Angaben zur Professur

Lehrstuhl 

Gastdozentur I. Avissar

Typ 

Gastdozentur Entwurf

Standort 

HIL

Webseite 

arch.ethz.ch/departement/faculty/visiting-faculty.html

Assistierende 

Beatriz Saladich, Yann Salzmann

Kontakt E-Mail 

avissar@arch.ethz.ch

Angaben zur Entwurfsklasse

Typ 

Entwurf V-IX

Thema 

Metropolitan Landscapes

Beschreibung
des Entwurfs-programmes 

Open spaces are key figures in the evolution of cities, although for long periods they played only a secondary role in urban planning. Over the last few decades, however, their role became more central as the eco-services they provide became bare necessities. There is a growing demand, both social and ecological, for more green and less grey. To mark this change of paradigm and respond to the desire for a wilderness in the midst of cities,1 many recent urban developments are depicted with buildings disappearing within large green areas. The city is masked, hidden within a sort of urban wilderness. We believe cities shouldn’t be seen as a historic error, to which are opposed an idealised model, a sort of garden of Eden in which landscape replaces urban life. Indeed, public space and landscape should play a central part in urban-planning, providing systemic structures and amenities, but they cannot replace the city nor be thought in opposition to urban life. Open spaces should be thought together, in interaction with the urban form, and more specifically with architecture. With this in mind, our studio will explore the notion of Metropolitan Landscapes as centres of gravity for the contemporary metropolis. We consider this notion to be both vague and evocative. It invites us to consider open-air structures and urban intensity as part of the same spatial and conceptual framework. The city of Milan and its metropolitan area will provide us with a fertile ground for exploring these questions and issues. The sprawling movement from the city centre towards the Lombardian plains over the twentieth century left behind a perforated urban fabric, including voids and disused infrastructures whose value can be reconsidered today. How can these spaces be used more intensively by contemporary users? How can their relationship to the city be inverted and clarified? Throughout the semester, we will take a close look at six singular voids within and around the city in order to better understand their identity, articulation, and (dis)continuities with the Milanese metropolis. Students will work in groups to establish collective strategies, and then individually on more precise architectural designs that seek to reveal and enhance these qualities. We will specifically examine the interfaces between buildings and open-space structures, and design architectural situations with clear tectonic and spatial qualities that coherently negotiate between larger scales and diverse users. Our work during the semester will span across various medias and scales to engage with both architectural and urban dimensions of the project. Students will learn to juggle between different scales, moving from one to another with ease while understanding the specific logics and potential levers of each. They will also need to become aware of the potential for exploration and design that lies in the tension and interdependence between scales, and to explore this potential in various forms. We will therefore constantly seek to establish and represent non-linear relationships between different scales, somewhat in the manner of Saul Steinberg, who, through his anamorphoses, creates new relationships between things, between people, the city and the territory. We will not entirely abandon the idea of multi-scalar coherence, but will periodically and deliberately step away from it by changing our point of view. More concretely the work in the studio will oscillate between collective and individual phases. The collective work will concern what we refer to as the masterplan the scale and the individual work will concern the architectural design. The semester will be composed of five phases: 1. Escalope definition: this first exercice will focus on the the definition of a precise outline for the project. 2. Masterplan I: will focus on first intentions on the scale of the Escalope. 3. The seminar week will complete the studio work and will feed it with more personnel observation. 4. Masterplan II: will define more precisely volumes and programmes as well as a strategy of representation of the void. 5. Architectural design: focuses on individual projects on an architectural scale giving specific attention and care to interface spaces.


Thematische und methodische Schwerpunkte 

Entwurf, Staedtebau, Landschaftsarchitektur

Lernziele 

Observation and description: — look at and describe the site and the city with a certain openness and indulgence, as well as with a sense of fascination. — sustain a dual movement: one of immersion and one of critical distance.
— Build up convincing narrative treads, that support design intentions through storytelling and visual tools. Critical thinking: — students should gradually develop their own distinctive perspective on architecture and the city. — develop a critical position in relation to the project site and the programme. Scalar leaps: — learn to juggle between different scales, moving from one to another with ease while understanding the specific logics and potential levers of each. — become aware of the potential for work that lies in the tension and interdependence between scales, and exploring these in various forms. Collaboration en engagement in the studio: — actively participate in the group work during the masterplanning phases. — participate actively and thoughtfully in workshops and discussions. Architectural project: — think about and represent the relationship between architecture and open space. — students should refine their position using cultural and historical references. — develop an powerful architectural projects in relation to various scales and phenomena.

 Craft: — Develop the ability, through drawing, to grasp the various layers and the spatial, programmatic, and cultural complexity of a site. — To develop a coherent argument through precise drawings and models, highlighting the project’s key elements and coherently articulating scales. — Use a consistent graphic language in drawings and models within a team, reinforcing the collective narrative.

LV-Nr. des Entwurfs 

052-1187-26

Unterrichts-sprache 

English

Arbeitsweise 

Einzel- und Gruppenarbeit, davon 5 oder mehr Wochen Gruppenarbeit

Daten Zwischenkritiken 

Datum Schlusskritik 

Einführungs-veranstaltung 

15.09.26, 10:00 ONA E 25a

Zusätzliche Kosten 

CHF 100 (Schätzung, ohne allfällige Kosten für Modellbau und Seminarwoche)

Verfügbare Plätze 

26

Plakat des Entwurfs-programmes 

Plakat ansehen (PDF Datei)