Syllabus 2011/2012 AFON15

Syllabus academic year 2011/2012
(Created 2011-09-01.)

ARCHITECTURE AS PERFORMANCE

AFON15

Credits: 15. Grading scale: UG. Cycle: A (Second Cycle). Main field: Architecture. Language of instruction: The course will be given in English on demand. AFON15 overlaps following cours/es: AFO270. Optional for: A4. Course coordinator: Professor Christer Malmström, christer.malmstrom@arkitektur.lth.se, Architecture. Prerequisites: At least three years approved full time education at university level (or a Bachelor degree) in architecture, or equivalent. The course might be cancelled if the number of applicants is less than 10. Assessment: Approved assignment tasks, approved examination project and at least 80% active attendance at seminars, visits and lectures. Compulsory attendance at reviews. The qualities of the project assignment and presentation are evaluated and discussed by an examination team comprised of the course examiner, lecturers and external critics after which the examiner decides if the project is considered to fulfil the requirements for a pass. In the case of non-pass the student has the right to a new examination opportunity after any necessary amendment or re-formulation of the project. The examiner informs the student as to what is required in order to achieve a pass.

Aim
The aim of the course is, with theatre as metaphor and laboratory, to investigate basic components of architecture from a scenographic perspective. The students will be given the opportunity to expand their design abilities in projects and assignments ranging in scale from scenography and furniture to urban design.

Knowledge and understanding
For a passing grade the student must

show a wide knowledge and understanding of architecture seen as scenography in relation to other conceivable perspectives.
show profound knowledge of creative design processes, especially processes taking their departure in analogies outside the realm of architecture.

Skills and abilities
For a passing grade the student must

be able, independently but under supervised conditions, to design a building with a design taking its departure in analogies outside the realm of architecture.
through an architectural project show an ability to integrate, in an independent and creative way, different scales of architecture into a complex, yet coherent whole.

Judgement and approach
For a passing grade the student must

show the ability to choose a focus for his or her project.
show an engaged and reflective attitude towards the project and the subject, and being able to judge his or her development process.
be able to make developed critical judgements on works of architecture with reference to contemporary architecture.

Contents
Architecture as performance is a practical and experimental course inspired by theory, where the students are provided with the opportunity to further develop a free artistic approach towards architecture. Through design projects, ranging in scale from scenography and furniture to urban design, a scenographic perspective on architecture is investigated.

The course is divided into shorter parts, workshops and the like, where invited teachers initiate, inspire and evaluate the projects.

A study tour with the aim of expanding the students knowledge on contemporary architecture and urbanism, with a special focus on different scales of architecture, will be a part of the course.

Literature
Augé, Marc. Non-Places: Introduction to an anthropology of supermodernity, London, 1995
Bell, Michael/Leong, Sze Tsung. Slow Space, New York, 1998
Benjamin, Walter. The Arcades Project, Cambridge, 2002
Betsky, Aaron. Architecture Must Burn: a manifesto for an architecture beyond building, London, 2000
Cullen, Gordon. Townscape, Oxford, 1994
Letringer, Sylvere/Cavaliere, Michael/Virilio, Paul. Politics of the very worst, New York, 1998
Lidne, Annika. CoMa, Malmö, 1996
Thafvelin, Harald. Arkitektursimulering, Lund, 1984
Thafvelin, Harald. Gestaltperspektiv och hus, Lund, 1982
Vidler, Anthony. Warped Space: Art, Architecture and Anxiety in Modern Culture, Cambridge, 2002
Virilio, Paul. Försvinnandets estetik, Göteborg, 1996.