MBIArch 2010-11 Program Overview

2010-2011

Program Overview

POST-PROFESSIONAL MASTER’S DEGREE IN ARCHITECTURE PROGRAM

LA PEDRERA DE CAIXA CATALUNYA . PASSEIG DE GRÀCIA, 92. 08008 BARCELONA . info@biarch.eu +34 93 542 19 07

POST-PROFESSIONAL MASTER’S DEGREE IN ARCHITECTURE PROGRAM

Trust of the Barcelona Institute Of Architecture

Collaborators

MBIArch 2010-2011 Program Overview

Presentation

The BARCELONA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE (BIArch) is a center for research, practice and dissemination of contemporary architecture. BIArch is an open laboratory for professionals and researchers that promotes new ways of thinking and practicing architecture, in the context of technological, energy, and economic conditions in permanent change.

The academic core of the BARCELONA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE is the MBIArch post-professional master’s degree program.

Covering advanced theoretical research, disciplinary and technical knowledge, as well as other key resources for professional practice, the MBIArch program is aimed at architects interested in exploring the analytical and operative capacities of projects, focusing on conceptual exploration, material conditions, and design production.

The MBIArch program starts in September 2010. The program requires one year of full-time study and is offered entirely in English. A post-professional Master’s degree in Architecture will be awarded upon satisfactory completion of the program by the Barcelona Institute of Architecture and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra.

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MBIArch 2010-2011 Program Overview

Vision

Objectives

ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL FOCUS:

The contents of the MBIArch are based on a contemporary approach to architectural training, which

The MBIArch experience encompasses advanced theoretical and design-based research and production, with the purpose of both attracting and generating architectural intelligence.

OUTSTANDING INTERNATIONAL FACULTY: Program faculty is comprised of leading academics and practitioners from around the world.

UP-TO-DATE CURRICULUM: The MBIArch curriculum covers five areas of study focusing on key issues for contemporary architectural practice: Architectural Design; Urban and Territorial Studies; History, Theory and Criticism; Energy and Building Technologies; Digital Media.

ENVIRONMENT CONDUCIVE TO DESIGN: The program offers access to the action-oriented design culture of Barcelona and to a prestigious network of international architectural experts. The MBIArch provides a truly global outook while keeping a strong local foothold.

combines theoretic concerns and practical research, reflection and analysis based on design processes, a revaluation of craft and efficiency, an emphasis on the local fed by the global, a knowledgeable approach to site and materials, and on developing critical judgement and a capacity for synthesis. Drawing from the rich action-based architectural and urban tradition of Barcelona, as well as from contemporary global perspectives, MBIArch students will develop the necessary skills for exploring the analytical and operative capacities of projects, allowing for a richer, more stable professional perspective.

The MBIArch program extends the architect’s scope of learning to broader areas of territorial analysis and production, energy systems, building technologies, as well as criticism and culture. The program’s open approach combines theory and practice, enabling the exchange of viewpoints and experiences, an interdisciplinary environment, and the use of reflection, debate and design processes as actual working tools.

The syllabus places particular emphasis on architectural design as the basis of professional practice, a vital tool for reinventing current modes of architectural production and urban growth in a way that is coherent and meaningful, taking into account new environmental, social and aesthetic considerations.

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MBIArch 2010-2011 Program Overview

Program Structure The MBIArch program is structured in two distinct phases. The first phase will be analytical and theoretical, establishing a conceptual basis for design production and work through introductory courses and research case studies, as well as critical and design seminars. Following a selective examination period, candidates that complete the first phase satisfactorily will continue on to the second phase of the program, centered on a core Design Studio, design-based research, and operative or technological exploration through projects.

Research and project work developed throughout the academic year will be assessed during the final evaluation sessions.

The program consists of 60 ECTS credits, representing a total of 1500 hours, divided into approximately 620 course hours (consisting of lectures, workshops, debates, examinations, tutorials, presentations, etc.) and approximately 880 hours of self study, considered necessary to carry out assignments and prepare classes and examinations.

