Studio Approaching Sustainable Architecture

In order to take the global perspective into consideration we have to think and act in a balanced way. At present, almost everything is referred to as being “sustainable” – but how does architecture actually BECOME sustainable?

We would like to initiate an architectural discussion of this topic: the nature of this discussion will be challenging, barrier-breaking and experimental – it will also require knowledge and an openness towards cross-disciplinary studies. Studies of architectural sustainability bridge the gap between practice and theory - specific design choices will have a decisive impact on our environment. The realisation of architecture is all about physical creation, about transforming architectural ideas into a constructed form, into space, into material and into construction. It is also about the circumstances which affect creation, i.e. technological, production and resource- related conditions. However, meeting with the users and, not least, the social and political responsibility of the architect are also decisive factors.

About the curriculum for SPRING ´13:

Spring term F13:
All over the world and also in Europe we are these years dealing with several critical issues: people are moving from the rural districts to the urbanized zones, related to the European countries the financial crisis seem not to stop and the EU directive demanding “nearly zero energy” building structure is a fact in the near future. How do these facts influence our daily life and how does this inflect architecture?

In order to translate these aspects into architecture we are in the spring term studying possible architectural strategies to transform the city into a sustainable and upgraded living place for future daily life.

The questions about compactness and density will be discussed: in which way do we upgrade the living qualities? – how to form the physical frame for future daily life in the city? – how to qualify space and health in housing areas? what challenges and potentials can be seen in the idea of compactness?

The curriculum takes its starting point by two intense workshops dealing with important aspects such as the superimposed dwelling and the question of high density and living quality.

The context is the transformation of a current industrial area to a vibrant living city – the Carlsberg area in Copenhagen.

Excursions will take place to both Copenhagen and Hamburg IBA.

Follow our homepage http://approach.aarch.dk for further information during the planning period.

Our aim is to establish a teaching environment in which architectural and artistic design with a heightened awareness of the environment and resources saturates all our activities; from in-depth studies of the potential and the space for artistic creation, which is inherent to a challenge of this type; to knowledge about the environment and our possibilities for affecting the environment; and social interaction and interdisciplinary cooperation. The studies in question are anchored in theoretical knowledge and in innovative and creatively stimulating architectural design. The focus will, in particular, be on the integrated design method and we will expect a high level of personal involvement.

At the drawing desk we will work deliberately with the concept of integrated design. That the architectural design is integrated means that many facets are included in and amalgamated into the architectural concept. The concept does not come about spontaneously but is rather a result from work with the conditions that the environment imposes on architecture, the basic concepts of architecture as well as various sustainable technologies. This is how knowledge and design are developed in the studio project. This specifically means that several professionals with different knowledge are active in the study environment: guest lecturers, professionals with a background in practice, architects as well as engineers and other people with special knowledge. PhD students will also play an active role in teaching. The special aspects of sustainability, optimization and energy-efficient performance will be studied and discussed. Through group work the students will acquire methodological skills in the form of knowledge, tools and cooperation. Work will be carried out as workshops, case studies and excursions, these activities will provide subject matter for the programming of specific individual projects. For the sketching process, which will lead up to a finished concept, and, later on, during the synthesis an analogous examination will be crucial – digital tools will be brought in on an ad hoc basis and used for qualifying the final result.