A Promise: In Stone
A Research in Stone, with the Model as a Pathfinder
MARS1 · GENT · ENGLISH
teacher(s): Ruben Castro · Yannis Igodt
field of interest: Art and Architecture · Construction · Craft · Materiality · Spatial Poetics
attitude: Speculative · Experimental · Poetic
method of inquiry: Observation · Fieldwork · Research by Design
design media: Model-based · Material-based · Prototyping
learning environment: Individual trajectory · Collective learning · Iterative
study trip: Optional
- Full studio description (pdf)
Description
The studio is a research into Pierre Bleue Belge, or Belgian Blue Stone, as a geological, material and architectural resource.
Through a series of case studies, students will investigate how Belgian Blue Stone has been quarried, worked and used in architecture, from traditional construction to contemporary applications. This research will be followed by a site visit to the quarry, where students will observe the material in its geological context and document the existing stone through drawings, measurements and an inventory of its different types, dimensions, textures and traces of production.
Throughout the studio, the model will be our primary means of communication and research. Ideas will be developed, tested and discussed through physical models, allowing material, proportion, weight, assembly and space to be understood through making.
The collected knowledge will first become the basis for individual trajectories, with each student developing a personal position towards the stone through models and material investigations. These individual paths will then come together in a collective design and competition process, where ideas are shared, combined and challenged. From this process, two proposals will ultimately be selected for further development and constructed 1:1 in the quarry as full-scale prototypes, transforming the quarry itself into a laboratory for architectural experimentation.
The prototypes will then be disassembled. The stones will return to the quarry and become part of its inventory once again. Architecture is therefore not an end point, but another moment in the life of the stone.
The aim is to learn through making: to understand the physical, structural and spatial possibilities of building with stone, while exploring how a contemporary pavilion can emerge from the qualities, constraints and history of Belgian Blue Stone.
Position statement
During this studio one will learn how to make a sensitive representation of ones ideas to execute and
visualise your design visions. Knowledge on materials, colours and observation will be gained
in order to explore ones imagination. Models and drawings are the most important and unfiltered
tool of an Architect, and the making process is fluid, constantly evolving and sophisticated.
The architectural model as pathfinder for architectural questions and dreams.
Learning outcomes
Through the studio, students learn to develop an architectural design through direct material research and experimentation with Pierre Bleue Belge. They investigate the qualities, limitations and possibilities of stone and translate these findings into an architectural proposal.
Students develop and test ideas through physical models, using the model both as a design tool and as a means of visual and spatial representation. Through iterative modelling, they learn to explore and communicate materiality, proportion, tectonics and spatial composition.
Students learn to translate a conceptual idea into a relevant architectural proposal, gradually developing an individual position before contributing to a collective design process. They learn to work both individually and collaboratively, exchanging ideas and responding to the work of others.
The studio culminates in the development of a proposal towards 1:1 scale, introducing students to the relationship between architectural design and physical making.
Students learn to communicate their project through a clear, precise and convincing visual presentation, in which the architectural idea, material, proportion and tectonic expression reinforce one another.
Expected deliverables
Model · Material experiments · Architectural drawings · Publication · Process documentation · Prototypes
Study trip
to be communicated on a later date