MODULES

ECTS

20.0 DESIGN STUDIO

TERRITORIAL & URBAN STUDIES

8.0

URBAN STUDIES ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES

ENERGY & BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES

THEORY, HISTORY & CRITICISM

DIGITAL MEDIA

10.0

8.0

3.0

BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES

CRITICAL SEMINAR

DIGITAL TOOLS & ANALYSIS PRODUCTIVE LAND PROGRAM (PLP)

CROSS-CURRICULAR STUDIES

11.0

Module 1. Architectural Design (20 ECTS) • Materiality • Design Studio Module 2. Territorial and Urban Design (8.5 ECTS) • Urban Studies Module 3. Energy and Building Technologies (10 ECTS) • Energy Technologies • Building Technologies Module 4. Theory, History and Criticism (8.5 ECTS) • Critical Seminars Module 5. Digital Media (3 ECTS) • Digital Tools & Analysis Module 6. Cross-curricular Studies (10 ECTS) • Productive Land Program (PLP) • Open Lectures • Portfolio

SUBJECTS

ECTS

HOURS

Materiality 1 (Toni Gironès)

3.0

75

Materiality 2 (Toni Gironès)

2.0

50

Design Core Studio (I. Ábalos)

9.0

225

Design Studio 1 (David Adjaye)

3.0

75

Design Studio 2 (Stan Allen)

3.0

75

Urban Studies 1 (J. Acebillo)

4.0

100

Urban Studies 2 (J. Acebillo)

4.0

100

Energy Technologies

1.0

25

UNITS

MATERIALITY

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

The syllabus is organized into six thematic modules that have been developed by members of the Board of Directors and the Advisory Council, who will also teach the units with the assistance of regular BIArch instructors and invited lecturers.

Building Technologies 1 (Agustí Obiol)

3.0

75

Building Technologies 2 (Juan Gallostra)

2.0

50

Building Technologies 3 (Agustí Obiol)

2.0

50

Building Technologies 4 (Juan Gallostra)

2.0

50

Critical Seminar 1 (Glòria Moure)

2.5

63

Critical Seminar 2 (P. Vittorio Aureli)

3.0

75

Critical Seminar 3 (Enrique Walker)

2.5

63

Digital Tools & Analysis 1

1.0

25

Digital Tools & Analysis 2

2.0

50

(Joan Roig)

3.0

75

1.0

25

7.0

175

OPEN LECTURES PORTFOLIO

60.0

60.0

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MBIArch 2010-2011 Program Overview

Modules Architectural Design

Digital Media

The pressure brought to bear on design practices by advances in technical knowledge, along with the dissolution of the traditional tasks and instruments brought about by digital technologies is paradoxically leading to a lack of intensity in creative responses, erasing the capacity for true individual expression. Through its focus on Architectural Design, the MBIArch program will operate within this contemporary landscape, resisting complacent design and pushing for a different architecture. Parting from a technical and scientific base, students will question contemporary attitudes towards the environment, while placing particular emphasis on the relationship between architecture and landscape as a source of design intelligence.

What are the opportunities and the limits of digital media and technologies from the point of view of design practices? Moreover, what will be the consequences of their pervasive use and how will the influence the reappraisal of architecture as a discipline in the near future? Within the frame of the MBIArch curriculum, Digital Media will focus on a critical understanding of digital technologies in relation to both practical architectural issues such as visualization, prototyping, energy and structural simulations, as well as more reflective notions of meaning and representation, promoting a clear understanding of how these tools can be put to use in order to open up areas of innovation in architectural processes and design strategies.

Theory, History & Criticism Territorial & Urban Studies A challenging contemporary context is paving the way for a revision of our basic urban and territorial thought processes, in a way that might help us make difficult design and policy decisions for the benefit of our cities. The basis of Territorial & Urban Studies in the frame of the MBIArch program is observation and analysis of the increasingly socio-technical nature of cities, exploring the impact of networks on territorial phenomena and identifying the homeostasis of urban systems, while revealing the shared aspirations that configure our urban ideal.

