Learning objectives
At the end of the course we expect the student to be able to:
- know the design process from setting needs to their formal translation into Architecture with particular reference to the theme of figuration (see Contents);
- have a critical awareness of the devices of the architectural composition and its fundamental importance in the design exercise, including contextual;
- analyze and understand the architectural project in terms of the language and poetics of its author (1st Dublin descriptor);
- apply the skills acquired in the context of the architecture project in reference to the Contents (2nd Dublin descriptor);
- acquire a necessary and indispensable autonomy of critical (or self-critical) judgment on the architectural project declined with respect to the specific themes described in the Contents (3rd Dublin descriptor);
- enhance communication skills within the architectural project in particular with respect to the indications described in the Contents (4th, 5th Dublin descriptor).
Prerequisites
Fundamental prerequisites are having successfully learned the contents of the history, drawing, design / composition courses of previous years.
In the Laboratory no particular skills will be required in the use of drawing software: it is emphasized that the representations useful for the project are not linked to the knowledge of a specific program and that it is the student's freedom to choose with which tool to draw a plan, an elevation, a section, an axonometry, a perspective, etc.
Since this is a fourth-year laboratory, a good/excellent ability of the student in the representation of the project is expected.
Course unit content
The architectural project is the synthesis of the various applied knowledge and acts through the translation of needs (functional, social, historical, but also structural, linguistic, poetic, etc.) into Architecture.
The Laboratory (Studio) is the place in which to operate dialectically (student-teacher and student-student) the synthesis of all the knowledge already acquired or in the process of being acquired.
LP4 Architectural and urban design studio for the sustainable city + Workshop (200 hours – 20 CFU) - consists of two main courses of Composition 4. Form and construction of architecture (60 hours – 6 CFU), and Design 4. Architecture and urban regeneration (60 hours – 6 CFU), and two modules of Structural design (40 hours – 4 CFU), and Innovative technologies for sustainable design (40 hours – 4 CFU).
The compositional and design experience of the master's degree provides in LP4 an experience focused on complex typology for functional, dimensional, urban role and landscape relevance characteristics. To this end, it is necessary to deepen the spatial, structural, plant and technological interrelations.
The complex type can be assumed within the historical case studies and the new functional needs of the contemporary context, according to a need for equipment that can be found from the analysis of urban needs and from the alternative strategies that can derive from it.
In addition to the compositional-design application, the laboratory will preliminarily present a general case study of the chosen theme, concerning the design development of complex themes. The anamnesis of the theme and its implications on the fruitive and representative level. Feasibility conditions. Analysis and interpretation by analogy.
Full programme
The theme and the place of the project will be communicated at the beginning of the course.
Bibliography
AA.VV., Le Corbusier 1887-1965, Milano 1993;
AA.VV., Lezioni di progettazione, Electa, Milano 1988;
M. Tafuri, Storia dell’Architettura italiana 1944-1985, Einaudi, Torino 1986
Issue of the journal Zodiac. Rivista fondata da Adriano Olivetti, nuova serie diretta da Guido Canella (nn. 1-21, 1989-1999)
Issue of the open access international journal (class A) "FAMagazine. Ricerche e progetti sull'architettura e la città" (www.famagazine.it)
Teaching methods
The teaching activities will be conducted by favoring active learning methods alternating with lectures, illustration of projects and case studies, as well as collective review seminars. During the case study (in general authors and / or contemporary architecture projects), the comparison with the student on the basic themes of architectural design will be privileged, also in order to bring out any foreknowledge on the topics in question by the students.
A fundamental activity of the Laboratory concerns the student's self-learning. Starting from case studies / projects indicated and emerged during lectures and / or reviews, the student is invited to deepen independently through the study of materials (published drawings, articles and essays) found on authoritative sources such as books and magazines, ( attention to the consultation of materials via the internet because they are often of poor quality)
The course will instead activate experiential learning cycles in which students will be required to apply knowledge through a rewrite of an architectural project.
Assessment methods and criteria
The course provides for the verification of learning through the evaluation of the project intended as a synthesis of knowledge and the student's ability to apply them. Any other exercises and / or insights (Ex-Tempore / research / case study) will be evaluated during the year.
The final oral exam consists of an individual interview through which the knowledge and critical understanding of the built architecture (1st Dublin descriptor) in relation to the project will be verified. The interview will also verify communication and learning / reasoning skills, clarity of presentation and use of the specific terminology of the discipline (4th, 5th Dublin descriptor). The ability to apply knowledge will be verified through the project documents (those necessary for understanding / communicating the project are required: preliminary analysis, general plan, planivolumetry, plans, elevations, sections, axonometric views, perspective views, sketches, diagrams, maquette/s).
During the final exam, in the case of group design/exercise, each member of the group must master the entire exercise in its entirety as well as explicit the parts that he personally supervised.
Through the project the skills of all the modules that make up the laboratory will be verified.
Other information
The course will make use of the support of the Moodle Elly platform on which materials useful for the course will be uploaded. In addition to being invited to register and regularly consult the Elly page of the laboratory, students are invited to use the platform as a teacher-student communication tool.
