Transversality: Architecture and Housing

larcb1282  2025-2026  Bruxelles Saint-Gilles

Transversality: Architecture and Housing
4.00 credits
20.0 h + 30.0 h
Q2
> Schedule
Teacher(s)
Bechet Emilie; Ledent Gérald;
Language
French
Main themes
The aim of the ‘transversality’ courses is to bridge the approaches from the theoretical courses and from the design studios through operative concepts, reference analyses and investigation methods.
This course provides an in-depth exploration of housing architecture through several perspectives: definitions from various theories and reference manuals (1); concepts of type, typology, and composition principles (2); key milestones in the history of housing (3); relationships between uses and spaces (4); contemporary challenges (5).
Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

  • Master and apply the vocabulary specific to domestic architecture,
  • Recognize and describe significant examples of housing architecture from various periods and analyze how housing has evolved over time,
  • Critically assess the advantages and disadvantages of different housing forms,
  • Understand the reciprocal relationships between residential spaces and the practices associated with them,
  • Identify contemporary housing challenges and propose appropriate solutions.

General Learning Outcomes

In line with the program’s learning outcomes (LOs), this course contributes to the development and acquisition of the following LOs:
  • LO1.2 State the intentions and choices of an architectural project at different intervention scales.
  • LO2.1 Acquire and proficiently apply the conventions of representation in two and three dimensions.
  • LO4.3 Learn and apply the content of artistic or scientific disciplines to enrich the architectural project.
  • LO4.4 Learn and explain the environmental, social, and economic consequences of architectural choices
  • LO5.1 Communicate attentively and inclusively with the various stakeholders of the architectural project.  
  • LO5.2 Organize individual or collective work attentively and inclusively.
  • LO6.1 Acquire knowledge of disciplinary methods in scientific research.
 
Content
The course focuses on housing architecture through the key notion of typology.
Typology consists in reducing an architectural project to its essential characteristics, retaining only its fundamental structure. This approach makes it possible to analyze architecture independently of chronology and to compare projects separated in time. Several residential typologies will be explored:
  • The courtyard,
  • The terraced house,
  • The palace,
  • The apartment,
  • The minimum dwelling,
  • The modernist apartment building,
  • The Brussels housing type,
  • Contemporary challenges.
For each of these themes, the course will examine their conditions of emergence, their characteristics, and contemporary projects designed according to the same principles. This exercise aims to demonstrate the value of analyzing past compositions in order to enrich our current architectural practices.
Teaching methods
The transversal courses include both theoretical lectures and applied exercises.
The theoretical lectures will combine ex cathedra presentations with collective discussions.
Each session will examine examples of historical and contemporary housing, redrawn at the same scale and using the same graphic codes.
As part of the exercises, students will work in groups on the analysis of an exemplary dwelling. This will combine an on-site visit, analytical work, and studio displays. The compilation of these works will serve to build a typological atlas.
Evaluation methods
The evaluation will take the form of:
  • a written exam during the examination session,
  • a group drawing project, presented orally during the session.
In the exam, students will demonstrate their understanding of the concepts addressed in the theoretical courses and their ability to develop a synthetic critique based on them.
For the group project, intermediate certified reviews will be organized throughout the year in order to guide the students’ work.
If generative artificial intelligences (AI) are used, they must be employed responsibly and in accordance with the practices of academic and scientific integrity. This implies that any person making use of generative AI in a manner that does not comply with the uses specified in the course description of the relevant teaching unit is committing an irregularity within the meaning of Art. 107 of the RGEE (work not personally produced by the student within the framework of an evaluation).
Faculty or entity
> LOCI


Programmes / formations proposant cette unité d'enseignement (UE)

Title of the programme
Sigle
Credits
Prerequisites
Learning outcomes
Bachelor in Architecture (Bruxelles)
ARCB1BA
4