Elective course no. 1: Teaching in the STA field

Based on a theme of experimental architecture or structures (this year, 2024-25, it’s origami-inspired pleated structures), the course proposes building a pavilion to scale 1.
A degree of transversality will be set up with the CT des Petits Constructeurs (S. Ebode / M. Leyral).

Pavilions from previous years can be seen here: https://www.instagram.com/construirarchi/

Students’ autonomy and initiative are particularly expected and observed. The course aims to put students in a position to carry out a project fairly independently.

Participation in the construction of the project will count for 70% of the grade
Participation in related work, initiative and organization, and in the finalization of studies will count for 30% of the grade.

The semester consists of 14 sessions of 3h00 each.
These sessions will be broken down into 4 preparation sessions / 7 prefabrication sessions / 2 on-site construction sessions / 1 inauguration
The course will use parametric architecture/structure techniques. A good knowledge of Rhino and Grasshopper is an asset, but a refresher course on this topic will be given at the start of the course.
Course language: French
Languages of communication: English, Spanish, Italian

CTA802 STRUCTURES MUSICALES
Wednesdays, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
LANGUAGE OF TEACHING AND COMMUNICATION: FRENCH
=> Students must be sufficiently fluent in French to enable us to communicate with each other, particularly with regard to technical notions.

With : 

Yves MAHIEU accompanied by :

guillaume BILLAUX(acoustician)

Antoine PETITRENAUD

Instructs through experimentation, the relationship between structure, form and sound, with a minimalist approach to materials.
This last point (saving materials) seems appropriate for the ecological transition.

Beyond the form/function relationships traditionally taught in architecture, the aim here: 

1- is to grasp, through manipulation, the complexity of the relationships between structure and form.

This theme places this course :

– in continuity with the Structural Morphology course taught in L1 and
– in parallel with other courses offered in the Master’s program:
* CTA707: Light structures, art and biomechanics.
* Project P708: PERSONA GRATA Urban mobile interference structures.

2- add sound.
The aim is to experiment in the real world with the relationships between sounds on the one hand, and shapes and materials on the other.
For example, the following could be designed and built:
– acoustic correctors modifying the characteristics of a site
– sound installations generating sounds that can be modulated according to variable shapes, thanks to adjustable structures. Ultimately, the aim is to build giant instruments.
…
Other beasties from your imagination, which we hope will be overflowing, and which will bring into play the relationships between structure, form and sound.

Participation
Presentation of a prototype, a dossier and a film.

Design and production of a static or dynamic structure that emits or corrects sound.
Structural analysis of productions (files and films)

In the context of heritage restoration and construction verification, we are often faced with major problems of surveying, representation and simulation. Traditional graphic methods can no longer meet all the needs of architectural restoration.

That’s why, in this course, we’d like to look at the services that digital surveying techniques, and in particular 3D laser scanning, can provide, and consider how they can be used to reconstruct and simulate buildings and historic monuments in their environment.

The aim of this course is to introduce students to heritage restoration and constructive questioning, drawing on knowledge from a range of disciplines (history, architecture, construction).

In practice, this involves digitally surveying buildings or historic monuments using 3D laser scanners (Lasergrammetry), and then producing different types of representations with varying levels of detail, in a business-oriented manner. These productions will be used to study the building and structural systems, and to digitally restore the building as a whole, as well as any damaged or missing parts.

By taking into account the direct links between surveying and the restitution of the architectural project, this course aims to :
– Master the techniques of surveying heritage buildings using Lasergrammetry, to produce a volumetric representation of the building system.
– the representation of the project in its context will also be part of the expectations, given the heritage character of the object studied.
– Recovering technical information enabling us to apprehend levels of detail and old conditions in order to restore damaged or missing parts of the building.
– Carry out various studies on the architectural objects to be modeled (strength of materials, constructive system, structure, etc.)
– Produce different types of representations (aspects, textures, colors and materials, 2D and 3D representations, etc.).
– Develop a database containing all the architectural and construction data for the building under study.

– Exercises and personal mini-projects using the 3D scanner and modeling and calculation software, 3D digital rendering.
– Monographic and technical file on the building studied.
– At the end of the semester, students hand in a dossier presenting :
– working approach,
– restitution and verification hypotheses.
– Exhibition and display of work at school.

Continuous assessment 50% and personal portfolio 50%.

– Theoretical classes of 1.5 hours and 2 hours of practical classes per week in a computer room.
– Teaching schedule (hours):CM: 21 h TD: 28 h TP: Personal work: 21h

– Presentations by experienced professionals in the field of heritage and lasergrammetry to provide a pragmatic approach to the topics studied,
– Students divided into several groups.
– Study trip during the Easter vacation to carry out on-site surveys of the building to be studied.

