Focus Work Design and Architecture (IEA)

Abstract

Comte/Meuwly and Débora Mesa collaborate on a shared Focus Work format that explores the potential of the new Workshop HIL C 45.1. Fully equipped for construction and material testing, the space supports an approach to design grounded in 1:1 experimentation. Moving beyond predefined methods and normative solutions, we are interested in proposals that treat prototyping as a form of research.

Objective

The goal is to develop a critical, hands-on approach to learning through making. Building 1:1 prototypes will lead to interventions, objects or performances through which you will test limits and methods of assembly. Understanding that the project is the process, the outcome is equally defined by its documentation of images and annotations that record construction and transformation. We value independent work and a shared curiosity on working with your hands, openness to uncertainty, and an interest to learn through full-scale experimentation.

Content

The Chair of Architecture and Construction Comte/Meuwly, supports works that start from existing conditions at large. Materials, components, structural and constructive principles, buildings, forces and other frameworks and contexts that carry constrains and potentials. The proposals for a focus work should investigate how elements can be assembled, re-assembled, transformed, re-contextualized, shifting from form to matter and understanding materials and constructive elements as active agents. Students are asked to propose their own subject of interest that falls into this framework and focus. Students should enrol to either Comte/Meuwly or Débora Mesa Focus Work HS26, while sharing a common framework, timeline, workspace and collective discussions throughout the semester. Through this shared format, we aim to foster synergies between the projects, which will be further developed according to each Chair’s specific focus.

Resources