Course syllabus

Arkitektur som teater
Architecture as Performance

AFON15, 15 credits, A (Second Cycle)

Valid for: 2013/14
Decided by: Education Board D
Date of Decision: 2013-04-19

General Information

Elective for: A4
Language of instruction: The course will be given in English on demand

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.

Learning outcomes

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.

Competences and skills
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 student’s knowledge on contemporary architecture and urbanism, with a special focus on different scales of architecture, will be a part of the course.

Examination details

Grading scale: UG
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.

Admission

Admission requirements:

• At least three years approved full time education at university level (or a Bachelor degree) in architecture, or equivalent

The number of participants is limited to: No
The course might be cancelled: If the number of applicants is less than 10.
The course overlaps following course/s: AFO270

Reading list

• 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.

Contact and other information

Course coordinator: Professor Lars-Henrik Ståhl , lars-henrik.stahl@arkitektur.lth.se
Further information: teacher: John Cramer, john.cramer@arkitektur.lth.se