A poster exhibition of final projects of the design studio The Big Hole—the Urban Pit, in the International Master of Architecture program at the KU Leuven Faculty of Architecture, Campus Sint-Lucas Ghent.
From 25.06.22 on
location:
construction fence (KANAL-Centre Pompidou)
Willebroekkaai, 1000 Brussels
The Big Hole—the Urban Pit is a design studio that approaches architecture from a decidedly ecological perspective, where ecological not only includes the environmental, but also the social and the mental. Departing from a study of architecture’s relation to the ground it stands on and the foundations that anchor it, a critique of the sustainable architectural project is developed through means of observation, documentation, analysis and ultimately representation.
The sites of excavation for new constructions and the remnant pits of buildings long demolished are taken as the site to develop a critical design position that addresses the aesthetics of sustainability through architecture’s relation to the ground. The goal of the studio is to ultimately locate an architectural language of sustainability; looking towards an expanded material literacy in order to formulate alternatives for more ecological and more materially sustainable modes of production and consumption in architecture.
Equipped with a compiled archive and glossary of the ground, students explored a number of narratives that address the urban construction pit. Within these narratives relevant customs and conventions of the excavation site were examined and questioned, identifying different approaches to the ground as a site in the Anthropocene.
Each student took a critical position in relation to an approach to the construction pit and situated this within the broader framework of the state of the world, and the current state of architecture specifically.
students:
Edouard Anquetil
Malou Legrand
Wenchang Lu
Ruben Otter
Ángela-Marina Pino López
tutor:
Lars Fischer
with support from:
KU Leuven
De Meuter
Fondation Kanal/Centre Pompidou