MAEBB01 23/24 Thermodynamic Fabrications

The module THERMODYNAMIC FABRICATIONS not only explores the design opportunities which the  field of thermodynamics and ecology have opened to architecture. Apart from focusing on the climatic  dimension of architecture, the objective of the workshop is to find design strategies which bridge the  void between quantitative and qualitative approaches. As a result special attention will be given to questions which in rare occasions are addressed in mainstream sustainability courses. The workshop will  immerse students in the quotidian implications of sustainability, connecting everyday life to architecture, which introduces to the specialty the ethnological dimension of architecture. This question opens the experiential realm, introducing the human body in its physiological and psychological  dimensions to architecture. Under this perspective, the history of architecture —which offers a rich  variety of climatic and metabolic references— will be a powerful design tool. 

This workshop departs from the structural connection that exists between the climate of a given  location and the culture unfolded by its inhabitants. This question, which has been rarely addressed by architects, underpins a wide array of questions which connect climate to social patterns, local lifestyles,  how people dress themselves or how architecture is inhabited. From this perspective, the workshop will  explore the interactions between the local climate, the spatial and material particularities of  architecture, and the lifestyle of its users.  

Contrary to mainstream design procedures which deploy a top-down approach which proceeds from  outdoor massing to indoor space, this studio explores the potential to conceive architecture from the  interior. The objective is to design a building starting from the particular atmospheres demanded by its  users. As a result, departing from the specific ambient conditions needed by users, students will define  the set of sources and sinks required to induce specific atmospheric situations. 

Urban, landscape and building typologies will be a useful tool during the module as it offers the  possibility to bridge the gulf between local climate and specific everyday life patterns. Climatic  typologies show how architecture can interact between a given climate and the way people live and  socialize, offering the potential to connect the spatial and material lineaments with the specific  physiological and psychological behaviors, bridging the gulf between the thermodynamic processes  induced by architecture and the quotidian behavior of its inhabitants.  

Starting from quotidian situations the studio will proceed defining a climatic prototype, and through  gradual steps will explore consecutive architectural scales: first an interior climatic space and later a larger scheme.