Research - LABA - EPFL

Methodology overview
laba teaching
laba manifest - august 2012
Over the last 6 years, laba has developed a specific studio methodology.
Each year, an urban research laboratory location, which exemplifies a critical
and widespread urban issue, is selected. Each culturally specific location
contributes to the data-base for a comparative investigation of planning
systems across the world.
The laba methodology takes students through design scales ranging from
the territorial to the architectural, and introduces them to parallel fields of
expertise which greatly influence the urban morphology of the given context.
Equipped with this knowledge, students establish what we call an “Urban
Constitution”. This document serves as a roadmap for long term urban
development.
laba’s portfolio includes the development of particular skills required to work
in this way - the application of GIS systems to urban design, architectural
field-work and trans-disciplinary input from invited experts backed up by
specific urban research projects. In this way, the laboratory aims to enable the
architect to arrive at specific local solutions for global tasks and to strengthen
his position within the urban debate.
Based on this road map, students continue to work on a smaller scale, focusing
on the actual spatial form that the urban constitution would take. Projects
will range from specific urban design proposals to complex buildings. These
projects act as a proof of concept for the Urban Constitution.
Students share their work through frequent public presentations in order to
become proficient in this crucial skill.
The collaboration with a partner institution connected to the given study
area allows both groups to be exposed to a different cultural and academic
approach.
An annual publication exhibits the results of the studio.
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