Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
Foros IV
Other languages of instruction: Spanish
Teaching staff
Introduction
Since the foundation of ESARQ the Forum class has been included every year in the academic and educational programme of the school and is compulsory for students included in the last years of the course. Forum is a distinctive subject and source pride for ESARQ as it is a course dedicated to debate and analysis and thinking about architectural reality. The main objective of the class is the exchange of knowledge, attitudes, postures and differences among students and teachers, an instrument for approaching, focusing on and perceiving the discipline of architecture, a platform of events related to the theory and criticism of the work of the architect. Forum ESARQ intends, through lectures imparted by invited lecturers of national and international prestige, to stimulate questions and to deal with current issues as well as to reflect and debate aspects of vital importance to the architect.
It is for this reason that participants are invited, be they speakers or students, so that they may bring up questions about architecture as a discipline, dealing with either short term issues as well those that have a deep significance for the profession.
In short, these series of FORUMs focus on knowledge, understanding, seeing, reflecting, thinking and experimenting to better approach Architecture.
In the last edition architects and important theoreticians visited the school such as Emilio Tuñón, Francisco José Mangado, Luís Ferndández Galiano, William JR Curtis, Josep Quetglas, Josep Maria Muntaner, Joan Busquets, Winny Maas, Carme Pinós, Peter Wilson, Angel Alonso, Ben Krone, Dan Stubegaard, David Trottin, Fernando Menis, Carme Pigem, Manuel Aires Mateus, Rafael De La Hoz, Carlos Ferrater, José Juan Barba, Ramon Folch, Alday-Jover, Ramon Prat, Llàtzer Moix, Vicente Guallart, Fredy Massad, Manolo Gallego, Bosch-Capdeferro, Peter Rich, Caruso St John and Juhani Pallasmaa.
Pre-course requirements
There are no pre-course requirements.
Objectives
The main objective of the course is to exchange knowledge, attitudes and differences between students and teachers as an instrument for approaching and perceiving the discipline of architecture and as a platform for learning related to the theory and criticism of the work of the architect.
Competences/Learning outcomes of the degree programme
- 65 - Ability to recognise contemporary characteristics and freedom in the understanding of architecture.
- 66 - Ability to internalise architectural form.
- 67 - Ability to understand and analyse architecture and the city in relation to philosophical and societal systems.
- 68 - Ability to apply the aesthetics, theory and history of Fine Arts to architecture and urban planning.
- 69 - Ability to discover the critical-cultural dimension of the role of the architect
- 70 - Ability to understand the main ideas in complex texts, both on specific or abstract topics in English, as well as participate in technical discussions in the professional field of architecture.
- 71 - Ability to speak to native speakers of English with a certain degree of fluency and spontaneity and without strain for the speakers.
- 72 - Ability to produce clear, detailed text in English in a wide range of topics, especially on architecture and express a point of view in English on an issue stating the advantages and disadvantages of various options.
- 73 - To acquire adequate knowledge of research, experimentation and innovation in architecture.
- 74 - To acquire adequate knowledge of new architectural concepts and practices.
Learning outcomes of the subject
As stated above: namely understand, see, reconsider, think and experience to be able to approach architecture in a better way.
Syllabus
Forum ESARQ is a series of talks in which a prestigious architect presents his or her body of work fortnightly. In each series, the selection of architects is connected to the theme of that particular series, on this specific occasion it is Matter of Things.
A Matter of Things is a compendium of different perspectives on urban landscapes. It is very suggestive to think that architecture is not something obvious, and does not reflect a literal meaning of the reality around us. City planning is part of this behaviour of paying attention. Working in the urban context requires continually seeing how things are and what must be added, removed or changed to see how to best arrange them. There is no other choice or other invention except the effect on the strategy of things.
Everything with which we work is a matter of things. Relations or contradictions between them are established. This network of relationships, displayed in a space and at a historic time, form what is known as architecture. We are calling for an open and relationship-based architecture, moving on from the concept of object to the concept of atmosphere. We need an architecture that develops its presence on the basis of the features of the environment we share to enrich the permanence of perception. It should make architecture a space for meeting and discovery. It is a process of understanding where behind each project we find human commitment and the condition of architecture.
Teaching and learning activities
In person
7 Lectures, according to the calendar from 19th to 21th
Assistance is obligatory. Also the silence and the respect.
Work
Each student must submit a summary of the conference, taking notes at the same conference. It should explain the key themes of the conference and answer questions that arise. The text is done under a common format DIN A4. After each conference, the student must submit in writing.
Evaluation systems and criteria
In person
Failure to submit / attend in three conferences automatically prevent pass the course. The final mark will be the result of the qualification in the 7 abstracts.
Bibliography and resources
LE CORBUSIER: 'Mensaje a los estudiantes de arquitectura'. 10ª ed. Buenos Aires: Infinito, 2001.
BERGER, John. Sobre el dibujo. Ed. GG, Barcelona, 2011.
KOOLHAS, Rem. S, M, L, XL. Ed. Monacelli Press, New York, 1995.
PALLASMAA, Juhani. Los ojos de la piel. La arquitectura y los sentidos. Ed. Gustavo Gili, Barcelona, 2006.
RASMUSSEN, Steen: La Experiencia De La Arquitectura, Editorial Reverte.
ZUMTHOR, Peter: Atmosferas, Gustavo Gili, Barcelona, 2006
MUÑOZ, Francesc. "Urbanalización". Ed. GG, Colección GGmixta, Barcelona, 2008.
ZUBER, Raphael. "Representar una arquitectura / Depicting an architecture" . 2G, N37, Editorial Gustavo Gili, Barcelona, 2006.
MAIO. DETAIL. Revista de Arquitectura y Detalles Constructivos. Edición española. Núm. 4, 2007.
DOGMA. "Dogma: 11 Projects", AA Publications, Londres, 2013.
TED’A. "Museu des Molinar de Montuïri" Quaderns d'Arquitectura i Urbanisme, núm. 261. COAC. Cataluña, 2011.
ARCHITECTEN DE VYLDER VINCK TAILLIEU. 2G N.66. Editorial Gustavo Gili, 2013.
DE SOLÀ-MORALES, Manuel. De cosas urbanas, Gustavo Gili, 2008.