3. Second cycle : Master’s degree

Second cycle : Master’s degree

The aim of the Master’s course is to strengthen the knowledge gained during the Bachelor’s degree in the fields of architecture, contemporary art, urban and landscape environment, urbanism, sociology, as well as stability, technology, building equipment and digital culture. The Master’s is also supplemented by subjects specific to the practice of architecture, such as legislation and ethics.

Theoretical courses are, for the most part, taught at the beginning of the cycle, leaving more time for the students to carry out their study placements and write their Master’s dissertations. Each student writes a dissertation on a personal subject related to their training, under the supervision of a teacher of their choice. This work is presented and defended before the board in the last year of the Master’s programme.

The architectural and urban composition course forms the basis of the Master’s. The course is delivered to small groups of fifteen students and promotes collaborative work, conducive to creativity, reflection and synthesis. Students from both years of the Master’s are put into groups within the same workshop: they work on the same projects – sometimes in groups and sometimes individually. The level of difficulty varies according to the year of study. Student projects are presented before a board of external members, teachers of the Faculty, architects and specialists of the proposed subject.

Four optional courses are offered to students:

The “Urbanities” option is based on a method of analysis/diagnosis of the territory and teaches students about the major urban issues of today, including smart cities, mobility, sustainable development, urban resilience, landscapes, and sociology, among others. On this basis, the student creates a programme which must contribute to the improvement of urban conditions in relation to the proposed issue. The workshop is part of an on-going experiment to improve the conditions of cities and their amenities for those who experience them every day. The workshop is part of the “Urban Planning” option, which includes specific courses on mobility, resilience, public spaces, networks and smart cities, all of which contribute the students’ spatial and architectural approach towards contemporary urban issues. The workshop also has a strong international component.  

Team:

  • Anne Marecaux – Architect – Senior Research and Teaching Associate – Workshop Manager
  • Pascal Simoens – Architect / Town Planner – Teaching Collaborator
  • Kristel Mazy – Architect / Town Planner – Associate Professor 

The ATSL workshop goes beyond architecture and urban planning. It focuses on areas specific to space and culture, and uses an almost geographical, territorial approach that sees architectural projects as a sensitive reflection of built and unbuilt heritages. An inductive methodology, concerned with an economy of means, results in a diagnosis before formally producing plans.

At the end of the workshop, students will be able to significantly determine a territory, take a position according to a diagnosis, develop a strategy according to a scenario, and adopt attitudes regarding structuring and preparing a territory as a common good which guarantees a shared environmental quality. The concept of a project therefore lies in taking the right approach for the programming of contemporary issues which link architecture and landscape.

Team:

  • Etienne Holoffe – Architect – Associate Professor – Workshop Manager
  • Dominique Gluck – Architect – Associate Professor
  • Simon Blanckart – Landscaper – Assistant Under Mandate – PhD Student
  • Kristel Mazy – Architect / Town Planner – Associate Professor 

Teachers of “Architecture & Heritage” offer students an approach based on the integration of contextual contemporary architecture in a heritage environment.  This course focuses on historical heritage sites, such as industrial, military and religious sites.  These are part of an urban and rural/landscape context.  To do this, a new urban programme has been proposed, which was designed by the teaching staff in order to respond to the realities of the architecture profession. A brief territorial and contextual diagnosis is first made with the students. This first stage is deliberately short (3 to 4 weeks per group) in order to favour the architectural composition and urban/landscape planning part of the course (8 to 9 weeks of individual work). Each year, a project is proposed in Belgium and abroad, with previous trips to Milan, Gravelines and Strasbourg. Projects abroad are subject to a theme-based educational trip of several days, combining the project and architectural visits. 

Team:

  • Paul Delaisse – Architect – Associate Professor – Workshop Manager
  • Pascal Petit – Architect – Senior Research and Teaching Associate
  • Frank Verspeelt – Architect – Senior Research and Teaching Associate
  • Jérémy Cenci – Architect – Research and Teaching Associate 

The reflections carried out in this workshop are rooted in the analysis of a place and its needs, in order to implement a final architectural proposal in the process of revitalising neighbourhoods. This revitalisation process has been chosen for its energising potential within a city.

The building project, as determined and justified by the student, will be a unifying public facility designed in harmony with the new habitat. Studying new ways to live is included in the concept of ‘programmatic mixity’, which encourages families to return to cities.

International workshops are organised to allow students to see examples of other similar approaches. Previous workshops have taken place in Istanbul, Rabat, Lisbon and Dundee.

Team:

  • Pierre Callewier – Architect – Workshop Manager – Associate Professor
  • Fabrice Sobczak – Architect – Teaching Collaborator
  • Ghislain Andre – Architect – Teaching Collaborator