UMEÅ UNIVERSITY
UMEÅ SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
STUDIO 12
THE SCIENCE AND CRAFT OF BUILDING:
PERFORMATIVE LANDSCAPES
Man-made Geographies (2022-2023)
Regenerative Eco.Infrastructures & New Cultural Grounds (2021-2022)
Tectonic Performance (2020-2021)
Performative Landscapes (2019-2020)
Tectonic Landscapes (2018-2019)
Social Landscapes (2017-2018)



Studio12: Performative Landscapes 2019-20
MA Programme, Umeå School of Architecture, Umeå University.
Studio Responsible: Alejandro Haiek
Tutors: Carl-Johan Vesterlund, Rocío Pina

Technical assistance: Håkan Hansson, Kent Brodin, Sven- Erik Hilberer

UMA4: Petter Henfridsson, Marcus Hägglund, Fabiana Polichetti, Raffaele Errichiello, Fredrik Ahlqvist, Therese Nygard, Julia Herbert, Gene Pietro, Archibeck, Jesper Haglund, Rebecca Rudolph, Emelie Wendelstig, Anneli Zetterström, Elena Gonsalve Guisado, Chiara Lombardi, Thea Salomonsson, Louis Cassier, Giulia Cavallo, Birger Ekstedt, Gabriella Magnusson, Nicole Parsi, Nils-Petter Martin Smedsén, Miquel Debón Villagrasa, Ninos Merza, Dennis Sundqvist, Matilda Thorup
UMA5: Johan Björn, Carolina Carsjö, Elnaz Heshmati Farid Abbasi, August Edwards, Rebecka Littbrand, Ellinor Lopez Hannu, Ann-Christine Forsberg, Anders Gidlund, Alexander Jansson, Johanna Lundström, Stina Nordström, Anna Hellsing, Sofie Ersson, Anna Jansson, Sam Nemati, Martin Törnquist, Emma Wretman


Performative Landscapes
Tectonics in architecture relates to the science of construction. Yet the notion
of Tectonics raises construction to an art form, through the symbiosis of technical requirements and creative design. The Studio applyd a wide set of suitable artistic and architectural methods: Geometry, patterns, modular structures, construction, fabrication systems, material explorations, local traditions, cultural heritage and social sustainability constitute an innovative
field of research to identify the physical limits of architecture as an advanced
creative discipline. Introducing new hybrid conditions to the built environment.

The studio agenda develop new languages, morphologies and atmospheres using tectonic expression and its relation with time, through temporary and permanent design parameters. Combining building science and artistic processes, the studio becomes a platform to explore methods that allow us to learn by making, design by testing and explore by research.

The studio will develop a strong technical agenda. It will focus on structure as a fundamental component of architecture; a skeleton that allows buildings to be situated in its context. The structure will be understood as the building’s DNA. The studio will reflect on the performance of buildings investigating material behaviours, building science and environmental impacts. The project in the Fall term concentrate on Self-supported Modular Structures, exploring flexible components, assembly logics and the underlying mechanics of materiality. In the Spring term, these are developed into complex Construction Systems, leading to a more consciously socio- ecological way of building.



Studio Agenda
Geopolitical, social, and environmental concerns was the context of our exploration during the year, where we tested infrastructures for engagement able to host life of humans and non-human species. The studio operated as a support for advocacy projects focusing on social and environmental reengineering. The studio started by analysing pattern geographies: territories, ecologies, industries and regional inhabitation, addressing how they can be affected by architecture and spatial design from the molecular to the planetary scale. Students generated architectural and territorial design proposals, developing supportive infrastructures and regional visions. Studio 12 stands on a strong technical agenda. The project in the Fall term concentrated on temporal devices of engagement, exploring flexible components, fast assembly logics and the underlying mechanics of materiality. In the Spring term these explorations developed into complex living systems, leading to new socio-ecological models of inhabitation. The complementary agendas provided a wider understanding of available human and environmental resources and technological possibilities.


Studio Methodology
The studio implemented a methodology of learning by making, thereby integrating new knowledge into a practicable design proposal. The studio developed preparatory technical and professional research and studies through experimentation and testing. The Studio operated as a research platform combining digital and analogical design methods, using open-source technologies and traditional building techniques.
The studio unfolded a comprehensive number of physical models, mock-ups, and prototypes, building a library of experiments able to lead the research progressively to a fully resolved design.
Through a continuous dialogue between artistic production and technical expertise the projects expanded in a holistic comprehension of the science and craft of building.
TECTONIC EXPLORATION
MATERIAL EXPLORATION
In Studio 12, the whole life of a building is discussed. The students investigate how buildings age, pass away and degrade, proposing methods for dismantling and transforming its components for new uses. The fascination for structures of fast assemblage is as potent as for infrastructures of legacy.
The building systems produced in Studio 12 compile an atlas of tools and handcraftsmanship, creating a valuable collective document of cultural heritage preservation, environmental impact and socially sustainable principles.
Studio 12 | Tectonic Performance is not a parametric Studio. The Studio democratize design tools by demystifying digital fabrication and parametricism. It provide a field for innovation to review the physical and operational limits of Architecture: manually produced or technologically assisted.
Operating in-between, traditions and science merge to preserve artisanal technics and an ethical perspective of the Industry. The studio recognize technological implementations as parameters of a complex understanding of the built.
The exercises have been producing alternative methods that cross fluidly between the physical and digital world providing a wide range of variables and technological approaches.
The studio opens up an honest discussion about the time of building: from fast assembling fascination to infrastructures of legacy. The research projects get deep into how buildings age, dismantle or disappear, mindfully reflecting about cultural heritage preservation and environmental impact.
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tutors
  • Alejandro Haiek
    founder & studio leader
  • Carl-Johan Vesterlund
    Studio tutor
  • Rocío Pina
    studio tutor
contact
  • Alejandro Haiek Coll
    MSc Architect // PhD. Candidate at Universitá di Genova.
    Affiliate researcher at RISE - Research institute of Sweden.
    Lecturer at Umeå School of Architecture, Umeå University
    SE-90187 Umeå, Sweden
    +46 73 380 39 26
    alejandro.haiek@umu.se

    www.labprofab.org
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