Master studio Building culture

"Looking at, designing and merging buildings is a form of culture."

- Koen Van Bockstal, design supervisor

The culture of building as a common good. This master studio continues on the path taken in the bachelor module Architecture & Construction, with an increase in scale at the level of the building block. The main approach is the cultural sustainability of architecture.

In the Building Culture studio, many skills and knowledge from the bachelor's years come together. At the same time, you are challenged to (temporarily) say goodbye to the methods you have learned. Think out of the box. The programme is no longer in the first place, but the structure. You learn to set priorities in your design. What do you build and what do you leave out? How is the circulation going? How are the spaces attuned to each other? What is the structure of each space?

Every semester the studio works around a specific theme. Taste, history or style are not important. However, they are always residential buildings that deviate from the standard building block. Examples are 'the impasse' or 'the horseshoe'. The main assignment starts with an investigation into typology. In a group, you present an analysis of a number of exemplary buildings that you think respond to the theme. In duo, you then design three structures that form a skeleton of a building, without having a detailed programme. In the final phase, you work out one part of one structure, paying extra attention to the relationship 'inside out' or the relationship between two different levels. The result is one part of a building that you have fully worked out and with which you present all spatial qualities.