The DSA "Earthen architecture, building cultures and sustainable development" is a post-master's program, accredited by a national diploma of specialization and advanced study in architecture (DSA-Diplôme National de Spécialisation et d’Approfondissement en Architecture), qualified by the French’s Ministry of Culture and issued by the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Grenoble(ENSAG).

The training is within the activities of the UNESCO Chair “Earthen Architecture”, which aims to establish training programmes with existing training organisations, so as to accelerate the dissemination of scientific and technical know-how on earthen architecture.

Objectives

The post-master mention « architecture and heritage » specialty « earthen architecture » aims to meet international social demand in areas related to the professions of earth architecture and more particularly in the following areas:

• the scientific and technical foundations of earthen architecture and its millennial knowledge and know-how: raw material, materials, elements, structure, construction systems, architecture
• conservation and sustainable management of architectural, archaeological and historical heritage
• fundamental scientific research on the material
• research and development in constructive innovation
• the contemporary approach to architecture and the social and economic environmental balance
• low-cost housing with a view to sustainable local development
• university and professional training in earthen architecture
• research training in the field, from a doctoral perspective

Structure

The “DSA Earthen Architecture” is organised into nine training units, for a total of 2400 hours distributed as following: 890 supervised hours, 800 hours of individual work, and 710 hours of professional internship :

1.    Earthen architecture and construction cultures
2.    Scientific foundations, techniques and methodologies
3.    Earthen architecture careers: housing
4.    Earthen architecture careers: heritage
5.    Practice and implementation: experimentation
6.    Professional internship
7.    Practice and implementation: experimentation
8.    In depth: thematic seminar ‘Material, Housing, Heritage’
9.    Final dissertation

The theoretical and practical courses are carried out by teachers and researchers from the Research Unit "Architecture, Environment - Building Cultures" (AE&CC, resulting from the merge of the CRAterre and Building Cultures laboratories in 2010), as well as recognized experts of international origin. The seminars organised withing the DSA bring together students, researchers, professors and graduates around various works in progress, allowing for a better placing of students in relation to professional practices.
Internships can take many forms and provide an irreplaceable supplement to training.
The thesis is a personal work of fundamental or applied research.

Presentation of the DSA – Earthen architecture

• Brief presentation of the DSA: Objectives, presentation of the education units, study on former DSA students, 16 pages.

Terms for application:

• Procedure of admission to 2022-2024 session. The deadline for application is fixed on the end of Febuary 2022. The notification of selection will be communicatied by mail.
• Registration form

Contact:

Mme Salima KERKOUB – Bureau du DSA-Terre
Ecole nationale supérieure d’architecture de Grenoble
60 avenue de Constantine / BP 2636
38036 Grenoble Cedex 2 - France
Téléphone : +33 (0)4 76 69 83 13 ; Fax : +33 (0)4 76 69 83 69
Courriel : kerkoub.s@grenoble.archi.fr ; http://www.grenoble.archi.fr