Projet d'architecture 3.19 : OOT - Out of Town

The OOT - Out Of Town design unit  is a “vertical studio” of Architecture Design open to Bachelor students (see the dedicated syllabus: 3.19), Master 1 (see the dedicated syllabus: 4.19) and Master 2 (see the dedicated syllabus: 5.19).

Today, the processes of urbanization go far beyond the framework of urban and metropolitan agglomerations, profoundly transforming cultivated fields, tropical forests, deserts, oceans, etc. The scale of these processes has continued to grow over the past fifty years. Cities have moved from dependence on their immediate environment to an increasingly extensive reliance on territories and networks, connected by intertwined and proliferating supply chains. This dependence, often asymmetrical, ends up modifying the Earth’s ecologies.
OOT - Out Of Town point of departure is that the ability of architecture and urban planning to act on these challenges requires a precise and situated knowledge of the diversity of situations that manifest themselves outside our agglomerations, in the outskirts of cities, in environments that are often far from our sight, but which directly support our lives. Can we still describe them as “rural”, as subordinate places, haunted by a past that tends to boycott their progress? Can they still be set aside when they are shaken up by contemporary dynamics of global interconnectivity and exploitation?

The theme of this academic year 2024–25 is “rare earths”, a term we use as a metaphor for architecture’s entanglement in global ecological challenges. The term “rare earths” was itself born out of an ambivalence: they are “earths”, i.e. chemical oxides like those found on the Earth’s crust, available everywhere. They are also “rare” because of the small amount of metals they contain, which also requires ridiculously large amounts of energy to extract. And they have become even rarer because of the enormous quantities of these metals that the current energy transition requires as well as the few places where they are in sufficient concentration to make their exploitation feasible. How can “rare earths” be used as a trickster to reshape the current high energy and consumption dominant narrative into a more modest one of how to live with the earth, reconciling these places of unbridled exploitation and resilient agency with the past and present practices of their peasants (in the traditional sense of local inhabitants),  human and non-human, our potential allies, to rework ourselves and our discipline in an adaptive way? OOT - Out Of Town addresses this undertaking in the framework of NeRu (newruralities.eu), an Erasmus+ cooperation partnership (2022–25) between 6 European universities: ULB, Politecnico di Torino (Italy), Universidade da Coruña (Spain), Universidade do Minho (Portugal), Universitet Po Architektura Stroitelstvo I Geodezija of Sofia (Bulgaria), as well as ETH Zürich (Switzerland).

Our place of exploration starts from an abandoned mine, Monte Neme (Malpica, Spain), and a square observation area 25 km long around it, between Bergantiños and the Death’s Coast, also in Galicia. The history of Galician mining dates back to prehistoric times, around 1800 BC, with the introduction and consolidation of bronze metallurgy (an amalgam of 90% copper and 10% tin, although sometimes arsenic or lead were used too). Since that period, the profit from the mineral deposits (gold, silver, iron, copper, tin, tungsten, lead, etc.) that populated this territory has been maintained, even if only intermittently, till today, with the activation of what are called “new mines” (quarry products such as granite and slate, and industrial minerals).

Mining is present in practically all human activities since, except for wood and natural fibres, all the materials used for our development are of mineral origin. Indeed, in the EU, between 5 and 10 tonnes on average of mineral products are extracted from the ground are consumed annually per person. That said, the attention we will pay to the mining activity inevitably overflows into consideration of all other activities that are fundamentally extractive of natural resources (stocks of raw materials) that take place in this territory, such as wind turbines, eucalyptus trees for paper pulp, water (for energy or food), etc. As well as on the demands of the inhabitants of rural areas and the socio-environmental conflicts that result as to prevent the same places from always being forced to “swallow the brown”, entering a spiral of environmental degradation that leads them to decline, without any possibility of recovery.

Dedicated page on the website of the Faculty of Architecture La Cambre Horta: https://archi.ulb.be/version-francaise/les-etudes/ateliers-et-options/oot-out-of-town

OOT - Out Of Town participates in the improvement of the specific learning outcomes expected within the Architectural Project courses, as included in the evaluation grid for the Bachelor juries (see downloadable file below):

• Spatial dimensioning
• Architectural composition
• Uses
• Scales
• Materiality
• Oral and graphic presentation

In addition, the Bachelor students will be invited to focus on the theme of “vernacular architecture and landscape”.

