052-0552-00L  The Architecture of Maintenance (FS)

SemesterSpring Semester 2021
LecturersA. Perkins, N. Zimonjic
Periodicityevery semester recurring course
Language of instructionEnglish
CommentThis course (ends with «00L») can only be passed once! Please check this before signing up.


AbstractIn this elective course we will interrogate the possibilities of repair as a method for a new kind of architectural design model, as a disciplinary response in the era of climatic change. The course should pose range of questions and challenges to conventional building economies, standards of construction industry ranging in scale from urban to material choices.
Objective- Investigate design research methods through analyses of architectural examples that focus on repair.
- Produce an in-depth survey of the maintenance of one building in the form of a Maintenance Manual.
- Question and suggest improvements to repair methods applied in the
contemporary building culture.
- Compare possibilities of repair-as-design method in multiple disciplines
(art, landscape, medicine, industry, software, etc) with the help of
invited specialist guests.
ContentCan we practice architecture, with the care of a gardener?
In this weekly elective course, the goal will be to look at repair as a possible method for a new kind of design. As a disciplinary response in an era of climatic change, it is envisioned that this study should pose a range of questions to challenge conventional building economies and the durability of the constructed environment. We will interrogate and look for ways of improving and repairing standards of construction industry ranging in scale from the urban to material choices. The methods developed and gathered should become an outline of experimental possibilities for designers and practitioners who face the growing challenge of a lack of newly built form, and ever growing need to address the existing built substance, with an outlook to a conflict between construction industry standards orientated toward new buildings and acknowledged methods of prolongation and altering architecture. Instead of aspiring to build new, can we as a generation focus mainly on what is already there.
Using the knowledge you gather, you will work in pairs to create one annotated architectural drawing which attempts to reveal the information which lacks. The drawing will be passed or sent to your partner each week for additions, removals, edits and comments, and we will review these drawings during the two-hour slot each week.
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