Cursos / 1º Ciclo / Faculty of Architecture and Arts :: Architecture ( Integrated Master)

ERGONOMIA APLICADA - 2025/2026

2º curricular year
Semestralidade: 2nd semester
ECTS: 2

Teachers

Leading Teacher: Prof. Doutor João Cardoso
Assistant Professor: Prof. Doutor João Cardoso

Class type and School hours

Teórico-prática : 2 Horas

Teaching Language

Portuguese

Main Aims/Objectives

Understanding the anatomical, physiological and psychological factors that condition human behaviour. Capacities and limitations in the development of interactions between users, objects, systems and environments. The optimization of new solutions for better, safer and more comfortable performance of spaces for the functions of use and the adaptability of the Human Being.

Specific Aims/Objectives

- General understanding of the concept of anthropometric dimension in the context of ergonomics.
- Careful application of anthropometric dimensions as complementary information in project design, and their interest in qualifying urban and architectural spaces during formal processing.
- Development of critical awareness of the phenomenological expression of the forms created by architecture.

Skills to be acquired

Dominate the knowledge to enhance and optimize the relation of Man with spaces, taking into account the movement of the human body as an expression of the circulation (circulatory system) and the performance of specific activities (program).
Integrate into the design process: 1. the human factor and ergonomics; 2. the anthropometric dimension; 3. the sensorial and cognitive dimension of public and private, interior and exterior spaces production.

Teaching Procedures

Apprehend and systematise the acquisition of the theoretical and practical frameworks that underpin and
practical activities in conjunction with the project being developed in Architecture II.

Programme

Considering the theme of diversity for the universal equality of opportunity of the individual, in the appropriation and use of urban and architectural spaces, the approach aligns the following programme contents:
1. The human and ergonomic factor;
2. Anthropometric study;
3. The universality of spaces, through accessibility and mobility for inclusive practices for users with disabilities;
4. The interpretation and perception of the formality and use of spaces, taking anthropometric dimensioning into account;
5. The sensory and cognitive dimension in the creation of spaces: the phenomenology of architecture;
6. The preparation of summaries on the application of theories and concepts in practical exercises, attesting to the consolidation of knowledge in close harmony with the Architecture II programme.

Evaluation Type

Students are assessed through two mini-tests with individual exercises carried out over the course of the semester plus the final Attendance Test (summative assessment).

Teaching Resources

Resources to be used:
1. Specific and diverse bibliography with relevant content (texts, anthropometric tables, rigorous dimensioned drawings, photographs, among others);
2. Presentation of summarised information (texts, anthropometric tables, rigorous dimensioned drawings, photographs, etc.) and in digital format (jpeg, pdf, pptx and mp4).

Sustainability Objectives

Promote a holistic approach to sustainability. To realise that man´s relationship with his surroundings requires the observation of a new aesthetic and cultural understanding of nature and public and private spaces, as informers of the values of resilience, inclusion and universal access. The aim is an approach in line with human adaptability to the environment, which materialises in the indicators of SDGs 10 and 11.

Keywords

Ergonomics;
Anthropometry;
Inclusion;
Proxemia;
Health and Wellness.

Main Bibliography

Complementary Bibliography