Required and corequired courses

The OOT - Out Of Town design unit’s pedagogy is built around the spatial project as a dialogical and research device. Two weekly sessions are planned, alternately dedicated to structured communications by the teaching staff, contributions from external guests, site or exhibition visits, and short, very formatted exercises (e.g. reading seminar, “design sprints” for developing a well-defined project, etc.), group discussions, individual and/or group work sessions, “correction” or CRITS sessions of assignments, as well as participation in cultural events outside the time assigned to the course sessions (conferences, ...). Their purpose, modalities, and deadlines are communicated during the course, and they help to assess every student’s skills individually. The presentation of this work is the subject of constructive evaluations. All these activities ultimately culminate each semester into the production of a spatial project, made in groups or individually, dealing with the transformation of a given situation.

References, bibliography, and recommended reading

Here is a list of books and articles feeding into the OOT - Out Of Town’s teaching activities:

• Beramendi, Justo (2016). Historia mínima de Galicia. Une viaje en el tiempo por los lugares, los hechos y los protagonistas de la historia de Galicia. Turner Publicaciones S.L.
• Berger, John (1992) Pig Earth. 1st Vintage International ed. New York: Vintage international. [in the library]
• Center for Sustainability Circular Industries Hub (2022), “White paper: Critical materials, green energy and geopolitics: a complex mix”, LINK
• Criado-Boado, Felipe (2016) “Ya no somos el paisaje que fuimos: continuidad, tradición y destrucción del paisaje”, in Maria Somoza (ed.) Paisajes habitados. Talleres de exploración y representación del territorio, Colectivo Re.Creo, pp. 31-35. LINK
• Debaise, Didier, and Isabelle Stengers (2017) “The Insistence of the Possible: For a Speculative Pragmatism.” Multitudes (Paris, France) 65.4: 82–89. LINK
• Evans Pim, Joám (2021) “‘Galiza Is (Not) a Mine’: Rural Responses to pro-Extractivist Policies.” Araucaria (Triana) 23.48 (2021): 441–466. LINK
• Fressoz, Jean-Baptiste (2024) Sans transition : une nouvelle histoire de l’énergie. Paris: Éditions du Seuil.
• Fressoz, Jean Baptiste (2023) « L’énergie: une histoire symbiotique ». Histoire & mesure 38.1: 153‑155. LINK
• Izoard, Celia (2024) La Ruée minière au XXIe siècle. Enquête sur les métaux à l'ère de la transition. Paris: Éditions du Seuil.
• Koolhaas, R.; Bantal, S. (2020) Countryside: A Report (exhibition catalogue: Guggenheim Museum). Taschen. [in the library]
• Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt, ed. (2017) Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. [in the library]
• Uyttenhoven, P., Vanbelleghem, D., Van Bouwel, I., Nottenboom, B., Debergh, R., Willequet, B. (2018) Recollecting Landscapes - Rephotography, Memory and Transformation 1904–1980-2004-2014. Roma Publications. [in the library] See also the website, http://www.recollectinglandscapes.be/en-general
• Woods, M. (2010) Rural. New York: Routledge. [in the library]
• European Environmental Bureau & Friends of the Earth (2021) “‘Green mining’ is a myth: the case for cutting EU resource consumption”, LINK
• Ingold, Tim (2007) Lines: A Brief History. London; Routledge. [in the library]
• Nieto-Romero, M, C Parra, and B Bock (2021) “Re-Building Historical Commons: How Formal Institutions Affect Participation in Community Forests in Galicia, Spain.” Ecological economics 188: 107112-. LINK
• Núñez-Delgado, Avelino, Esperanza álvarez-Rodríguez, and David Fernández-Calviño (2023) The Environment in Galicia: A Book of Images: Galician Environment Through Images. Cham: Springer International Publishing. LINK
• Simón, Xavier, Damián Copena, and María Montero (2019) “Strong Wind Development with No Community Participation. The Case of Galicia (1995–2009).” Energy policy 133: 110930-. LINK
• Roseman, Sharon (2003) “Spaces of Production, Memories of Contention: An Account of Local Struggle in Late-20th Century Rural Galicia (Spain).” Dialectical anthropology 27.1: 19–45. LINK
• Piñero, Pablo et al. “Unequal Raw Material Exchange between and within Countries: Galicia (NW Spain) as a Core-Periphery Economy.” Ecological economics 172 (2020): 106621-. LINK
• Santos, Xosé M, and María De Los Ángeles Piñeiro-Antelo. “Landscape and Power: The Debate around Ugliness in Galicia (Spain).” Landscape research 45.7 (2020): 841–853. LINK
• Swagemakers, Paul, Maria Dolores Dominguez Garcia, and Johannes S.C Wiskerke. “Socially-Inclusive Development and Value Creation: How a Composting Project in Galicia (Spain) ‘Hit the Rocks.’” Sustainability 10.6 (2018): 2040-. LINK