Cities as connective patterns prove that, in urban discourse, knowledge is also inseparable from action.

The loss of points of reference within design professions demands a deep reflection as to what architecture as a discipline and a field of study needs to be. Once traditional modes of criticism have been exhausted, we are presented with an opportunity to reframe thinking through action, to articulate reflection through design processes.

Theory, History & Criticism will provide MBIArch students the opportunity to focus on the cultural context of architectonic practice and develop the necessary criteria to understand, navigate and act within the current professional environment.

Energy & Building Technologies Moving between buildings and urban or territorial scales, Energy & Building Technologies will focus on energetic sequences of collection, production, storage, distribution and use; with a strong emphasis on renewable energy sources. Focus will also be placed on structural innovations and building technologies, and though simulation and modeling tools will figure prominently as design instruments, the intention is to revert design processes back to fundamental principles such as rationality and efficiency, instead of understanding structure as a means of formal ostentation.

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MBIArch 2010-2011 Program Overview

Additional Program Highlights Productive Land Program (PLP) A deflated economy, the breakdown of public-sector protectionism, the revision of the concept of private interests and the search for new subsistence economies: this is the social framework of the Productive Land Program (PLP), an intensive 3week fieldwork module that will operate on sites where land still has the potential for production.

The program doesn’t focus on the supply side of energy –which produces activity– but on energy that is produced by means of different activities: agriculture, consumption and production. The PLP will offer students a space for on-site research and practical knowledge, and a chance to reconsider the productive capacities of land.

Design and Critical Seminars Design seminars cover four weeks of in-depth focus on architectural analysis or production. During the first phase, design seminars will cover four weeks of lectures oriented to architectural and urban theory in relation to design production, while in the second phase they will concentrate studio work.

Critical seminars are 3-day intensive engagements with visiting faculty, featuring critical approaches to specific contemporary design and theory issues.

Optional Advanced Research (OAR) Students enrolled in the program will have the option to further develop their area of interest through an extended 6-month advanced research phase.

Eligibility to participate in this phase will be on a case-by-case basis and subject to Faculty approval.

Tuition fees for the OAR are not included in the MBIArch Program fees.

Open Lectures Throughout the academic year, the BIArch will host Open Lectures by guest speakers, presenting personal knowledge of their specialities and the conclusions they have drawn from their experience.

Open Lectures constitute ECTS credits, and attendance is compulsory.

Faculty The MBIArch program is supported by an outstanding international faculty, comprised of leading academics and practitioners from around the world. Both permanent and visiting faculty will include members of the Institute’s Board of Directors and Advisory Council.

2010-11 Faculty IÑAKI ÁBALOS, Architect. BIArch Board of Directors; Kenzo Tange Professor at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Professor, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, and Principal of Ábalos+Sentkiewicz Arquitectos, Madrid.

JOSEP ANTON ACEBILLO, Architect. BIArch Board of Directors, Professor at the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, Director of Architecture Urban Systems, Mendrisio, Italy, and Chief Executive Officer at Barcelona Regional, Barcelona.

DAVID ADJAYE, Architect. BIArch Advisory Council, Principal of Adjaye Associates, London.

STAN ALLEN, Architect. BIArch Advisory Council, Dean and Professor at Princeton University School of Architecture, New Jersey, and Principal of SAA/Stan Allen Architect, New York.

PIER VITTORIO AURELI, Architect. Professor at the Berlage Institute, Head of the Capital Cities Research Program and the “The City as a Project” PhD Program, Co-founder of Dogma, Rotterdam.

PEDRO GADANHO, Architect, Professor at the Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto, Editor in Chief of Beyond, Lisbon.

JUAN GALLOSTRA, Engineer. General Director of Grupo JG, Barcelona.

