19090 - Architectural Composition Theories (B)

Learning outcomes

The teaching-module leads the student to recognize and identify the set of relationships that lie between the theoretical and practical debate on the project. Critical reading of a number of significant contributions to architectural theory will allow to identify some of the major themes concerning the discipline of architectural and urban composition.

Course contents

The course, integrated with the Third Year Design Workshop, is defined by a corpus of lessons aimed at clarifying the origin of theoretical issues developed in the field of architectural and urban research and exploring its itaian and international diffusion. In the classes, a series of texts and theoretical writings published in the twentieth century will be introduced and interpreted critically. Particular attention will be given to the figure of some authors, to the specific cultural field, to the influence of their theoretical contributions to the contemporary project.

The interpretation and analysis of some of the most important trends of the twentieth century will allow the student to investigate the reasons for the project and to gain awareness of the composition discipline.

For the analysis of the subject, the lessons will follow a narrative path organized through a series of thematic sections. The main foundations, both architectural and urban, emerged from texts; the original sources will also be expanded through the use of complementary contributions. The explanation of the main themes discussed in the texts will be accompanied by a specific bibliography and, where necessary, by an integrative anthology. Some recurring concepts such as type, form, city, composition, character, monument, structure, language, representation, common to the theoretical contributions proposed, will be explored in the specific disciplinary reference framework by deepening the relationship between text and image of the project.

The texts presented and discussed during the lessons will allow the student to develop a personal reflection on the project. Theoretical knowledge will therefore be considered a basic tool for the process of making architecture. Theoretical foundation and practical experience will therefore find a space for comparison in the relationship between the textual and design dimension.

Readings/Bibliography

The bibliography will be provided during the course.

Teaching methods

The teaching module will take place through frontal lessons focused on the interpretation of some of the major texts of 20th-century theory.

The lessons will offer a reading methodology that considers the relationship between the text and the iconographic apparatus contained therein as a priority. The use of other images and projects, used as comparative elements, will open up reflection in the direction of an analogous thought on architecture.

Assessment methods

Placing within the Architectural Design Laboratory the course does not require practical activities but rather offers a theoretical contribution to support the design process. This contribution will be offered as a support to the verification of the design process developed within the Laboratories during the days dedicated to workshop.

Teaching tools

Lezioni frontali attraverso la proiezione di diapositive, riproduzioni audio e/o video.

Office hours

See the website of Stefania Rossl

See the website of Annalisa Trentin