General teaching method

Teaching is based on convictions, situating architecture within the social context, based on the particular conditions of individual and communal living. In this way, architecture is a specialist discipline and essentially a collective event. It confidently asserts its function to serve society and draws its energy and its inventiveness from the positive constraints imposed by this society and by its own material and spiritual characteristics.

The approach adopted aims to be critical and non-doctrinal, ensuring a multiplicity of viewpoints leading to the transformation of a place, at every level, giving meaning from the perspective of accommodating different ways of living.

Architecture is also a profession that requires solid working expertise based on knowledge, critical thinking and know-how.

Teaching revolves both around the architectural project and theory classes and builds on the skills developed by the different partners. It aims to "enable" students to develop a critical attitude and to feed their intuition in order to address the architectural issue as broadly as possible.

Teaching also draws on certain unique elements relating to the location of the site in Tournai and its cross-border and inter-regional situation, connecting Wallonia, Flanders and France in a network, to form a cross-border metropolis.

Specific teaching methods on the “Master’s” programme

The Master’s programme makes it possible to set-up and sustain teaching and research that is specific to the discipline of architecture, both pure and applied, benefiting from the university interdisciplinarity.

This teaching encompasses both the physical conditions of the discipline (material strength, structure, construction) and the cultural conditions (history, theory, urban planning, urban sociology), these components being summarised in the architectural project.

The programme incorporates the architecture project, lectures and seminars allowing a more in-depth study of the topics taught.

The architecture project is based around vertical studios, with special colours, allowing the student to direct their learning according to the teaching methods and subjects covered. Furthermore, each year, a visiting professor of international renown teaches a specific topic as part of a workshop.