1. INTRODUCTION
– In addition to the “classic” pathologies, new pathologies are emerging, mainly as a result of :
– the incorporation of “solutions”, aimed among other things at energy savings, which take insufficient account of the particular functioning of each construction typology, and the specific characteristics of each building. This is particularly true of older buildings, which are characterized by a diversity of construction typologies, materials and forms of occupancy, in a variety of microclimates.
– new pathologies” resulting from: poor renovation, incorrect use of new materials or construction systems, unsuitable forms of building occupation, with consequences for the health of people and property (e.g. indoor air quality in housing, deterioration of buildings by fungi and wood-eating insects, which have always existed but are much more prevalent).
– The economic impact of pathologies is very significant. For example, an international study carried out in 1990 showed that corrosion problems in concrete structures cost between 2 and 5% of GDP, and that between 15 and 25% could have been avoided if appropriate technology had been used to treat them.
– regular building maintenance can significantly reduce the occurrence of pathologies
2. OBJECTIVES
– Identify how different buildings function (ventilated box? breathing system?…), so as to understand how construction technologies work, and from there, their pathologies.
– Develop the skills needed to “see” and “detect” the main visible or hidden pathologies and malfunctions. Determine the need for surveys.
– Determine the probable causes of malfunctions and pathologies: physical, mechanical, chemical, inappropriate use, etc.?.changing needs?
– Assess the impact and extent of the problem, its impact on safety, health, functionality, etc. Evaluate the scope of the work in terms of budget, time, complexity of interventions and administrative difficulties that may be encountered.
– Learn how to diagnose and analyze the causes of a problem, and develop initial solutions that integrate the notion of prevention: preventing disorders is the basic objective.
– Be clearly aware of the limits of intervention, knowing which type of expertise to call on on a case-by-case basis.
introduction to building physics, enabling students to better master and analyze construction techniques and the choice of materials

– Continuous assessment, active participation during lessons, intermediary reports on pathology sheets, final report and oral exam.

50% lectures and 50% seminars. The tutorials are based on ‘real’ buildings, where students observe and analyze pathologies and malfunctions.
– Two distinctive approaches: a first intuitive approach and a second based on acquired knowledge of building physics. Site visits. Final report: a file focusing on the diagnosis of the pathologies and malfunctions studied (observation case sheets, description of the phenomenon, probable causes and solutions).

CONSTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS THROUGH MAQUETTE
‘ Wooden furniture, an approach to digital tools for design ‘ 

Through the creation of several models at different scales, the student is asked to carry out a constructive analysis of a piece of furniture linked to a universe (office, early childhood, etc., a subject that varies from year to year)
that is a reference in the history of 20th and 21st century design.
Based on this analysis, the aim is to design a piece of furniture, which, after the design and analysis work, will be made to scale on a 15 mm thick plywood panel, size 153 x 153 cm.
The components are cut using a CNC milling machine, and must be assembled without glue, nails or screws.
This furniture, the finishing of which is left to the student’s initiative, must be dismountable and producible in small series.

Continuous assessment, attendance,
A high-quality dossier, on A4 paper, containing texts, sketches, drawings and photos of the personal work of critical analysis carried out during the semester.
The various working models, and the fully finished prototype of the full-scale furniture.

No validation if more than 3 absences during the semester.

Course language: French
Language of communication: French + some English and Spanish.

Train students in BIM methodologies for managing projects and the architectural, technical, economic, methodological and contractual constraints they entail.
This knowledge of BIM should help rather than hinder the creation of high-quality architectural projects.

Continuous assessment and final project.
Continuous assessment based on work sessions on theoretical models and their experimentation on a concrete ‘personal’ project.
Final project paper.
Personal work: approx. 20h.
course language: French
language of communication: English

Modes of BIM use will be analyzed during the course, as well as exercises covering realization, structural and technical analyses, environmental impact, etc.
The last third of the semester will be spent working on a project in small groups
Knowledge of 2D/3D modeling tools: AutoCAD or ArchiCAD or/and Revit

By taking into account the direct links between project design and realization, this course proposes – through the discovery of the building process and the systems of actors and production – an introduction to the field of techniques and implementation devices, with the aim of re-appropriating control of the building site.

Please note: given the specific nature of the CTA, and in order to make site visits operational, the size of the CTA is reduced (to a maximum of a dozen students).

– Hand in a report at the end of the semester incorporating one of the ‘site’ issues encountered during the visits.

