Transversality and TFE In & On Architecture: From Framing the Question to the State of the Art

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8.00 credits

80.0 h + 15.0 h

Q1 and Q2

Language

French

Main themes

Each course in the Travail de fin d’étude (TFE, master’s thesis) domain addresses themes and methods related to the domains of Edification, Habitat and Society, History and Theory, and Territory. These domains naturally intersect with three longitudinal issues: Sustainability, Heritage, and Digitalization.
Objective: Define the domain, establish the supervisory committee, and frame the TFE.
Building on the transversalities of the Bachelor’s program, this course immerses students in research topics, particularly those related to project-based research. It clarifies the stakes of academic research, deepens methodological approaches, and initiates the development of a research project linked to the architectural design process, culminating in the formulation of a personal research question.
Students undertake iterative work between their state of the art ON architecture and project intentions IN architecture:

Define the research question, domain, and general objectives,
Begin state-of-the-art analysis of the question and context,
Identify the contribution to be made by the TFE.

This course demands significant autonomy, as students progressively explore a research topic tied to the architectural project, starting from a personal question. Students are also expected to critically evaluate the projects of peers addressing similar issues, fostering collaborative discourse.

Learning outcomes

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

Develop skills in writing a scientific paper, including the ability to use relevant architectural databases and adhere to proper citation rules for bibliographic references,
Familiarize themselves with various research approaches and methods with a strategic focus, including stages, planning, writing structure, and the components of a TFE,
Identify the means of articulation to be implemented in their ON&IN architectural proposal,
Select the most appropriate data-gathering strategy to address the challenges of the subject and the specific theme it encompasses, effectively defining their research method,
Formulate a structured research question based on a clearly defined field of study,
Justify the composition of a supervisory committee by identifying the relevance and expertise of each member in relation to their subject.

General Learning Outcomes

In line with the program’s learning outcomes (LOs), this course contributes to the development and acquisition of the following LOs:

LO1.1 Prioritize the parameters and issues of a given situation.
LO4.1 Understand and mobilise the concepts and methods of scientific disciplines.
LO4.3 Understand and integrate the content of other artistic or scientific disciplines to enrich the architectural project.
LO4.4 Understand and assess the environmental, social, and economic consequences of architectural choices.
LO5.3 Organize individual or collective work attentively, inclusively, and effectively.
LO6.1 Acquire and rigorously apply disciplinary, interdisciplinary, or transdisciplinary methods of scientific research.
LO6.2 Formulate a research question and define a research subject in and on architecture.
LO6.4 Incorporate the requirements of sustainable development into the research process: question, body of work, and scientific monitoring.

Faculty or entity

> LOCI

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

Title of the programme

Sigle

Credits

Prerequisites

Learning outcomes

Master [120] in Architecture (Bruxelles)

ARCB2M