Areas of convergence

I - Areas of convergence in the scientific project

A _ Ecumene and environments in the Anthropocene era
Evcau is convinced that the crisis of the naturalistic model of the world is part of a shared quest for lucidity about the Anthropocene era in which we are engaged, conscious of the deployment of temporalities and the inter/trans/pluri-disciplinarity in which we are involved.

In the environments—or ecumens—in which cities and architecture are projects, where humans (and non-humans) coexist, Evcau researchers work to recognize the ethical issues associated with taking into account the “material” that already exists, the care given to people, and the question of waste as a resource. This refers to a policy of vulnerability, but is also a guarantee of alternative practices of innovation, in the form of various works dealing with today's ecological, climatic, and material issues.

Our research approach covers a broad temporal and spatial spectrum. It invites us to make a diagnosis of the current state of affairs. Such a method does not preclude either examining history to better understand the present or envisaging the future by scenario-building possibilities (virtual and/or augmented realities; digital humanities [and more than humanities]).
 

B _ The ecologies of design

The Evcau scientific community identifies with the theory, cultures, and activities of design that form the basis of architectural, urban, and landscape training and practices. These activities are particularly affected by contemporary transformations: climate change, resource constraints, environmental changes, digital, social, and political transitions, as well as their impacts on the world's habitability.

We start from the premise that we can no longer design or think about design activity “as before.” For us, it is a question of defending “an ecology of design,” that is, a system of interactions between actors, objects, and an environment that constitute ecology. This holistic and ecosystemic system takes into account the complexity of environments.
This ecology of design leads EVCAU researchers to focus on, among other things, bioclimatic design, digital eco-twins, bio-digital technology, energy, and life cycle analysis. We are therefore investigating engineering tools that enable architects to combine knowledge from different disciplines (parametric development, database exploitation, visualization and analysis tools, artificial intelligence, mapping, etc.).

EVCAU researchers are also interested in therapeutic environments, promoting a general ecosystem of living, the habitability of environments through architecture, and health in particular.
Finally, we are interested in existing resources, from materials to territory, including the built environment, in order to examine the process of design, construction, and transformation.

C _ Epistemologies and methodologies of architectural research

EVCAU researchers share a common interest in questioning what research activity in an architecture school and/or architectural research can be.

What matters to us is to think about architectural research together, using an appropriate epistemological framework and methodological tools.
Within the framework of this architectural research, some Evcau researchers are particularly interested in architectural science, undertaking work that questions both the theory of knowledge and its multiple applications.
The intersection of design and research practices varies, depending on whether they circulate between the retroactive and proactive aims of the project and the retrospective and prospective aims of science. They are translated into research in/on/by/with architecture. The variety of these approaches, their hybridizations, and their capacity to generate collaborations are of particular interest to Evcau.

The plural methodologies derived from the various methodological fields involved aim to bring together different perspectives and approaches. Thus, the implementation of design and decision-making tools is combined with archival and monographic research, which in turn complements modeling work that combines building surveys with other forms of field research. At the same time, full-scale construction experiments link project manipulation with conceptualization activities.

The EVCAU scientific project aims to combine skills, compare protocols, and increase the number of interfaces between the various disciplines and actors who come together to collaborate within our diverse community, which, in its eclecticism, can be viewed as an ecosystem analogous to the entire architectural research community.