Fire către o arhitectură
Focusing on the pedagogical aspect of an architectural experiment, this paper presents the process and the result of a decade of project-making in the Master studio that I have led at the École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture of Paris-La Villette. The work evolved through measured architectural drawing and scale models in order to explore fundamentals of architecture. As architectural thought is expressed through drawings and models, this paper contains an important number of composite plates prepared for explanation and publication. The studio was based in Paris, yet the studies took place in various European cities, of distinct physical and cultural characteristics. Collaborations, through residencies in partner schools of architecture, were an important aspect in the development of the research. The evolution of the studio over the period covered here (2011-2019) can be observed in the working method and in the production of the studio. A variety of original projects were produced, recognised as such by our local partners. It gave the students taking part a way of working in architecture that goes beyond stylistic or non-architectural orientations, based on both the foundations of architecture as a practice and theory and on contemporary exemplary architectural thought. These are qualified by an awareness of the structure and functioning of the natural world, as well as by the observation of the transformative qualities of space in all its dimensions through philosophical reflection.
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