Poiesis of Place:

Inhabiting the Edge - Domesticating the Terrain

Summer 2011. Post-graduate level. 10 ECTS credits. Language: English.

Location

Seyðisfjörður / Skálanes nature and heritage centre , Iceland.

Registration

Enrolment deadline: TBA.

Associated Disciplines

Architecture, architectural theory, urban studies, spatial design, regional studies, cultural studies, social studies, anthropology, philosophy.

Keywords

Built environment, social systems, landscape theory, ontology, phenomenology.

Description

The course explores the concept of living at the intersection of human settlement and nature; the urban and the edge.  We will explore natural and cultural landscapes in relation to social networks and the spatial morphology of habitation in rural and semi-urban settlements.

The course is based in the remote, privately operated nature and heritage centre at Skálanes, on the east coast of Iceland; a region characterised by high mountains and deep fjords, agricultural land and small-scale historical fishing towns.

Along with a study of the local nature reserve, we will examine the historically affluent and cosmopolitan 19th-century small town of Seyðisfjörður; its environs and amenities, cultural context and material reality and explore the morphology of spatial relations to allow for experimenting with new forms for the articulation of space.

Seyðisfjörður, a small settlement of distinct older timber buildings, is now a place of renewed cultural interest hosting a lively art scene attracting numerous visitors each summer.   Coupled with the fact that it now harbours the only scheduled passenger ferry between Iceland and continental Europe, this makes it a prime location to study the interaction of resident and visiting social networks leading to a larger discourse on the social construction of space in the larger urban context. We will look at the built environment in relation to time and scale, the interaction of the human body and nature, the relationship of social and cultural networks with the built and urban settlements and the influence of local and global networks on the local social and spatial context. Obliquely, the global reference of the hydropower station at Kárahnjúkar raises poignant questions of vulnerability, global capital and energy networks to the local context.

By exploring the interrelationship of the social, the built environment and nature, the course aims to explore research methods and analysis of spatial relations to further the understanding of the continuous and manifold interactions of culture and nature.

Highlights

We will partake in a dialogue with Juhani Pallasmaa and study the theories of the architecture of the seven senses, applying these to our local context by exploring the intimacy of nature trying our hand at vernacular methods of turf construction. We hope to travel to the mountainous highlands and visit the macro-scale transformation of the landscape around Kárahnjúkar power station thus allowing participants to explore the extremity of landscapes in terms of scale and transformations from the remote seashore of the east fjords to the expansiveness of the highlands, with the town of Seyðisfjörður as a point of reference. Additionally, participants will be given the opportunity to enjoy a supplementary four-day excursion through the Icelandic highlands.

Learning Outcomes

The course is designed for students who wish to explore the dynamic interrelationship of social relations and cultural context with the natural and built environment.  The approach is interdisciplinary and investigative, encouraging the conceptual, theoretical and practical study of the connection between the social and the built environment.  

The course will explore ways of reading and analysing the environment.  Students will gain a comprehensive insight into social system theories and apply these to their study of the interaction of man and environment.   Students will be able integrate theoretical studies of landscapes and urbanism with analysis, interpretation and communication of the environment to allow for experimenting with new forms for the articulation of space.  Students will acquire comprehensive knowledge of phenomenological approaches to the study of architecture, nature and the built environment.

Supervisors

Sigrún Birgisdóttir Lecturer and Director of Studies, Architecture, Iceland Academy of the Arts.
Hildigunnur Sverrisdóttir, Architect and Visiting Lecturer, Iceland Academy of the Arts.

Reading

Bill Hillier and Juliette Hanson, The Social Logic of Space, Cambridge University Press, 1984
Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space, Beacon, 1994
Gilles Deleuze & Felix Guattari,  "The Smooth and the Striated", A Thousand Plateaus, University of Minnesota Press, 2007
Henry Lefebvre, The Production of Space, Wiley-Blackwell, 1992
James Corner (Ed), Recovering Landscape, Essays in Contemporary Landscape Architecture, Princeton Architectural Press, 1999
Juhani Pallasmaa, The Eyes of the Skin,Wiley, 2007
Martin Heidegger, Building, dwelling, thinking, Harper and Row, New York, 1971
Maurcie Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception, Routledge, 2002
Neil Leach ed., Rethinking Architecture - a reader in cultural theory, Routledge, 2008
Patrick Schumacher,  "The Autopoiesis of Architecture", Latent Utopias, Princeton Architectural, 2003
Paul Shepheard, The Cultivated Wilderness, Or What is Landscape? The MIT Press, 1997
Sigfried Giedion, Space, Time and Architecture, The Growth of a New Tradition, Harvard University Press, 2008
Steven Holl, Juhani Pallasmaa, Alberto Pérez-Gómez: Questions of Perception, Phenomenology of Architecture, William Stout Publishers, 2006

Preliminary Schedule (subject to change)

Day one:
Introduction
In cultural context
Travel to Skalanes nature reserve

Day two:
In dialogue with Juhani Pallasmaa; lectures and seminars,
// exploring the extreme local landscape, - the edge 

Day three: 
In dialogue with Juhani Pallasmaa; lectures and seminars
// intimacy of nature + and hands-on introduction to turfbuilding

Day four:
Spatial morphologies; field trip
// the highlands/ mountains/ power station/ landscapes/ the built

Day five: 
Phenomenology and nature; lectures and seminars

Day six:Seyðisfjörður; field investigations
// local context + social networks
// architectures, histories and the built environment

Day seven: 
Cultural landscapes; the local and global
// research seminars

Day eight: 
Workshop
// presentations of research and work in progress
+ Entertainment

Day nine:
Summing up
Return to Reykjavik

Structure and Evaluation

See: Framework

Guest Lecturers

Our principal guest lecturer, Juhani Pallasmaa, is a world-renowned architect and a former professor of Architecture at the Helsinki University of Technology.  Pallasmaa is the author of numerous articles and books on architectural theory, amongst them "The Eyes of the Skin".
Dr. Björn Þorsteinsson postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Philosophy, University of Iceland.

Enquiries

For specific information on this course and the Svartárkot program please send email to:  info@svartarkot.is