Architectural theory

This course, dedicated to the question of inhabitation, will look at both theoretical texts and architectural realizations, in order to examine the major themes of domestic architecture: the relationship between inside and outside, between private and public space, between house and garden, but also the places of communal life and the intimate places of the home. We’ll also take a look at the major paradigms that have developed according to a specific mode of organization: the house and the courtyard building, the pavilion and the villa, the linear building and the residential tower. The aim of this course is to engage students in a critical examination of architectural references from a variety of periods and cultures, in order to grasp the spatial, constructive and anthropological issues at stake in the design and construction of domestic architecture.

L’enseignement sera décliné en plusieurs séquences. La question du rapport entre l’habitat et son environnement physique et urbain ouvrira la discussion, avant d’aborder la question de l’implantation, de l’organisation résidentielle, puis des espaces de la cour, du jardin et des espaces communs, pour finalement évoquer les lieux spécifiques du logis. Ces thèmes seront abordés au regard des textes théoriques qui ont jalonné l’histoire de la discipline, lesquels seront soumis à une interprétation critique afin d’en sonder les présupposés, les principes et limites en matière de conception architecturale.

Assessment will take the form of an individual exercise carried out outside the class, as well as a course grade at the end of the semester.

The individual exercise will consist of a critical analysis of an architectural reference, compared with the collective housing exercise proposed as part of the Semester 3 project course.

Synthetic tracks, completed during the first course :

BORIE Alain, MICHELONI Pierre, Pierre Pinon, Formes et déformation des objets architecturaux et urbains [1978], Marseille, Parenthèses, 2006.
ELEB Monique, Les 101 mots de l’habitat, Paris, Archibooks, 2015.
ELEB Monique, Debarre Anne, Architecture de la vie privée, Paris, Hazan, 1989.
LÉGER Jean-Michel, Derniers domiciles connus. Enquête sur les nouveaux logements 1970-1990, Paris, Créaphis, 1990.
LUCAN Jacques, Habiter. Ville et architecture, Lausanne, EPFL Press, 2021.
MARCHAND Bruno, Contextes. Le Logement contemporain en situation, Lausanne, EPFL Press, 2021.
MOLEY Christian, Les abords du chez Soi. En quête d’espaces intermédiaires, Paris, Éditions de la Villette, 2006
RAYMOND Henri, L’habitat pavillonaire [1966], Paris, L’Harmattan, 2001
RYKWERT Joseph, La maison d’Adam au paradis [On Adam’s House in Paradise, New-York, The Museum of Modern Art, 1972], Marseille, Parenthèses, 2017.

Course materials will be distributed digitally after each session.

Not applicable.