TONI GIRONÈS, Architect. BIArch Board of Directors, Director of Architecture Studies at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Reus, and Principal of Toni Gironès Arquitectes, Barcelona.

HANS IBELINGS, Art historian, architecture critic, and curator. Editor in chief of A10, Amsterdam.

ALEKSANDAR IVANCIC, Engineer, Barcelona Regional, Barcelona.

GLORIA MOURE, Art historian. BIArch Board of Directors, independent editor, art critic and curator, Barcelona.

AGUSTÍ OBIOL, Architect. BIArch Board of Directors, Professor at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Co-founder of BOMA, Barcelona.

JOAN ROIG, Architect. Vice President of the BIArch Board of Directors, partner at Battle i Roig Arquitectes, Barcelona.

ENRIQUE WALKER, Architect. Professor at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Columbia University, New York.

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MBIArch 2010-2011 Program Overview

Assessment And Grading

Resources And Facilities

The MBIArch is a highly demanding program. Fulltime commitment to the program is expected, and minimum attendance (90%) for all compulsory courses and activities will be monitored. Students will continuously be assessed to evaluate their active participation in courses, workshops and other curricular activities. There will be two main assessments: the examination at the end of phase one and the assessment of portfolios in phase two.

Program Facilities BIArch offers a variety of facilities for students enrolled in the MBIArch, including classrooms and workshops, personal workspaces and computer resources.

Program facilities cover a total surface of 1,266 m2 and include: • A permanent study room with capacity for 30 students (150 m2)

All MBIArch students are evaluated based on a single grading system. Each course instructor is responsible for the evaluation of the student’s performance in that course. The selected course evaluation system (written exam, papers or essays to be turned in, design work, studio project, etc.) will be announced in the first session of the course.

Practical assignments will involve both individual and team work.

• Two seminar rooms (each of 80 m2) • A multipurpose hall (115 m2) • A model workshop (120 m2)

Candidates that satisfactorily complete the first phase of the program and the first period of examinations scheduled for December will continue on to the second phase. Research and project work developed throughout the academic year will be assessed by an academic jury during the final evaluation sessions.

Portfolio The evaluation of the personal portfolio –including samples of the work carried out in different program units, courses, and, studios– will be the single most important instance of assessment in the program.

The portfolio will contain graphic documentation, design samples, critical and theoretical essays or papers, and other work carried out as part of the program. The Board of Directors will select five outstanding portfolios, which will be presented to an international panel of guest critics.

STUDENT WORKSPACE SEMINAR ROOMS MULTIPURPOSE HALL FACULTY STAFF *

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+ 120 m2 MODEL WORKSHOP

MBIArch 2010-2011 Program Overview

Location Program facilities are housed in the IDEC building of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, ideally situated in the heart of the Eixample district, a few minutes walking distance from La Pedrera, with easy access to public transportation and services.

DI

PROVENÇA

MAL LORC A

AL

PA S S E I G D E G R À C I A

BALMES

ROSEL LÓ

ON

IDEC R A M B L A D E C ATA L U N YA

C Ò R S EG A

AG

LA PEDRERA

1K m

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MBIArch 2010-2011 Program Overview

La Pedrera The Casa Milà, also known as “La Pedrera” is the official head office of the Barcelona Institute of Architecture. The building, designed by Antoni Gaudí and completed in 1910, has belonged to the Caixa Catalunya and has been the headquarters of its Social Work since 1986. La Pedrera is a major cultural center and one of the city’s key reference points, hosting various activities and exhibitions.

All of BIArch’s public events and activities, including Open Lectures, Dialogues, Seminars, and Advisory Council meetings will be held at this location.

Libraries Students enrolled in the program enjoy full access –including consultation and work spaces and the option to borrow materials– to the library of the Col·legi d’Arquitectes de Catalunya (Architect’s Institute of Catalonia).

The COAC Library is one of the largest and most important libraries in Europe specializing in architecture and design, with a total of around 180,000 volumes distributed in five territorial departments. The Barcelona library holds 73,000 books and periodicals, as well a large collection of video and digital media, databases, and other information resources.

