Programme

Lectures and short exercises shed light on the design process while providing knowledge and skills which are put into practice in the design process of the architecture assignments.

Learning to design

During the Architecture pre-master's course, you will work on a number of architectural design assignments. The emphasis will be on developing and working out a concept. The programme of requirements and the location you are designing for play an important role in the development of the spatial concept. The further elaboration of that concept involves resolving practical terms of use and the main architectural conditions. In addition, the focus is on learning to look in a conscious manner and awareness of the various skills and factors during the design process.

Subjects

You will take the following subjects:

Reflection on architecture: you will investigate the built environment by means of a series of systematic analyses. 'Perception or pre-perception, machine/human, structure/sculpture, construction/deconstruction, minimum/maximum, formal/sensual' are contrasts that are used to explore the work of a number of important architects.
Town planning and landscape: you will become acquainted with the urban and rural space and learn how to catalogue it.
Formal analysis: this subject centres on the awareness that everything around us consists of forms, and that we can select our own formal language from among them.
Concepts: this subject is about experimenting and breaking down your own, existing frameworks.

An interior architect and a graphic designer will help you make your end products presentable. A number of short excursions at the various scale levels – architecture, town planning and landscape – complete the programme.

Assessment

In all the subjects, the assessment consists of three criteria:

Experiment: Are you making good use of the space offered by the Academy? Are you looking for the new, the as-yet unknown? Are you eager and are you demonstrating development as a student throughout the programme?
The product: Is the result of the exercise, assignment or dissertation good?
Involvement: Do you get involved in the lessons and in discussions and have you completed all the elements?