The study programs of the studios will differ from those that students could get used to over the years spent within the walls of classical Russian architecture universities. At MARSH, students will be expected, first of all, to be immersed in work, the student's involvement in the design process, dedication, independence and really hard work, but at the same time, in all subjects and lectures there will certainly be “fun”, even in those that, by definition, absolutely not fun.
Learning is built not on completing tasks, but on solving problems. The design process will take place in two modules - research and design. Each studio, which in the first semester will be led by Sergei Skuratov, Anton Mosin and Evgeny Ass, together with Rubens Cortes, will have its own theme. Eugene Ass's studio will work on the window problem, considering it from both material and metaphysical points of view. Sergei Skuratov's studio will focus on the history of non-creation of cultural objects in Moscow, and will try to solve it. Anton Mosin plans to work with his students on a topic under the working title "Architect and Power", and will try to answer the question of what is characteristic of the architecture of various political regimes: totalitarianism, democracy, etc. Narine Tyutcheva, who will lead one of the spring semester studios, will raise the topic of Old New Moscow and will consider the possibility and necessity of intensifying all the processes taking place in the city. Vladimir Plotkin will deal with the topic of assimilation, the interaction of different cultures in the context of the city.
After the teachers of the architectural block spoke about their programs and ideas, specialists from non-project courses and studios took the floor. Piotr Tarczynski, head of the course "Progressive Technologies and Structures" said that today the main thing for a student is to be able to ask the right questions to related specialists, and this is what he will teach. The humanitarian block of disciplines, which will be supervised by Sergei Sitar, should, according to him, return to architects a philosophical and humanitarian basis, without which the connection between design and other human interests is often lost, which is why “a person simply burns out”. Nadezhda Nilina will teach the Urban Studies course and lead the Urban Laboratory, which will become a bridge between academic work and practice. Ksenia Adzhubei, a graduate and teacher of London Metropolitan University, will open at MARSH a course “Integrated designing”, unique for Russia - “Integrated” or “Combined design” - it includes everything that makes the initial idea interesting and real, and allows you to see the project in context of real world constraints. Evgeny Shirinyan will offer students a technical course "Digital Culture", in which not parametrics, but information modeling of knowledge will be taught. And, perhaps, the most important course "Professional practice" will be led by Nikita Tokarev, and from him students will be able to learn how to conduct a dialogue with the customer and with colleagues, the boundaries of their duties and responsibilities, and their rights.
The rather long presentation of all the programs did not scare away the audience, which listened to everything to the last word, and at the end there were questions. Almost all of them were from the 4th year students of the Moscow Architectural Institute, related to organizational and legal issues. Perhaps these people will become the first graduates of the MARSH school, whose names Evgeny Ass promised to immortalize on commemorative plaques on the walls of the school.
According to Yevgeny Ass, our country has lagged far behind the world cultural flow, which is especially strongly felt in the architectural environment, because over the past ten years we have not had a single new translation. This situation should be corrected by a new series of books presented by Alexander Karmanov, director of the Classic-XXI publishing house. The first block of four books is planned to be released within the next year. It will include: Alain de Botton “The Architecture of Happiness”, Juhani Pallasmaa “The Thinking Hand: Architecture and the Existential Wisdom of Being”, Alberto Perez-Gomez “Built on Love: Architecture After Rules”, Peter Zumthor “Thinking with Architecture”. Books can be ordered through the classica21.ru online store.
Starting next week, the summer program "Preparatory Course" starts, mainly consisting of presentations by future teachers, and the main goal of the program is to get to know them. Throughout the summer, public events will be held at the pavilion on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7 p.m. In addition, in June the school will have guests - the American University of Cornell with their lectures and seminars. And at the end of July and in the first days of August, the first MARSH summer school will be held for eight days - a workshop combined with an educational course. It will be hosted by Totan Kuzembaev, who is known for his attention to detail, so the program "Before the Nail" will teach the art of detail in architecture. The result of the workshop should be a project of a certain structure, which will be implemented on a 1: 1 scale. Participants will get acquainted with manufacturers and suppliers of structures and technologies, design will be accompanied by lectures, discussions and seminars. The program of all events can be found on the website marсh.ru.
