Crafting the Façade: Strategic partnership with University of Liechtenstein and Mackintosh School of Architecture in Glasgow

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The Amsterdam Academy of Architecture is organising a project as part of the Erasmus+ programme starting from September 2015. Under the title of ‘Crafting the Façade: Reuse, Reinvent, Reactivate’, the project includes both tectonics – the art of fitting individual components together into a whole – and the study of the structures and materials of European buildings.

 

The Amsterdam Academy of Architecture is organising a project as part of the Erasmus+ programme starting from September 2015. Under the title of ‘Crafting the Façade: Reuse, Reinvent, Reactivate’, the project includes both tectonics – the art of fitting individual components together into a whole – and the study of the structures and materials of European buildings.

Directed by projectcoordinator Machiel Spaan (M3H architects and former Head of Architecture at the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture) and partners at both the Institute of Architecture and Planning at the University of Liechtenstein and the Mackintosh School of Architecture in Glasgow, the project runs for three years.

Reuse, Reactivate, Reinvent
In the ‘Reuse’ phase, the students will analyse already existing materials, buildings, components and façades. The ‘Reactivate’ module is concerned with existing technical and craft traditions and aspects. And in ‘Reinvent’, finally, the students will learn from the existing buildings and materials of the three countries, with the aim of deriving concrete lessons for the future.

International partners
The Academy is lucky to have two strong partners for the project: the Mackintosh School of Architecture / Glasgow School of Art, and the university of Liechtenstein. It has already worked with both institutes for many years. The Mackintosh School of Architecture has a longstanding tradition focusing on architectural and structural design in a social and municipal planning context. And the University of Liechtenstein has a focus on sustainable and spatial design that is strongly connected to the context of the Alps.

The project
‘Crafting the Façade’ is a crossdisciplinary project, focusing on architectural issues on the one hand, but at the same time embracing structural, cultural, social and economic themes. The different topics will first be investigated at the design studios of the three universities. Students will then go on to deepen their experience in a combination of crossinstitutional research projects, with the help of an elearning platform. For the entire duration of the project, up to August 2017, the results and findings from the design studios, as well as from joint workshops and excursions, will be shared on the network and then at symposia and in a series of planned publications.

In the course of the project, ten to twelf students from each school a year will take part in the programme. They will include both BA and MA architecture students. The active cooperation of the three institutes should encourage students to spend a part of their course as ERASMUS students at one of the partner universities.

For more information contact Marjoleine Gadella via marjoleine.gadella@ahk.nl. 

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