Introduction to research

Academic Year 4 - Term 7UEM72 Student pathway
ECTS
2
Lecture hours
22
Tutorial hours
0
Coefficient
0.20
Code
MIR
Character
Mandatory
Groups
  • A - AS - MIR1 Plastic approaches and urban territoriesAS
    Learning objectives

    This course offers students an introduction to research through a corporeal and perceptive approach to territories, leading to a plastic approach as well as theoretical work. This elective also aims to introduce students to the aesthetic, cultural and political issues surrounding the relationship between art, media and territory.

    Assessment method

    – Continuous assessment and research report

    Required work

    – Courses, methodological workshops
    – Research file on a practised territory

  • A - AS - MIR2 Scenography and architecture: scenography, an art of placeAS
    Co-responsible
    Learning objectives

    Scenography is considered an art of place, in that its vocation is to shape the performance space for a given work. Scenography thus regulates the spectator’s relationship with the work in a certain symbolic context. Today, scenographers are called upon in fields other than theater, such as museums, exhibitions, fashion shows, gardens, architecture and public spaces. Scenography is a tool, in its ability to give form and, above all, space to the imaginary… not through a given and definitively fixed location, but through the shifts that the representation makes from a real location to an imaginary one, and from the imaginary location to the real one.

    Assessment method

    Logbook, reports and analyses
    Defining the subject of the dissertation

    Required work

    Lessons and applications in memory workshops

  • A - AS - MIR3 Art, cinema, architectureAS
    Learning objectives

    The aim is to give students the methodological principles needed to reflect on a project and express it in a problematized way in a two-part creative research project: a piece of writing and a film.

    Assessment method

    continuous monitoring

    Required work

    The sessions will follow on from and complement the Art, Cinema, Architecture Seminar.
    This option is open only to students pursuing a film thesis in the same seminar.

  • B - HMU - MIR14 Architectures of living, processes, urbanity, spatialityHMU
    Learning objectives

    The aim of this course is to provide students with the methodological skills needed to write the various stages of the dissertation (S7, S8, S9).

    Assessment method

    A number of intermediary exercises make up the whole of the pre-dissertation: initial intentions; definition of key words; an annotated bibliography; several reading sheets; definition of your problem and hypothesis; description of your field; presentation of your working method; timetable.

  • B - HMU - MIR15 Territories of political ecologyHMU
    Learning objectives

    Training and equipping students for research. The aim of this course is to complete students’ training in the production of knowledge in written form. Research and writing play an important role in the architectural profession. They are major assets for future practitioners who are called upon to express their ideas and present their projects, but they are also indispensable assets for students who wish to prepare a career in the fields of research, teaching, publishing and cultural projects linked to architecture, criticism and so on.

    With a view to writing the Master’s thesis, the aim of this course is to introduce students to the methods of intellectual and scientific work, and to the practicalities of knowledge production.

    As part of the “Inhabiting Urban Worlds” field of study, the seminar will examine, from a socio-political and aesthetic perspective, emerging practices (in the fields of architecture and urban planning, as well as art and design in public space) that combine concern for the preservation and restoration of ecosystems with concern for a new ecology of social relations (particularly in urban environments). The approach adopted will be clearly trans-disciplinary, and will endeavor to create links with project teaching.

    Assessment method

    The seminar will include an introduction to research and methodology. Students’ active participation in the course (through presentations and intermediate exercises) will be highly valued. At the end of semester 7, students will be required to finalize a pre-dissertation.

    Required work

    (Initial) annotated bibliography, critical mapping, an initial reader’s sheet, an archiving exercise.

  • B - HMU - MIR5 Habitat and sustainable city, an approach to the urban fabricHMU
    Co-responsible
    Learning objectives

    Preparatory work for the dissertation is combined with the corresponding seminar. In this context, students are invited to develop an original and personal research approach, leading to the construction of a problematic and hypotheses, to the analysis of a field, supported by the constitution of a corpus of references on already constituted knowledge (theoretical and methodological works) and from survey data, observations, archives…

    Assessment method

    Active participation in workshop work, personal dossier analyzing articles, drafting common bibliographies of references.

    Required work

    The main aim of this course is to prepare students for writing their Master’s thesis. It can also serve as a foundation for students wishing to embark on a research course in semester 9.

  • C - MTP - MIR7 Architecture/S & Paysage/SMTP
    Co-responsible
    Learning objectives

    The aim of this optional course is to enable students to acquire the skills required for quality research work: mastery of concepts, choice and argumentative corpus, selected references, constructed bibliography, precise writing. In addition, attention will be paid to modes and tools of investigation specific to the field of space and design practices.

    Assessment method

    Participation in courses and completion of assignments; Written and oral presentation of a summary of work carried out in connection with the development of a dissertation topic.
    The elements constituted for this file will be used directly for the dissertation to be developed over the three semesters of S7, S8, S9, and over semester S10 in the case of continuation on the research path.

