Poiesis of Place, Inhabiting the Edge – Domesticating the Terrain

Course Description

An international summer course in a remote part of Iceland with Juhani Pallasmaa as principle guest lecturer.

The course explores the concept of living at the intersection of human settlement and nature; the urban and the edge.  We will explore natural and cultural landscapes in relation to social networks and the spatial morphology of habitation in rural and semi-urban settlements.

This  course will take place in a e remote, privately operated nature and heritage centre at Skálanes (http://www.skalanes.is), on the east coast of Iceland from 14-22 of August. The course is designed for MA Level/ post-graduate students in architecture as well as in the humanities and social sciences. The course counts for 10 ECTS credit units, combining online study with a nine-day study period, including  field trips, activities and excursions on location. Teaching is provided by Icelandic lecturers in architecture and guest lecturers,  the architect Juhani Pallasmaa and the philosopher Dr. Bjorn Thorsteinsson.

Along with a study of the local nature reserve, we will examine the historically affluent and cosmopolitan 19th-century small town of Seyðisfjörður; its environs and amenities, cultural context and material reality and explore the morphology of spatial relations to allow for experimenting with new forms for the articulation of space.

Seyðisfjörður, a small settlement of distinct older timber buildings, is now a place of renewed cultural interest hosting a lively art scene attracting numerous visitors each summer.   Coupled with the fact that it now harbours the only scheduled passenger ferry between Iceland and continental Europe, this makes it a prime location to study the interaction of resident and visiting social networks leading to a larger discourse on the social construction of space in the larger urban context. We will look at the built environment in relation to time and scale, the interaction of the human body and nature, the relationship of social and cultural networks with the built and urban settlements and the influence of local and global networks on the local social and spatial context. Obliquely, the global reference of the hydropower station at Kárahnjúkar raises poignant questions of vulnerability, global capital and energy networks to the local context.

By exploring the interrelationship of the social, the built environment and nature, the course aims to explore research methods and analysis of spatial relations to further the understanding of the continuous and manifold interactions of culture and nature.

Highlights

We will partake in a dialogue with Juhani Pallasmaa and study the theories of the architecture of the seven senses, applying these to our local context by exploring the intimacy of nature trying our hand at vernacular methods of turf construction. We hope to travel to the mountainous highlands and visit the macro-scale transformation of the landscape around Kárahnjúkar power station thus allowing participants to explore the extremity of landscapes in terms of scale and transformations from the remote seashore of the east fjords to the expansiveness of the highlands, with the town of Seyðisfjörður as a point of reference. Additionally, participants will be given the opportunity to enjoy a supplementary four-day excursion through the Icelandic highlands.

For further information please write to:

poiesis.of.place@gmail.com

http://www.svartarkot.is

http://www.skalanes.is

SVARTÁRKOT – Poiesis of Place 2010

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