Course syllabus for Urban prototypes

Course syllabus adopted 2024-02-02 by Head of Programme (or corresponding).

Overview

  • Swedish nameUrbana prototyper
  • CodeACE465
  • Credits15 Credits
  • OwnerMPARC
  • Education cycleSecond-cycle
  • Main field of studyArchitecture
  • ThemeArchitectural design project 15 c
  • DepartmentARCHITECTURE AND CIVIL ENGINEERING
  • GradingTH - Pass with distinction (5), Pass with credit (4), Pass (3), Fail

Course round 1

  • Teaching language English
  • Application code 05114
  • Maximum participants20 (at least 10% of the seats are reserved for exchange students)
  • Minimum participants8
  • Open for exchange studentsYes
  • Only students with the course round in the programme overview.

Credit distribution

0123 Project 15 c
Grading: TH		 15 c

In programmes

Examiner

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Eligibility

General entry requirements for Master's level (second cycle)
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.

Specific entry requirements

English 6 (or by other approved means with the equivalent proficiency level)
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.

Aim

The Aim of the course is to develop the student's ability to intervene in complex urban environments using design as an integration tool and in pursuit of sustainable urban models.
The urban space is a result of countless overlapping layers of different character, all of them with implications in terms of social, cultural, environmental, and economical parameters. That situation has important consequences in the Urban physical environment, both in the fields of Architecture, Urban Landscape and infrastructure Landscape. To understand and address such a complexity in the course the student will work with a transverse approach through different scales and complementary disciplines.

Urban prototypes focus on the development of alternative proposals for spatial configuration from the preparation of selective cartographies of a given context and through an experimental process of spatial translation. The purpose of our design method is to create a prototypical architectural system that is almost a literal manifestation of the cartographies. The most essential aspect of prototyping is the development of rich and unexpected spatial qualities.

Learning outcomes (after completion of the course the student should be able to)

Knowledge and understanding
  • Demonstrate theoretical and critical understanding of models and references of urban design based on transverse approach in terms of complementary disciplines.
  • Demonstrate understanding of the different layers defining public space, and the scales they relate to.
Competence and skills
  • Describe and analyze urban systems by mapping and modelling from developing strategies to detail design.
  • Design in relation to complex contexts and regarding existing values and demands from different user’s perspectives and in relation to sustainable development
  • Use an iterative and speculative method to design a project.
  • Systematically apply knowledge and understanding of physical, technical and process principles in design.
  • Fulfil qualified projects within urban design; independently, creative, and critically with adequate methods and syntheses.
  • Demonstrate the capacity for teamwork
  • Be able to communicate and present own work using the entire repertoire of architectural media and methods, and to present the reasoning and work conclusions.
Judgement and approach
  • Use critical thinking to assess and constructively evaluate projects, from initial concepts to design and in relation to professional and social impact.
  • Be able to interpret, question and develop given prerequisites based on achieved knowledge and experience and create unexpected or not demanded values in proposals.

Content

The course focuses on the development of urban structures and spaces in an open and inclusive way, working from the perspective of spatial design beyond disciplines and typologies. By exploring the interface between buildings, landscape, and infrastructures in search of hybrid typologies, new forms of Public Spaces and coexistence.

The course promotes an experimental and creative research-by-design approach, based on a strong knowledge of facts and contexts. The learning process holds on all the working stages of space design, from preliminary analysis, an understanding of the site from specific and relevant parameters, that are mapped and articulated in intentional cartographies which are transformed in spatial structures through modeling. An iterative process resulting in spatial strategies and finally in design of Urban prototypes.

Organisation

The course is organized in two phases. Both combine group and individual work and are developed through a series of assignments, together with lectures, visits, seminars, and workshops. All activities are intended to support the design process.

The first phase focuses on contextual analysis, both quantitative and qualitative and leads to spatial proposal, through a series of tests and design experiments. The second phase delves into the result of the first through a more specific development at a technological and material level that allows a definition and understanding of the proposal at its different scales.

The design process is assessed and monitored throughout the course, based on weekly supervision sessions, as well as partial reviews linked to seminars and workshops. The course also fosters the student's analytical and critical capacity through peer review sessions. The course concludes with final presentations and exhibition.

Literature

A list of literature will be provided in the course description and will be available before the beginning of the course.

Examination including compulsory elements

The course examination form is based on continuous assessment through different course components. To pass the course is required active participation in scheduled activities and group work. It is expected presence in a minimum of 80% of all scheduled activities, including lectures, visits, seminars, supervision, pinups, and presentations. Some absence can be accepted if there are legitimate reasons, and they are communicated in advance, to compensate, supplementary assignments may be handed in.

The review of the submitted final project work weighs heavily in the collective assessment that forms the basis of the examination. Supplementations will be asked when the students’ work does not fulfil the course objectives and presentation requirements)

The course examiner may assess individual students in other ways than what is stated above if there are special reasons for doing so, for example if a student has a decision from Chalmers on educational support due to disability.