The Swedish research
school ResArc is a collaboration between the schools of
Architecture at KTH, Chalmers, LTH, and Umeå University with the aim of strengthening
architectural research, education and collaborative projects at
national and international levels. ResArc was launched in February
2012 and is coordinated and administered by the Department of
Architecture and Built Environment at Lund University. ResArc
received funding from the Swedish Research council FORMAS 2011 in a
total effort that also includes the two strong research
environments Architecture in Effect and Architecture in the Making.
ResArc aims at
establishing a solid, discipline-specific platform for research
education in Architecture that is clearly related to other fields
of research and to architectural practice. ResArc provides an
educational programme with a mix of pedagogical formats such as
courses, seminars, symposia and workshops, all in a learning
culture that encourages theoretical investigations as well as
experimental and practice-oriented research approaches; ResArc
promotes inter- and transdisciplinary research of a high quality
with the publication aims of international peer-reviewed journals,
public debates, specialized thematic publishing, experimental
publication forms and exhibitions.
A variety
of issues are currently calling attention to architecture research.
Migration and climate change causes new social conditions to appear
and these global issues and urgencies pose challenges to urban
environments that need to be dealt with in architecture research:
new modes of communication, managerial changes in city planning,
technical developments within building construction, demand new
kinds of design processes and is radically changing architectural
practice. Architecture research needs to take an active, creative
and critical role in this ongoing transformation.
New disciplinary
connections between the academic domains of architecture,
geography, political sciences and environmental research make new
types of knowledge production possible. Newly emerged
practice-based approaches to architectural research will continue
to challenge the traditional design of research approaches.
Although rooted in traditional methods, architectural research is -
compared to traditional research disciplines - in its youth, and
its natural co-joined involvement with theory, professional
practice and societal effect, has recently proved to be a good
academic position when it comes to developing new research methods.
This possibility is acknowledged and fully utilized within
ResArc.
Ana Betancour is the representative for Umeå School of
Architecture in the ResArc Steering Committee.
More information
ResArc website
