MORE THAN GREEN

International Summer Course (by the sea)

University of Alicante, Spain. 15-26th July 2013

summercourse.morethangreen.es

“Sustainability is not just an environmental issue but, and above all, a social, cultural and economic one. This urban design course proposes a complex incursion within the subject of sustainability understood not only as a problem but as an opportunity to meet new approaches to the city in a creative, innovative, playful and unprejudiced way.”

1_Objectives

I               To build a knowledge frame –examples of good practices told by guest experts- where students take consciousness of the importance of broadening their understanding of sustainability according to the new world policies.

II              To create a typical multicultural situation of an international course where students coming from different places exchange their various backgrounds and modes of undertaking the sustainable urban project. The diversity of the faculties contributes to enrich this situation.

2_ Contents

2013 SUSTAINABLE REALITIES

“Wanna be sustainable? Play with me!”

The course takes its basis on an open criticism to the usual “only green” approach for the construction of our future sustainable cities by offering a much wider, complex and playful perspective at the same time. This attitude goes through understanding reality from four different points of view: cultural, social, economic and environmental. This ideology is not new; it is the one defended by the world leaders under their new global policies which, soon, will become mandatory in our countries. Likewise, this ideology structures the course itself.

Why the cities? Simply because they are the problem but not the solution. Vision about sustainability must go beyond its built form and visible systems. The city is also its people, their relationships, history, culture, identity, economic interests. It is not only the city that must be sustainable; it must be, above all, REALITY, understood in the broader sense of the word.

On the other hand, the playful aspect of the work itself turns to be fundamental to go beyond the “a priori” and architectural prejudices. Only a more uninhibited and creative vision on sustainability can help us to build a closer and possible future.

Students will combine the design of a team project –about an specific case- with the supervision of guest experts and their master classes.

3_ Methodology

Teaching experts and well-known professionals on sustainability will join the experience. These will assist the students in their project development as well as nourishing them with theoretical contents, personal experiences and references of good practices corresponding to every specific thematic area. 

And all this, within a flexible course structure that allows the combination of master classes, teamwork, project reviews and, also, free time.  

4_Course planning

Lenght: 2 weeks

Welcome/presentation: 2 hours
Lectures: 8 days x 4 hours = 32 hours
Project review: 2 days x 5h = 10 hours
Final review+ Closing Event: 6 hours

5_ Faculty

Environmental Sustainability

TRANSSOLAR: Matthias Schuler (Harvard GSD)

Matthias Schuler is Adjunct Professor of Environmental Technology at Harvard GSD. He has held the position of Lecturer in Architecture at the GSD since 2001, teaching courses in sustainability and climate engineering.

In addition to teaching at the GSD, he has also taught at the University of Stuttgart and University of Limerick.

In 1992, Schuler founded Transsolar in Stuttgart, Germany , now a leading provider of consulting services on developing sustainable design strategies for buildings. The firm has a strong technical basis, and commonly performs highly sophisticated computational simulations (e.g., thermal, lighting) for concept validations. Schuler has worked with a large number of well-known architects in the field on high-profile projects. Among others, he has collaborated on projects by the following: Herzog/de Meuron (Parrish Art Museum, Topeak Towers); Stephen Holl (Linked Hybrid, Herning Art Museum); Behnisch, Behnisch and Partners (Nord LB, Skylofts, etc.); Jean Nouvel (Musee de la Mer, Philharmonie Paris, Louvre Abu Dhabi); Gehry Design Architects (Novartis, Museum of Tolerance, World Trade Center Performing Arts Center, etc.); Murphy/Jahn (New Bangkok International Airport, Posttower, etc.) and OMA (Center for Performing Arts, Museum Plaza). His design solutions are always innovative, and backed up by massive analytical simulation studies that confirm their effectiveness. Recently his activities have moved beyond the building scale and he is now working on energy and comfort solutions at the urban master plan level, like the carbon-neutral Masdar development in Abu Dhabi in conjunction with Foster + Partners.

