BUILDING RELATIONAL SPACES

Building Relational Spaces is an inquiry into the capacity of architecture to construct open, community-supportive, and responsive spaces that challenge the linearity of building and planning processes, – insisting on giving space and relevance to the vulnerable and un-represented in urban development.

This practice-based research is a reflection on architecture in relation to the social and temporal communities, unfolding around it and weaving together with it. The research is structured as a dynamic process – based on reflections on selected projects from the architectural-artistic practice of Gitte Juul – where one project develops and leads into the next in this analysis.

The research aims to contribute with knowledge about the role and significance of architecture in society through an interdisciplinary study of different forms of becoming. It designates the approach Situated Planning to challenge the power relations and the principle that architects – through representations – are shaping our surroundings before acting in them. To understand and develop this specific approach – and to demonstrate its relevance for the thinking and making of architecture – the research uses examples from practice, merged with artistic and theoretical reflection as its main research material and focus, based on the model ‘Practice Driven Research.’

It points out topics and stimulates interests for further investigations and learning, aiming at bridging academic research, teaching and architectural/artistic practice. It intends to show how architecture and planning can direct the attention towards the perspectives and values of the livelihoods that people create and change over time, and thereby possibly create an opportunity for architects and planners to see new strategies for dealing with what cannot be planned for, but only searched for.

Supervisors

Prof. MSO, Claus Peder Pedersen, Arkitektskolen Aarhus
Prof. Dr., Tadeja Zupančič, Ljubljana University, Faculty of Architecture

This PhD project was a part of Adapt-r ITN

Adapt-r ITN was a creative practice research model funded by EU, Marie Curie ITN funding. It aimed to train creative practice researchers in the explication and dissemination of tacit knowledge and latent cognitive resources to build a new generation of research-led practitioners able to meet the complex and often competing demands of contemporary Europe.

Supervisors

• Lektor, Claus Peder Pedersen, Arkitektskolen Aarhus
• Associate Professor, Tadeja Zupancic, Ljubljana University, Faculty of Architecture

Ph.d.-projektet finansieres delvist af Adapt-r*, Arkitektskolen Aarhus, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Architecture og er delvist privat finansieret af Gitte Juul.

*Adapt-r er en kreativ model for praksisforskning finansieret af EU, Marie Curie ITN Funding. Modellen sigter efter at uddanne kreative praksis-forskere til at forklare og udbrede uformel viden og latente kognitive ressourcer, med det formål at skabe en ny generation af forsknings-drevne udøvere af arkitektur, som er i stand til at imødekomme de komplekse og ofte rivaliserende krav der gør sig gældende i dagens Europa.