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The Architecture of Maintenance (FS)
Last Updated: 2026-02-05 15:42:24
Abstract
In 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.
Content
The garden project has been an integral part of the teaching curriculum at Studio Tom Emerson, involving over 300 students in its conception over the past five years. On the one hand it is a design project, a pedagogical tool, focusing on ideas of construction, reuse, renovation, rejuvenation, maintenance and subtraction, yet we also see it as a form of constant and continuing research into our interactions with the dynamic processes of time and passing seasons. Can 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. A 2-weekly rhythm of lectures and tutorials will help us to produce a detailed picture of the maintenance architecture of one case study building.
Resources
Literature
Peter Maxwell. ‘A Dangerous Breed’. Originally published in FORM 246, 2013 Herman E. Daly. ‘Wealth, Illth and Net Growth’. In: From Uneconomic Growth to a Steady- State Economy (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2014) Michael Thompson, Rubbish Theory (Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1979) Ch.3 ‘Rat infested slum or glorious heritage?’ p.34-56 Arjun Appdurai. The Social Life of Things (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1986) p.3-63 ‘Introduction: commodities and the politics of value’ Peter Maxwell, ‘Understanding Repair’ In: Useless (London: Royal College of Art, Critical Writing in Art & Design, 2012) Alvaro Siza, Living in a House, March 1994, Originally published in: Kenneth Frampton, Álvaro Siza: Complete Works (London: Phaidon, 2000. p252) Tim Ingold, ‘Skill’. In: The Perception of the Environment Essays on Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill, London: Routledge, 2000 Tim Ingold, ‘Building, Dwelling, Living’. In: The Perception of the Environment Essays on Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill, London: Routledge, 2000 Beatriz Colomina, “The Split Wall: Domestic Voyeurism” Sexuality and Space (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1992) Charlotte Perkins Gillman, The Home, its Work and Influence (New York: Charlton Company. 1910) Ch2. ‘The Evolution of the Home’ p.14-35 Charlotte Perkins Gillman, The Home, its Work and Influence (New York: Charlton Company. 1910) Ch2. ‘The Home as Workshop. I. The Housewife’ p.82-103 Vishmidt, Marina. ‘Management and Maintenance’. In Look at Hazards, Look at Losses, edited by Anthony Iles, Danny Mirales Ladermann Ukeles. ‘Manifesto for Maintenance Art’ Mary Douglas. Purity and Danger (London and New York: Routledge Classics.2002) p. 1-35 Elinor Ostrom. Governing the Commons (New York: Cambridge University Press. 1990) Ch. 3 ‘Analyzing long-enduring, self-organizing, and self-governing CPRs’ p.58-102 William Cronon. ‘The Wealth of Nature, Lumber’ In Nature’s Metropolis Gilles Clement. The Planetary Garden (Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press: 2015) Donald Worster. ‘History as Natural History’, In: The Wealth of Nature (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993) Peter Wohlleben, The Hidden Life of Trees. Translated by Jane Billinghurst. (London: William Collins. 2016) p.1-18, p.241-250
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- BSC
- Frequency
- Semesterly recurring
Examination
- Type
- ungraded semester performance
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| lecture with exercise |
The Architecture of Maintenance (FS)
No course on 16.3. (seminar week), during the Easter holidays and on public holidays as well as in the two last weeks of the semester.
|
|
2 h weekly |