Architectural Design V-IX: Fire Water Earth Air (Mosayebi)

Abstract

In the design studio, we expose ourselves to the elements and ask how architecture can arise from the intense sensual experience of one of the four elements. In so doing, it provokes a preoccupation with simple constructive solutions and a reflection on the hard climatic boundary between interior and exterior space.

Objective

• Independent and critical thinking • Knowledge on the aesthetics of the four elements • Knowledge of elementary cultural techniques at the intersection of the humanities and technical sciences • Insight into the biosphere of the Swiss landscape • Design of new forms of living • Constructive deepening • Models • Experimental photography

Content

In our everyday lives, we only become aware of the elements when they become dangerous during extreme weather conditions or natural events. This was different for a long time. The doctrine of the four elements - fire, water, earth, air - shaped the idea of nature for over two millennia. It was not until modern natural science, the Enlightenment and industrialisation that the doctrine of the elements was displaced and nature was declared a calculable, usable and productive resource for humankind. According to the Böhme brothers, the displacement and alienation between humans and nature is partly responsible for our current environmental crisis. It is striking that current ecological movements rehabilitate the four elements and find great interest in their mutual effects and dependencies. Soil, air and water as specific ecologies are once again being understood and researched as systems. The current "rediscovery of the elements" stands for a renewed relationship between humankind and nature in times of climate crisis. In the design studio, we expose ourselves to the elements and ask how architecture can arise from the intense sensual experience of one of the four elements. In so doing, it provokes a preoccupation with simple constructive solutions and a reflection on the hard climatic boundary between interior and exterior space. In the beginning of the semester we analyse the elements in relation to their aesthetics, their myths and the cultural techniques we have developed. The design focuses on the elemental interaction of dwelling, housing and landscape. The project work is carried out in predefined scales 1:1, 1:10, 1:100, 1:1000, 1:10000 through images, models and plans. During the semester, we cooperate with the professorship of Günther Vogt. In workshops with the artists Taiyo Onorato and Nico Krebs, experimental images of the projects are created.

Resources