After successful completion of the course, students are able to...
- advance design approaches towards environment protection and integration on site and building scale;
- respond to challanges related to overlapping landuse and apparently contradictory requirements and develop new integrated programmatic responses;
- integrate the existing locally specific terrain, climate and ecoystem in the design;
- consider micro-climatic modulation that arises from the modification of the environment through design for multi-stakeholder and nonhuman perspectives;
- utilize relevant computational design methods and tools in the process;
Embedded Architectures constitutes an approach that emerged from a specific take on performance-oriented Architecture (Hensel 2013; Hensel & Sunguroğlu Hensel 2019). While performance-oriented architecture includes various key considerations concerning architecture and environment interactions, embedded architectures takes this approach further towards architecture and environment integration. This extends the question whether architecture can be in the service of the bio-physical environment to how architecture may be an integral part of the bio-physical environment.
The aim of the studio is to teach and advance computational data-driven design with focus of architecture and environment interactions and integration.This will include data on local terrain, vegetation, climate, etc.
The studio includes a series of key challanges:
i. Overlapping landuse
The approach to landuse and related specific regulations that inform the design process seeks to overcome limits related to single land use. The aim is to overlap landuse and regulations of either [i.] urban mixed use (i.e. housing, work, leisure and retail) and productive landscapes (i.e. agriculture) or, [ii.] urban mixed use and natural landscape regulations (i.e. preservation, right to roam, etc.).
ii. Embracing the terrain
Commonly terrain is levelled and prepared in various ways prior to implementation of design through construction. This is already assumed in the design process. The negative consequences of this entails removal of explicit landform, vegetation, ecosystems and disturbance to the local water and soil regimes. The brief calls for an approach to work with the existing terrain as a resource.
iii. Differentiating micro-climatic performance
Commonly considerations of the thermal performance of architectures focus on the provision of indoor comfort. This is supported by a focus on the building envelope and the avoidance of differentiated heat transfer. As such this is an approach that has emerged increasingly through the advent of electrical-mechanical equipment for controlling and modulating interior environments. Prior to this development there existed explicit strategies to utilize differentiated thermal performance for various purposes, i.e. to engender condensation and thereby gain of water for specific purposes. This seems unthinkable in todays thermal control paradigm. The studio will challenge this approach and experiment with aspects of differentiated thermal performance, thus instrumentalising related aspects that are today understood as design and construction errors that are to be avoided at all cost.
The studio will work across scales and domains including design on site scale and on a more detailed architectural scale. Focus will be placed on relevant and related computational methods and tools (especially Rhino and Grasshopper for which adequate working knowledge is required).
We will collaborate with EPFL ENAC (studio Prof. Dr. Jeffrey Huang) and TU Munich (studio Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Ludwig). We will jointly visit the chosen site and exchange mutual visits for reviews, lectures, seminars and other joint events.
Due to the current restrictions due to the corona pandemic all lectures, workshops and project tutorials will be conducted online. This wil, take place during regular teaching hours on Thursdays. The slides of the lectures are made available on the course-specific Nextcloud folder.
The design project is based on research by design and iterative design processes that are taught and developed in the studio.
Computer-aided design and analysis methods and tools are introduced in the studio and integrated into the design process. (Working knowledge in Rhino and Grasshopper is required to be able to take this studio.)
Some literature study will be essential to obtain relevant background knowledge.
Lectures and seminars will be used to introduce relevant knowledge in the field of embedded architectures and performance-oriented architecture.
Joint reviews with our partner at EPFL ENAC and TUM will deliver broad input into the studio theme and insight into questions concerning data-driven design.
A list of essential reading will be distributed during the first meeting.
Students that wish to prepare themselves for the course and recommended to read the following:
Hensel M. & Sunguroglu Hensel D. (2020) 'Performances of Architectures and Environments - En Route to a Theory and Framework'. In: Mitra K. (ed) The Routledge Companion to Paradigms of Performativity in Design and Architecture. New York, London: Routledge.
Hensel M. (2019) ‘The Rights to Ground: Integrating Human and Non-Human Perspectives in an Inclusive Approach to Sustainability’. Sustainable Development 27: 245-251. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.1883