www.transsolar.com

Cultural Sustainability

URBAN-THINK TANK: Alfredo Brillembourg (ETH Zurich)

Alfredo Brillembourg began his Venezuela-based architecture practice in 1992. The following year he founded Urban-Think Tank in Caracas, and since then has been a guest professor at the University Jose Maria Vargas, the University Simon Bolivar, and the Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV). Since 2007, Brillembourg has been a guest professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation where he cofounded the Sustainable Living Urban Model Laboratory in collaborations with Hubert Klumpner. He has more than 20 years of experience practicing architecture and urban design, and has lectured on architecture at Harvard GSD, AEDES in Berlin, University of Miami School of Architecture, the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam, Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo in Sao Paulo, and UCLA. Since May 2010, Brillembourg has held the chair for architecture and urban design at the Eldgenössische Technische Hochschule Zurich in Switzerland . He is the coauthor of Informal City: Caracas Case and Rules of Engagement: Caracas and the Informal City. Brillembourg holds degrees from Columbia University and UCV.

http://www.u-tt.com/

Social Sustainability

ECOSISTEMA URBANO: Belinda Tato + Jose Luis Vallejo (Harvard GSD)

Belinda Tato and Jose Luis Vallejo are architects and founding members of Ecosistema Urbano, a Madrid based group of architects and urban designers operating within the fields of urbanism, architecture, engineering and sociology. We define our approach as urban social design by which we understand the design of environments, spaces and dynamics in order to improve self-organization of citizens, social interaction within communities and their relationship with the environment. 

At the moment, Ecosistema Urbano is working on several urban proposals for different cities and their most recent projects include the design of an interactive public space for the Shanghai World Expo 2010, an experimental urban playground in Dordrecht (Netherland), the “Ecopolis Plaza” a waste to resources building on the outskirts of Madrid and the project dreamhamar for Hamar (Norway) a network design project for the future of the main public space of the city. 

Since 2000, they have received more than 30 awards in national and international architecture design competitions and during the last four years their work has been covered by more than 100 media (national and international press, television programs, and specialized publications) from 30 countries, and their projects have been exhibited at multiple galleries, museums and institutions.

In parallel, ecosistema urbano is running a platform that develops social networks and manages online channels around the subject of creative urban sustainability (ecosistemaurbano.com). Ecosistema develops social software, exploring the new possibilities technology offers to empower people and improve social connectivity and interaction. 

www.ecosistemaurbano.com   

@ecosistema

Economic Sustainability

PLAYstudio: Iván Capdevila Castellanos + Vicente Iborra Pallarés (University of Alicante)

PLAY perfoms as a KNOWLEDGE COMMUNITY or, in other words, as an open collaborative platform between several research fields related with the architectural production. 
Its work field embraces sustainability from architecture, urbanism and design, as well as political actions consultancy and cultural management.
The investigation of new realities is part of its PROFESSIONAL, RESEARCH AND TEACHING work, understanding these three meanings as an only entity.
PLAY uses software as a permanent tool of visualization, edition, measurement, analysis and monitoring of energetic and constructive process, as well as social and cultural. In the same way, the systematic use of new programming language enables new interactions between services / products and their costumers. 

At  the moment, PLAYstudio is developing three main projects in different countries: Spain, Austria and Norway. These include social housing, urban planning and landscaping.

Iván Capdevila and Vicente Iborra have been visiting, studying and teaching since 2003 in different universities around the globe: the Bartlett (London), KEA (Copenhagen), TUM (Munich), Soongsil University (Seoul). Nowadays, they are both teaching at the University of Alicante (Spain).

Their works have been widely published in architecture magazines and shown in different cities all around Europe.

www.playstudio.es

6_Free time

Within the course structure, it is programmed a considerable amount of free time. The students can make use of this time for visiting other Spanish or European cities due to the strategic location of our airport, as well as visiting some interesting spots of our surroundings.

The University of Alicante, in parallel, will offer the students alternative trips and visits within our city and province. 

COLLABORATORS