Teaching the Laboratory of the Techniques and Preservation of Modern Architecture (TSAM) at the École Polytechnique Fédéral de Lausanne

Abstract

More than a decade ago the TSAM addressed the question of teaching the preservation of modern and contemporary buildings as a new discipline, specifically and radically different from that of new architecture, both in terms of theoretical courses and the contemporary architecture project. It has established a methodology and a practice based on its research that embrace the whole of polytechnic or university education, whether basic or advanced. Finally, the TSAM affirms the richness and the educational power of preservation and its project, and, beyond the subjective feelings and formalistic emotions, base them on an objective and multidisciplinary argumentation combining fine observation of materiality, essential theoretical knowledge and thoughtful creativity.