¿There is the strong instinct in me which I cannot analyse to draw and describe the thing I love - not for reputation, not for the good of others, not for my own advantage, but a sort of instinct like that for eating or drinking. I should like to draw to draw all St. Mark¿s stone by stone, to eat it all up into my mind, touch by touch.¿
John Ruskin, in the letter to his father from Venice
The Silk Road traditionally connects the East and the West. Thanks to the many exciting accounts, notably those by Marco Polo, many places that are on the route, such as Samarkand, Bukhara, Kashgar and Taklamakan, have become a myth. The Silk Road refers in fact to a network of connecting roads, which converge into the longest trade route of the ancient world.
It branches out to the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, India, Korea and Japan.
Today, the Silk Road is the main economic axis of Eurasia, a dense network of highways, railroads and oil and gas pipelines.
Now, the fabled Silk Road is not only a trade route, but also one of the main platforms for religious and cultural exchange among the various countries that it connects. These influences are particularly visible when you set out to make a typological study of the dwellings found there.
Many of these types have had a great influence on both Asian and European residential building models, as well as on the cultures of living in the past centuries .
Both the anonymous and the iconic examples, which rather fall under the category of "the art of building," exhibit high design qualities. Their high quality artistic and architectural living concepts serve as an unending source of inspiration for today's many ecological and construction solutions.
The residential houses along the Silk Road with their typological variations reflect the entire complexity of the social, economic, and religious influences that converge there.
Bernard Rudofsky: Cover, interiors Magazine, 1946
The course description:
The course is divided into three stages :
1. Typological aspects and space: organizational analysis of (Patio) houses of seven countries from Europe to Asia. Interim submissions in the form of a graphic and textual analysis . Determination of the essence of architectural and construction features. Group work with the co-supervisor in charge of each group.
2. Construction Analysis: Interim submission in the form of an isometric view and a construction design mock-up.
3. Design: developing an individual innovative design concept based on the experience of both analyses. Individual work.
To examine an architectural icon means to understand its essence and to apply that understanding to your design. This universal and essential tutorial requires that these iconic buildings be "surgically" examined and this newly acquired knowledge used as a "design tool."
Each house is a micro universe. Its architectural expression wants to be transmitted to the outside. But how does architecture represent itself in a wider context? What image can contemporary architecture convey still? To what extent can residential architecture confer a certain identity on a city? Can it mold its character through architectural expression? We shall explore open questions by examining concrete design proposals.
Important : This course is in German and English .
Applications must be submitted together with a portfolio!
Supervisor: Ass.Prof . Mladen Jadric Vienna, Austria
Guest tutors and experts for six countries :
- Prof. Keisuke Kitagawa, Japan
- Prof. Lee Inhee, South Korea
- Prof. Wang Lu, PR China
- Prof. Sofia Sahab & Adina H. Momand, Afganistan
- Arch. Matteo Orlandi, Italy