    Required work

    Two hours a week, divided between lectures and tutorials in the classroom or in the field.
    Students will practice a number of skills directly related to the production of their dissertation: bibliographical research in a variety of databases; analysis of a text, an image, a place, a project and a film sequence; in situ writing work; graphic expression of concepts or spatial analysis, oral presentation of a work of their choice.

    bibliography

    A reference bibliography will be provided during the course of the year.

  • C - MTP - MIR8 Architecture of inhabited environments: philosophy, architecture, urbanismMTP
    Learning objectives

    Accompanying the seminar, this optional course provides students with the tools and methods they need to engage in research that is demanding in form and precise in writing. Based on a partnership with the GERPHAU laboratory, it offers a more in-depth philosophical examination of the concepts covered in the seminar, so as to restore to the themes a power of meaning, to function through questioning, and to question horizons. In particular, the notion of the operative concept will be called into question to analyze the ways in which the architecture-city-philosophy relationship is articulated. The aim is to problematize an architectural issue and make a philosophical concept operative (design by research/research by design).

    Assessment method

    At the end of the semester, 50% continuous assessment (course participation), and 50% assessment of research progress (by two readers).

    Required work

    Personal commitment and regular attendance are required, along with regular dissemination of the work and an oral presentation of progress
    Reference work (the reading activity) is an important part of research work. It will be approached by placing the proposed sources in a disciplinary and historical perspective (map of identifiable knowledge on an issue).

    bibliography

    The bibliography will be built up within the optional course, according to the specificities of the themes, and will be capitalized on in a common database for use in the seminars (S7, S8 and S9).

  • C - MTP - MIR9 Architecture, sustainable construction of the whole worldMTP
    Learning objectives

    This training in research through research is a twofold process:
    -Collective, the construction of analytical and critical thinking on international human spatial productions and their mutations over time.
    -Individual, the patient and cumulative workshop of master’s thesis production, based on the reasoned construction of a specific subject and problematic, a referenced corpus, and a posture specific to each student.

    Assessment method

    – Reading cards.
    – Defining a research theme.
    – Creation of a study corpus.
    – Develop a critical, well-argued problem.

    Required work

    Lectures in French on topics developed by students.
    Languages accepted (individual corrections): Spanish, English, Portuguese, Italian, Vietnamese.
    Assignments:
    – Lecture and reading notes as identification and construction of a research object and a personal problematic.
    – A thematic Dossier and preparation of a corpus specific to the development of an original research project.

  • D - CCA - MIR10 Building and usesCCA
    Learning objectives

    First approach to scientific research, its methods and tools, through the field of architectural and urban ambiences: the aim is to distinguish the different types of scientific research (fundamental/applied) and their differences from development activities; to understand the foundations of the experimental method, its strengths and limitations, and finally to be able to orientate oneself in the products of research (reports, monographs, communications…).

    Assessment method

    Critical analysis and presentation of a scientific article (in connection with the research work for the dissertation)
    Construction of an annotated bibliography (in connection with the dissertation topic)

    Required work

    Reading notes and lectures, annotated bibliography + continuous assessment (= attendance)

  • D - CCA - MIR11 Criticism and history of architecture and the cityCCA
    Co-responsible
    Learning objectives

    The aim of this course is to introduce students in the ‘Criticism and History of Architecture’ seminar to the tools of research. The knowledge imparted responds to a common rule: how best to construct and treat a subject. How do you draw up a bibliography in order to understand a subject and define the state of the question? How to collect useful documentation? Where to look? How to select? What are the advantages and pitfalls of Internet research? Finally, what role should interpretation play in the various ways of making sources speak for themselves (documentation, surveys, buildings, interviews, etc.)?

    Assessment method

    Attendance compulsory. Continuous assessment exercises as the course progresses.

    Required work

    Four exercises are to be completed during the semester:

    – Exercise 1: Data, information, knowledge: what are the differences?
    – Exercise 2: Writing an ‘active’ bibliography
    – Exercise 3: Formulating a research project in one page
    – Exercise 4: Three images exercise

  • D - CCA - MIR12 Design activities and instrumentationCCA
    Co-responsible
    Learning objectives

    The aim is to familiarize students with the different types of research possible in the field of architecture, as well as their methods and techniques.
    This course provides an ideal opportunity to explore these methods and techniques.

    Assessment method

    Assessment of knowledge will be based on the pre-dissertation submitted to the seminar, which must demonstrate the contribution of this teaching.

    Required work

    The sessions will take the form of lectures, which will be tested in the work required in the seminar.
    The work required is directly linked to the preparation of the dissertation, and more specifically the pre-dissertation.

