaders Dr. Federico Wulff Barreiro (Chair of MA AD) Dr. Federico Wulff Barreiro is an award-winning architectural design and heritage preservation practitioner, a Lecturer of Architecture and Urban Design at the Welsh School of Architecture (WSA) and a European Senior researcher. He holds the Europa Nostra Awards 2019 of the European Commission and the Rome Prize in Architecture of the Royal Spanish Academy of Rome.

His practice W+G Architects holds 11 first prizes in International competitions and has received the Europa Nostra 2019 Award for the restoration of the Oratory of the Partal Palace in the Alhambra of Granada, Spain (UNESCO Worldwide Heritage Site).

He co-authored 5 Books, 9 chapters of books and 30 articles in international Architecture Journals, such as Urban Design International (UK), Urban Design and Planning (UK), Paisea (Spain), C3 (Korea) and Arquitectura Ibérica (Portugal).

He also holds 21 International Exhibitions of his Design, Research and Teaching activities, in the UK, Spain, Chile, Italy, Morocco and Brasil. The EMUVE research was exhibited in the Venice Architecture Biennalle 2016.

He is the Course Director ofthe Masters of Architecture Design (MA AD) at the WSA.

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

Dr. Marie Davidová Marie is a lecturer at the Welsh School of Architecture where she leads Synergetic Landscapes Unit in MAAD postgraduate program. She is a founding member and chair of Collaborative Collective design-research network NGO, a founding member of Systemic Design Association and a registered architect in Norway and UK. Marie gained her PhD at CTU in Prague and MArch degree at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. She worked in studios Snøhetta and Expology in Oslo and taught at NTNU in Trondheim, TU of Liberec and ARCHIP and CTU in Prague. Marie focuses on eco-systemic interventions through which shedevelops Systemic Approach to Architectural Performance design field. SAAP involves Time-Based Eco-Systemic Trans-Disciplinary Co-Design that is performed by both biotic and abiotic agency. She has held guest lectures, presentations and workshops in this field across Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and Oceania, where she is also widely published and exhibited.

42

Dr. Marianna Marchesi Marianna is a Lecturer in Architecture Design and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the WSA and a practitioner.

She was graduated at the University of Ferrara (Italy) in 2001. Later she held a postgraduate degree in Sustainable Building Design and a Ph.D. in Sustainable Energy and Technologies at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (FUB, Italy). She developed a thesis focused on Design Research in collaboration with MIT (USA) where she spent a year of research.

Marianna collaborated with FUB (Italy) in researches on the development of sustainable building designs and technologies and teaching on Architectural Design at the IUAV University (Italy).

In the meantime, she worked as an architect in architectural firms, and then, as a freelance collaborating with building contractors, technicians and suppliers on architectural design and building construction.

In 2018, Marianna joined the WSA where she is implementing a European-Commission-funded research on the implementation of a circular economy in urban housing to promote a systemic change for the development of affordable, zero-waste, humancentred houses.

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

Dr. Giorgio Talocci Giorgio is an architect, design researcher and educator. He is currently a Lecturer (Teaching and Research) at the Welsh School of Architecture and a Teaching Fellow at The Bartlett Development Planning Unit (UCL). He collaborates also with the Housing as Urbanism Master course at the Architectural Association and, in the past, has worked at the Sheffield School of Architecture and the Birmingham School of Architecture and Design.

Giorgio’s main research interests revolve around the decommodification and re-politicisation of the contemporary production of urban space, and on the way obsolescing dynamics are purposely used to govern urban territories and their populations. He has experience as design researcher and community architect in UK, Italy, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Myanmar, Iran, Somaliland, Turkey, Brazil. His recent article “The de-politicisation of housing policies: the case of Borei Keila land-sharing in Phnom Penh, Cambodia” (2018) has been awarded the Best Early Career Article prize by the International Journal of Housing Policy.

43

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

44

MA AD Handbook 2019-2020

45