Students will also have access to the libraries of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra.

Students will have access to a computer lab with workstation PCs provided by the Institute, yet they are expected to have their own computers (preferably a portable laptop) for a range of work including communications, Internet use, and specific design applications.

BIArch will offer access to and/or temporary licenses for 2D/3D modeling, simulations, calculation, GIS, image processing, animation and rendering, and desktop publishing software, as well as on-campus wireless Internet access.

Students will also be able to connect to the BIArch network, which provides access to the Institute’s Intranet, document libraries, online resources (document libraries, image galleries, calendars, discussion boards, etc) and personal email accounts.

Model Making and Presentation Resources Program facilities include a 120m2 fully-equipped model workshop, offering technical assistance and equipment to construct models and prototypes, as well as small power tools and digital prototyping resources. The model workshop will be open to all MBIArch students, who will go through a brief introductory session at the beginning of the first semester.

Students will also have access to other presentation resources such as B&W and color printers, plotters, digital imaging equipment (scanners, digital cameras, video editing applications), desktop publishing software and photocopiers.

Technology and Computer Resources Opening Hours Computing has become an integral part of design and architectural practice, and BIArch is committed to providing students with the latest in advanced design technologies, information resources and computing tools. Faculty and staff constantly review software needs and requirements. Within the context of the curriculum, the Digital Media module helps students keep up-to-date in terms of both training and evaluating the potential and the implications of digital technologies.

BIArch’s administrative office is open Monday to Friday, from 8 am to 6 pm. The office is closed on public holidays.

Program facilities will be open Monday through Friday from 8 am to 10 pm and Saturdays from 8 am to 2 pm. Opening hours will be extended during certain periods, such as preparation for reviews and exams.

Opening hours for libraries and other facilities can be consulted directly through the corresponding websites.

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MBIArch 2010-2011 Program Overview

FAQ Q: Why is the MBIArch considered a “post-professional” degree program?

Q: What is the working language of the program and

A: To qualify for the MBIArch program, candidates must have completed a professional program in architecture (or they must be current students due to receive their degree in 2010), which means they should have covered the requirements for professional licensing in the country in which the degree was granted.

A: English is the official language of the BIArch. All applicants whose first language is not English are required to prove English proficiency. Applicants must submit test scores from an internationally recognized English language test with their application package. A waiver may be granted if applicants demonstrate that they have worked and/ or studied in English-speaking environments.

Q: Are MBIArch students expected to choose a single area of specialization?

A: No. MBIArch students most cover all five areas of study that the program offers. All courses and studios described in the syllabus are compulsory and required to complete the MBIArch degree program.

Q: What is the profile of an MBIArch candidate?

A: Through our selection process, we have defined a student profile that demonstrates overall academic excellence. The program is aimed at talented professionals with the necessary vision and skill to significantly impact their respective fields of expertise; action-oriented individuals with a strong intellectual drive and potential to excel in both research and design. Candidates should also reflect the program’s international mindset and prove their proficiency in English.

what are are the language proficiency requirements?

Q: Will MBIArch students be able have job on the side or dedicate themselves to other activities throughout the duration of program?

A: The MBIArch is a full-time program. The dedication required to complete course and studio work, both in terms of the intensive class schedule and afterclass work and study requirements, does not allow for work or professional activities outside of the program.

Q: What type work will I be expected to develop within the program?

A: The MBIArch is a design-based program.

Assignments will vary based on the faculty and type of course, and certain courses or seminars might require written papers and exams, but the larger part of the work will be based on actual design production, studio work and project development.

Assessments will be based on a combination of portfolio samples, exams, studio reviews, and course participation.

Contact Information For more information, please visit

www.biarch.eu Other inquiries may be directed to

info@biarch.eu BIArch Barcelona Institute of Architecture Passeig de Gràcia, 92 08008 Barcelona, Spain +34 93 542 19 07

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