Architecture in an Urban Context

Study Programme
The general syllabus of the Master’s programme applies to both the first and second year of the programme. The overriding study-methodological framework is closely tied to the three concepts of individual programming, fieldwork and scale-sliding.

The requirements of the programme revolve around a demand for progression from first till second / final year. In study department 2, the progression manifests itself through practise administered by a joint timetable with different elements programmed for each year.

The department is organised in units that usually consist of at least two professors and up to twenty students. The group of up to ten foreign and ten Danish students forms one of these units.

The syllabus constitutes a framework allowing for the discussion of ideas and designs among students and professors. As a timetable, the framework outlines courses, workshops, seminars and phases of the project work.  In line with the core pedagogical principle of RASA, studies in department 2 are problem and project oriented. The aim is to programme, think and design based on an independent, responsible thought process expressed in programme processes and choice of media.

The department operates with the notion that thinking and making takes place simultaneously. In this way the programmes, analytical proposals and designs are created in an alternation between production and reflection. The programme might focus on the invention of suitable drawing media that allow for the idea to transform into physical form. However, also well-known and classical drawing is used as part of the programme. To a considerable extent, development of projects unfolds in the school’s workshop.

First year’s syllabus focuses on experimentation where making is essential. Experiments may involve designs, which are developed based on individual thematic or programmatic interests.

During the second year, thinking and reflection take a higher priority as research oriented knowledge serves as a basis for the students’ diploma programmes and projects.

The progression from first till second year is achieved by developing the individual student’s personal skills and methods through research and project based practise with the purpose of qualifying the pro­grammatic ideas of the projects and their formal and structural expression.

Each year, the department travels to a carefully chosen city abroad. Participation is obligatory as it is an essential element of the master’s programme. The fieldwork provides basic site specific information, forming a point of departure of the individual programming.

A central concept in the department’s work is ‘scale-sliding’ according to which ar­chitectural conditions and proposals are studied by developing projects on various scales in simultane­ous projects. Working between scales related to the body and scales related to the city is a fundamental part of the department’s aim to create architecture within an urban context.

Content of master’s programme - first semester
The semester consists of five basic elements:

• Exercises and lectures prior to the study tour
• Building analysis
• Fieldwork
• Project / Proposal
• Final presentation of results and preparation of individual programmes based on the elements of the semester    
  

First element: Exercise prior to study tour
The objective is to engage in an imagined place through a few accessible data. To study the city in the gap between actual data and imagination prior to visiting the actual place.

Second element: Analytic study creating a focus to bring into the further study.
The objective is to learn from what already exists, to inherit tradition – transgressing with a critical attitude to work ones way into the built in a concrete fast and direct way, to strengthen the ability to apply an analytical approach – and to put the achieved results into use in a proposal of one’s own. From the outset on, the analysis – through the use of tools, media and techniques of the architect – will advance towards a thorough in-depth understanding of the architecture at hand.

Third element: Fieldwork 
The objective is to find a place/site to which the individual projects, developed during the semester and the whole year of study, will be attached/related.

To create a focal point and specific interest in relation to the individually chosen site.

To gather information, knowledge and registrations as a basis for further project work and later individual programming.

Fourth element: Project / Proposal
The objective is to draw up a building proposal.

After the fieldwork, the department will contribute the fourth element designated by the term “Function”. The building analysis will continue and create an analytic thread throughout the semester / study year—and students will be asked to prepare a concrete architectural proposal.

The studies during this semester will endplate back and forth between building analysis on one hand and work on individual projects related to their context on the other.

Fifth element: Final presentation of the results and discoveries during the autumn semester. 
The objective is to create an individual focal point based on elements one thru four, preparing the individual programme for the second semester.

Master’s programme - second semester
Within the common framework laid out by the department, students will be asked to programme a semester assignment.

The department organises a phase-division of the assignment, sets forth the requirements during the phases and schedules the presentations, which seek to structure the outcome of the process.

During the course of the project, the framework will integrate periods of courses, workshops and other activities. The students choose courses in order to acquire knowledge and skills, and gain insight into theory, analysis, methods, programming, technology and practise.

During the first semester, the programme for the year is designed by the department, and the elements of the programme serve to develop the students’ individual architectural position.

In order to intensify this process, a number of concepts, tools and methods are introdu­ced to train and improve the students’ abili­ty to understand and produce programmes, and use the programmatic content in interplay with the architectural statement / proposal.

During the spring semester, usage of the individual programme as part of a pro­posal is practised through methodical de­velopment of drawings, models and written statements. Each student’s portfolio work presents their reflections and development through the different yet interrelated assignments in the course.

It is a necessary prerequisite to be able to understand, de­velop, and use the programmatic content in interplay with the architectural statement.

Master’s programme - third semester
During the third semester, the timetable is repeated from the first semester. Fieldwork serves as an important joint activity for students of both years. The students each choose a site in the field, and describe their goals and ideas of specialisation. It is assumed that each student can express the content of the elements during the course of study, and has built the necessary academic grounding.  The semester wraps up with a project, which consistently documents the ability to create a proposal incorporating the programmatic content and theme, as well as the chosen methods and media. The second year focuses on reflection and in-depth study.

Master’s programme - fourth semester
During the second year, a programme for the student’s thesis / diploma project based on the discoveries, knowledge and interests obtained during their previous work is created.

The thesis is an individually selected and programmed assignment.

The department requires programmes that use as their point of departure experiment and absorption rather than assignments of retrospective reflections on already acquired, profession-related positions. The diploma project period is a part of the study and the department supports projects, which seek new architectural ideas and solutions.