Course notes

• Syllabus

Additional information

Language of instruction:

The OOT - Out Of Town unit is taught mainly in English, an opportunity for those wishing to improve their language skills at home (or as preparation for an international mobility program). However, French may be used as a second language if necessary. No English language level is required for participation in the OOT - Out Of Town unit, but a C1 level of the European Language Passport self-assessment grid is recommended (see grid). In addition, in order to facilitate the integration of the student community from abroad, Spanish (Nadia Casabella) and Italian (Benoît Burquel) can be used.

Contacts

Teaching team:

S1= 1st term: Nadia Casabella & Benoît Burquel
S2= 2nd term: Nadia Casabella & Sofie Devriendt

Contact(s)

nadia.casabella@ulb.be

Campus

Outside campus ULB

Method(s) of evaluation

• Project

Project

Two methods of evaluation are planned:

1. Ongoing “formative” evaluations of the work provided by the students (consisting of in-between submissions, on agreed dates, of the progress of design research, both group and individual work) and their active and engaged participation during the studio sessions. These formative evaluations will be communicated throughout the year, at the end of the key moments, adding up at the end of the first term. The obtained grades will allow the students to “place” themselves in their formative trajectory throughout the year. The faculty reserves the right to overestimate or underestimate formative grades for pedagogical reasons, mainly to motivate students.
2. “Certifying” evaluations at the end of each term. The semester and year grade of the OOT - Out Of Town unit will result from the certifying grades’ arithmetic average obtained during the year, weighted when needed.

During some of these evaluation moments, the teaching staff forms a “jury”, composed of invited personalities with diverse profiles. The students will present their work to this jury, which will evaluate it. This jury is separate from the deliberation jury, which is composed solely of the faculty's teaching staff. Such a “jury” aims to confront the students with their peers and eventual commissioners, and to objectify the acquisition of knowledge relevant to the professional and societal contexts.

The work of the B.Arch-3 and M.Arch-2 students (diploma years) must also meet the evaluation criteria shared by all the faculty's design units.

Mark calculation method (including weighting of intermediary marks)

As a continuation of the previous section, “formative” evaluations do not contribute arithmetically to the construction of the grade.

The design unit grade is built exclusively on the “certifying” evaluations, which will measure the progress and the ability of the students to acquire the expected knowledge. The certifying evaluations are weighted as follows:

S1 certifying evaluation: 40% of the final grade

• Semester 1 (or Fall semester): 40% (mark awarded by the unit instructors in consideration of the cognitive AND behavioural skills demonstrated by each student). A “jury” will be organized at the end of the S1 and will constitute a “formative” evaluation that the instructors will consider in the calculation of the semester “certifying” grade.

S2 certifying evaluation: 60% of the final grade

• Semester 2 (or Spring semester): 30% (mark given by the unit instructors in consideration of the cognitive AND behavioural skills demonstrated by each student);
• SIP: 5%
• Final jury: 25% (mark awarded by the unit instructors and the members of the “jury” on the basis of the BA3 jury evaluation grid and the corresponding teaching profile)

B.Arch-3 students attending only S2 will be assigned the S2 grade as the final grade, weighted as follows:

• Semester 2 (or Spring semester): 57.5% of the final grade (mark awarded by the teachers in consideration of the cognitive AND behavioural skills demonstrated by the student);
• SIP: 2.5%
• Final jury: 40% of the final mark (mark awarded by the unit instructors and the members of the “jury” on the basis of the BA3 jury evaluation grid and the corresponding teaching profile)

The cognitive skills assessed are those included in the "Bachelor of Architecture" teaching profile under the titles:

• A. To investigate an architectural question;
• B. To develop a situated spatial response;
• C. To interact with all stakeholders.

Behavioural skills are – in addition to regularity, participation, progress, respect for deadlines and instructions, care and a constructive and respectful attitude towards the collective – those targeted by the Teaching Profile of the ULB Bachelor's Degree in Architecture, in terms of  the training of students capable of making committed choices and acting in confidence.

Language(s) of evaluation

• english
• partially in english
• (if applicable french )