– Attendance and participation in tutorials (analysis of execution plans, schedule analysis, feedback on implementation systems encountered during visits).
– Attendance at site visits.
Continuous assessment (participation in site visits and tutorials): 50% and final report: 50%.

– Lectures (4 sessions)
– Site visits (6 visits per student) alternating with tutorials (3 sessions)
– File follow-up and evaluation

This course aims to raise students’ awareness of the current climate crisis, as seen from an architect’s perspective.
Every act of construction is a predator of the environment.
Practical introduction to wood, earth and straw construction

Participation / Attendance
Assessment through practical work and exercises
Project presentation: construction details using new building materials (wood, earth, straw)

Personal research (text criticism, exercises, short presentation)

Visits to post-extractivist projects (biosourced, geosourced, frugal): photographs, drawings, note-taking, interviews
Meeting with professionals Short circuit wood, raw earth, ITE Paille
Participative straw and raw earth construction site. (site at Gare des Mines)

A more complete list will be sent out at the beginning of the course:

but will include:
Guide des Bonnes Pratiques de la Construction en Terre Crue (Bauge, Pisé, Brique, Torchis, Enduit)
-L’energie du déni (Mignerot), Le Monde sans fin ET sa critique (Jancovici/Blain), Tout peut changer (Naomi Klein), Par delà nature et culture (Descola), Histoire naturelle de l’Architecture (Rahm), Fascisme Fossile (Zetkin Collective), Raviver les braises du vivant (Morizot), La conception bioclimatique (Courgey/Oliva), Manuel d’architecture naturelle (Wright), Starhawk, Vidalou, Jounin…

In 2022, we worked on the Jardins des Vertus in Aubervilliers: how to build a shared tree house.
Antoine Chao (France Inter) came to interview us:

https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/podcasts/c-est-bientot-demain/c-est-bientot-demain-du-dimanche-10-avril-2022-8326776
During a Wednesday session, we also insulated the outside of the building with straw bales, and then did the clay rendering in the schoolyard (still visible).

in 2023, we worked on raw earth, tested an Île-de-France soil, read guides to good practice in raw earth construction, and designed a building for Paris Habitat which was then completed during the CTID in September 2023.

in 2024, we worked on the Bergerie de Bagnolet and did raw earth plastering sessions on straw bales and mycelium at the Gare des Mines.

(First CTA session in 2024-2025)

Climate is an essential contextual element to consider. For several years now, the term ‘thermal kettle’ has been ringing out regularly. What can you do as an architect to improve the existing situation and reduce extremes? Understand so as not to reproduce.
In the same way, we need to design inhabited (or uninhabited) spaces with a view to adapting to climate change. Climate change is also an element of context.

The aim of the CTA is to bring climate issues together with project thinking, going as far as producing a simple dynamic thermal simulation model based on your strategies or concepts developed in the project.

Participation in sessions
Individual or paired work on a chosen model

(in progress)

The material abundance of our society, due to hyper-productivity since the end of the Second World War and its accumulation, is reflected in the field of construction. Urbanization on a global scale, accompanied by a sprawl of housing and service buildings, resulting from rapid, low-cost but rarely qualitative production, leads us to the conclusion that truly contemporary architecture should refrain from producing additional buildings.
On the contrary, the real architectural challenges for the future of our society lie in deconstruction, dismantling or redevelopment.
Unfortunately, our society’s misguided focus on ‘economic’ imperatives seems increasingly incapable of articulating this future for our practice. The modest steps taken towards a real revaluation of the built heritage are aligned with an obsolete system, favoring the waste of resources and pushing for the most energy-intensive and destructive solutions. The result is unnecessary recourse to raw materials, and the prescription of highly transformed materials derived from an irreversible petro-chemical process, while at the same time blocking the way to more sensitive and more appropriate approaches that should be pursued today by each and every one of us at our own level. This ethic is first and foremost the architect’s responsibility.
The CTA 812 course ‘Bio-sourced materials and rehabilitation’ takes a look at the challenge of rehabilitation using low-transformation materials, which in the future must become standard practice in our profession, which plays a key role in the building design process.

A theoretical basis on applicable techniques and the analysis of concrete examples, partly taken from my own practice, will be complemented by design work, which will be developed during TD sessions and will focus on the thermal renovation of housing.

Each student will choose a project, preferably the project of his or her own current student habitat.

He will be working on the rehabilitation of the building he lives in, using minimally processed building materials.

Hand-drawing will be the only working tool allowed, and the practical sessions will be moments of exchange, orientation and optimization, pencil in hand.