Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
Ceramics Chair
Other languages of instruction: English,
Teaching staff
Every Tuesday of the first semester from 10:15 to 13:15
Introduction
This Optional Course sponsored by ASCER is about providing a place for architecture students and the manufacturers of ceramic materials to meet and share knowledge. From a teaching point of view, the course on Innovation and Advanced Design in Ceramic Materials comprises various activities, including: technical presentations made by the manufacturers themselves, factory visits, visits to examples of significant architectural works, conferences given by architects who have used ceramics in their projects, and workshop-correction sessions. All these phases, coordinated over a three-month period, allow students to engage in intensive research before undertaking an assignment at the end of the course on the new possibilities (new formats, new uses, etc.) that ceramic materials offer architecture.
At the end of the course, a panel of four renowned architects and a representative of ASCER will awards three prizes for the best assignments. At the same time, we encourage students to put their work forward for the international Indistile competition at the CEVISAMA trade fair (Feria of Valencia) where we have always has a strong representation among the winners.
The main role of the Ceramics Chair is obviously geared towards teaching, although the students’ assignments are also released to the trade press, published in a commemorative book and exhibited at various events in the field of design and architecture (FAD, COAC, CEVISAMA, etc.) and opportunities for consultancy or R&D programmes with those firms most interested in collaborating with architects.
Objectives
In recent times, architects are receiving a remarkable amount of information on the potential for ceramic materials in architectural projects: ventilated facades, urban paving, interior floors and walls, lattice-work, etc., all of which are being offered by the ceramics industry to the world of contemporary architecture. Through the Ceramics Chair we aim to work in the opposite direction, in the sense that we, as architects, will be proposing new ideas to the ceramics manufacturing sector by graphically and geometrically defining new formats, methods of installation and applications for these elements.
Teaching and learning activities
In person
As mentioned earlier, the course comprises two phases:
A first phase of training/information: based on the technical presentations given by the ceramics manufacturers themselves on production processes, new formats, new manufacturing technologies, the latest developments in the sector, etc. This phase also includes factory visits where students can see "in situ" the process behind the creation of a ceramic piece. These impressive ceramic producing factories are extremely useful for understanding what the production of a ceramic piece really involves. Lastly, there are visits to architectural sites and conferences with architects who have used ceramics in their projects.
A second phase of developing ideas: this is where the students get involved in the proactive part of the course by means of continuous workshop-correction sessions. The workshop sessions will sometimes be attended by a guest manufacturer who will guide the students on the feasibility of their ideas in realistic manufacturing terms. In these sessions the students will learn how approach manufacturers, an important factor in the world of construction, especially for research.
Evaluation systems and criteria
In person
The student’s interest and participation in all of the activities organized through the course is very much taken into account. Obviously, participation in the more proactive sessions such as the correction classes is also highly valued, with an emphasis on group participation so all of the students take part in correcting their classmates. This enriches the student’s assignment and the course itself in every sense.
There is also the final submission day, when every student is required to present their project to a judging panel which is usually made up of renowned architects and representatives of ASCER.
The submission always includes a more graphic element: two A1 panels that define the piece technically and geometrically, as well as photo collages and renders of the piece to show how it would be applied in the context of a building, public space, etc. Modelling is the other part of the submission: models of the work in progress and the final model(s) made predominantly in ceramics on a scale of 1:1. The model is the most important element of the course.
Bibliography and resources
- Materiales Cerámicos I
- Materiales Cerámicos II
- Materiales Cerámicos III
- Materiales Cerámicos IV
- Materiales Cerámicos V
- Materiales Cerámicos VI
- Materiales Cerámicos VII
- Materiales Cerámicos VIII
- Moldear, ensamblar, proyectar la cerámica en arquitectura. Ed.ACTAR. Autor:ASCER
- Cortezas Cerámicas. ed.Caleidoscopio. Autor: Vicente Sarrablo