  • E - IEHM - MIR13 History and practices of transformations in the built environmentIEHM
    Learning objectives

    The aim of this course is to introduce students to the canonical methods of intellectual and scientific work, and to the practicalities of knowledge production, as they prepare their dissertations for the ‘History and practices of transformations in the built environment’ seminar.
    This “introduction” to research has several components: an epistemological component (the methods of scientific research, the criteria of validity and scientificity of a research project); a practical component (the work and daily life of a researcher); an institutional component (making students aware of how the architectural and urban research community is structured in France and abroad).

    Assessment method

    In addition to attendance and participation in the course, each student must produce three reading sheets (one book and two scientific articles), and propose a cross-reading between them.

    Required work

    Production of three reading sheets and a state-of-the-art report.

    bibliography

    ARBORIO Anne-Marie, FOURNIER Pierre. L’observation directe. Paris, Armand Colin, 2015 (5th edition).
    BEAUD Stéphane, WEBER Florence. Guide de l’enquête de terrain, Paris, La Découvert, 1998.
    BECKER Howard. How to write Social Science. Beginning and ending your article, thesis or book. Paris, Economica, 2004.
    DE SINGLY François. L’enquête et ses méthodes : le questionnaire. Paris, Armand Colin, 2005 (2nd edition).
    GAUTHIER Benoit (ed.). Recherche sociale de la problématique à la collecte de données. Québec, Presse de l’Université du Québec, 2009 (5th edition).
    GROSJEAN Michèle, THIBAUD Jean-Paul (dir.). L’espace urbain en méthodes. Marseille, Editions Parenthèses, 2001.
    KAUFMANN Jean-Claude. L’entretien compréhensif. Paris: Nathan, 1996.
    PASSERON Jean-Claude. “L’espace mental de l’enquête (I). The transformation of information about the world in the social sciences”. Enquête. Archives de la revue Enquête, 1995, no. 1 (October): 13-42. https://doi.org/10.4000/enquete.259.
    PERETZ Henri. Methods in sociology: observation. Paris, La Découverte, 2004.
    PINSON Daniel, “L’habitat, relevé et révélé par le dessin: observer l’espace construit et son appropriation”. Espaces et sociétés. L’observation et ses angles, 2016, 1 (164-165): 40-67. https://doi.org/10.3917/esp.164.0049.

  • E - IEHM - MIR16 Built cultural heritageIEHM
    Co-responsible
    Learning objectives

    This course offers a theoretical and methodological introduction to architectural research, its approaches, methods and tools. The aim is to equip students to define a research topic and develop it further during S8 and S9 to produce a Master’s thesis.

    bibliography

    ARBORIO Anne-Marie, FOURNIER Pierre. L’observation directe. Paris, Armand Colin, 2015 (5th edition).
    BEAUD Stéphane, WEBER Florence. Guide de l’enquête de terrain, Paris, La Découvert, 1998.
    BECKER Howard. Comment écrire les Sciences sociales. Commencer et terminer son article, sa thèse ou son livre. Paris, Economica, 2004.
    DE SINGLY François. L’enquête et ses méthodes: le questionnaire. Paris, Armand Colin, 2005 (2nd edition).
    GAUTHIER Benoit (ed.). Recherche sociale de la problématique à la collecte de données. Québec, Presse de l’Université du Québec, 2009 (5th edition).
    GROSJEAN Michèle, THIBAUD Jean-Paul (dir.). L’espace urbain en méthodes. Marseille, Editions Parenthèses, 2001.
    KAUFMANN Jean-Claude. L’entretien compréhensif. Paris, Nathan, 1996.
    PASSERON Jean-Claude. “L’espace mental de l’enquête (I). La transformation de l’information sur le monde dans les sciences sociales”. Enquête. Archives de la revue Enquête, 1995, no. 1 (October): 13-42. https://doi.org/10.4000/enquete.259.
    PERETZ Henri. Les méthodes en sociologie : l’observation. Paris, La Découverte, 2004.
    PINSON Daniel, “L’habitat, relevé et révélé par le dessin: observer l’espace construit et son appropriation”. Espaces et sociétés. L’observation et ses angles, 2016, 1 (164-165): 40-67. https://doi.org/10.3917/esp.164.0049.

  • E - IEHM - MIR17 How to live together? Theories and forms of collective architecture IEHM
    Co-responsible
    Learning objectives

    The “How to live together? Theories and forms of collective architectures” focuses on the architectures of collective life, from built heritage to urban fragments. Drawing on historical and contemporary examples at different scales, the aim is to examine spatial arrangements in relation to issues of sharing and neighborliness. The production of original drawings is combined with research to produce a truly architectural study.

    – Registration: julien.joly@paris-lavillette.archi.fr // anne.portnoi@paris-lavillette.archi.fr // catherinedeschamps45@yahoo.fr