03718 - Architectural Composition I (A)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the module, the student should acquire different ways of experiencing the architectural project as an intervention and transformation in a medium-sized city, in particular by reflecting on the relationship between the ancient and the modern and by trying to recognise and make explicit in the architectural configuration those elements of the project that possess a general significance.

Course contents

The course involves the design of a public building located in the historic centre of an Italian city, in a context of high architectural value.

The student will be guided in the assumption of the principles according to which the existing city was built, the project will tend to fit into the surrounding urban fabric and integrate with it. The objective is an architecture that awaits today's expectations, in accordance with the transformations imposed by our time, but which coexists and dialogues with the pre-existing one. We will focus on typological and morphological aspects, tectonics, and the use of materials. The aim will be to achieve a building substance equivalent to, if not superior to, that which has been handed down, in continuity with the tradition of the Italian and European city.

Priority will have to be given to the analysis of the built, public space and the city, ensuring that each student, through his or her proposal, reinterprets the place, transforming it into continuity. The architectural relationship between new and old, between what is proposed and the pre-existence, as well as the relationship between architectural language and building systems, will be the object of reflection during the different phases of development of the practical work.

Thus the student will construct a proposal that will have to result from a process in which knowledge of the place and his or her own critical and creative capacity reveal a progressive enrichment in the motivations of the proposal and its design. At the same time, through the systematic study of examples and design methodologies that are diversified but circumscribed to the theme of study, as well as through the progressive thickening of the problematic, other perspectives may open up to the student with the possibility of choice, which is fundamental in the act of designing.

 

Readings/Bibliography

- BOHIGAS, Oriol; Contro l'incontinenza urbana: riconsiderazione morale sull'architettura e la città, Gangemi 2008

- CAMPO BAEZA Alberto; L' idea costruita, LetteraVentidue 2012

- FORTIER, Bruno; Amate città, Electa 1995

- FRAMPTON, Kenneth; Storia dell'architettura moderna, Zanichelli 1982

- GEHL, Jan; Vita in città: spazio urbano e relazioni sociali, Maggioli 1991

- GRASSI, Giorgio; Architettura, lingua morta,  Electa 1988

- GREGOTTI, Vittorio; Diciassette lettere sull'architettura, Laterza 2001

- KAHN, Louis; Forma y Diseño, Nueva Vision 1965

- LYNCH Kevin; Progettare la città: la qualità della forma urbana, ETAS libri 1990

- MARTÍ ARÍS, Carlos; Le variazioni dell’identità, Clup 1994.

- MEISS, Pierre von; Dalla forma al luogo: un'introduzione allo studio dell'architettura, Hoepli 1992

- MONEO, Rafael; La solitudine degli edifici e altri scritti, Allemandi

- MONTANER, Josep Maria; Las formas del siglo 20, Gustavo Gili 2002

- PANERAI, Philippe, CASTEX Jean, DEPAULE Jean Charles; Isolato urbano e città contemporanea, Città Studi, 1981

- QUARONI, Ludovico; Progettare un edificio: otto lezioni di architettura, Mazzotta 1977

- SOLÀ-MORALES Ignasi de; Territorios, Gustavo Gili 2002

- ROGERS Ernesto Nathan; Gli elementi del fenomeno architettonico, Laterza 1961

- TÁVORA, Fernando, Dell’organizzazione dello spazio, (a cura de Carlotta Torricelli), Milano, saggi/architettura nottetempo, 2021.

Teaching methods

The course will consist of a series of ex-cathedra lectures and the drafting of a project by the students.

The course will provide theoretical and critical insights into contemporary architecture, in particular into the relationships it establishes with the theme of memory.

The lectures will cover both topics related to learning about the architecture of the past and theoretical and design issues of architects whose reflections and works can be considered paradigmatic for the way of thinking and building architecture.

The project seminars will focus on the students' projects, evaluating their design themes and guiding their development.

Assessment methods

The examination consists of different stages of verification through intermediate tests and a final examination. These tests ensure the acquisition of the knowledge and skills expected.

The oral examination consists of a discussion of the project.

The assessment will be based on the continuous work of the students throughout the semester and will take into consideration the work carried out in the various phases of the course of study, with particular emphasis on

- The students' research and personal study;

- The integration of technological and cultural knowledge into the project;

- The quality of the design process, defining and solving problems;

- The improvement of work during semesters;

- The attention and rigour in the graphical, verbal and written presentation of the work.

Students who demonstrate mastery and operational ability in relation to the key concepts discussed in the lecture, and, in particular, in the architectural design in relation with the historical context, will be allowed to take the exam. A higher mark will be awarded to students who demonstrate an understanding of and ability to use all the teaching content: in particular in relation to architectural composition.

Teaching tools

The Workshop makes use of the equipment available in the classrooms provided by the School. Each student is provided with a complete personal table, with a lamp and parallel, on request, as well as a personal locker. The lecture room is equipped with a projector and amplification system.

The lecture material presented in class is made available to the student in electronic format via the Internet in the manner that will be indicated at the beginning of the workshop.

 

Theme: Collective space for events and hybrid residence (student accommodation with tourist profitability in holiday periods)

The programme proposes the development of the themes of collective space for events and the hybrid collective residence as an element of requalification of the urban space, but also as a contribution to the understanding of the design process as a method of research, experimentation and critique, up to the attainment of a formal idea appropriate to a programme of medium complexity.

It is intended, in this way, to familiarise the students with the working tools necessary for the knowledge and understanding of the authentic utility of architecture and the relations that its very forms establish with the ways of living spaces, the implantation in the territory and construction techniques, enabling them to relate this knowledge to the historical perspective in order to apply it critically in the project.

This semester will be dedicated to the design of a simple structure in a changing urban context. The relationship of the project with its surroundings and the complementarity of the building with the public space are, from this point of view, a central theme to be developed. This proposal intends to explore design at different scales and make sense of an ongoing process of reflection. The public/private duality is a key aspect of the exercise. The design of the different spaces - from the room to the communal spaces and especially the relationship between them, as well as the design of the ground floor plan, where the inevitable contact with the surroundings, the public space, takes place, are particularly important issues.

The objective is to develop a residential programme to redefine an urban area undergoing transformation, upgrading it and working on its relationship with the surrounding environment. We want to emphasise the importance of the study of the urban reality, which allows us to understand and verify the coherence and relationship links between the different parts of the city.

Through the design of the building as a whole - from its relationship with the surrounding environment to the internal organisation of spaces - both communal and private, the different possibilities of materialisation will be investigated and the search for solutions will be encouraged through the fundamental tools of architecture: the sketch and the model - as means of research and exploration - and rigorous drawing - as a form of proof or verification and presentation). We will then delve into the design of a 'room type', trying to work not only on the functional organisation of this space, but also on the approach to its constructive materialisation.

The aim is for the student to experience the different scales and, through this exercise, to understand architecture as an organisational phenomenon - of the room, the building and the city - understanding the similarity that exists between all these subjects.

In conclusion, it is intended to develop a cohesive and consequential work, from the extended scale of the city to the constructive materialisation of the building and its various spaces. In this way, in the proposed working method, the architectural formalisation of a design idea will be as important as its constructive materialisation.

 

Office hours

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