93725 - Architectural Design II

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student knows the logical structures of software for architectural design and he is able to critically apply simulative and generative tools.

Course contents

Within the tradition of research and teaching that has characterized the Schools of Venice and Milan since the second half of the twentieth century, the studio proposes a reflection on the theme of architecture “of” and “within” the city.

The focus of the studio is the design of a “City of Music”, organized as a “tower building”, to be located in the first industrial zone of Porto Marghera, within an urban area included in the Venice Science and Technology Park.

The issue of urban transformation is intrinsically linked to the history of the city: to continuous modifications as well as sudden and radical changes; to the erasure of ancient or more recent parts; to the formation of new urban fragments alongside historic ones; and to shifts in meaning, value and role of the different places that constitute the city and its territory.

The studio therefore seeks, first and foremost, to reflect on the “materials” of the project, on the foundations and reasons that bind architectural design to a specific urban context, reconsidering architectural design as an analytical and operative discipline. On the one hand, it addresses the relationships between architecture and the city; on the other, it investigates the reciprocal connections between the study of the city and its design.

For this reason, the project is understood as an opportunity to rethink a series of “contexts” at a broader scale, through a critical engagement with the existing city. This engagement is articulated through the study of the historical transformations of urban phenomena and through the interpretation of the memory and character of places, of the city and of its architecture.

Within this conceptual framework, the project is conceived as a “place” for a broader theoretical and design-oriented research. Drawing upon a method that is simultaneously “analytical” and “synthetic”, it reintroduces knowledge derived from other disciplines into the field defined by the principles and tools specific to architectural discipline, assessing their content and operational capacity in relation to the “constructive” and “expressive” value that architectural composition assumes within the processes of transformation and configuration of urban phenomena.

Readings/Bibliography

Le Corbuiser, Precisions oh the state of architecture and urban planning, Park Books, Zurich 2015.

Le Corbusier, Œuvre complète Volume 1-8, Les édition d’architecture, Zurich, 1948-1965.

Nicola Braghieri, Architettura arte retorica, Sagep, Genova 2013.

Giorgio Grassi, La Costruzione logica dell'architettura, Marsilio, Padova 1967.

Massimo Iori (a cura di), Analisi architettonica & progettazione analitica, CittàStudiEdizioni, Milano 1995.

Alioscia Mozzato, Colin Rowe and Aldo Rossi. Utopia as Metaphor of a New City Analogous to the Existing One, in Politics, “sITA studies in History and Theory of Architecture”, Vol. 5, Ion Mincu University Press, Bucharest 2018, pp. 140-153.

Alioscia Mozzato, Eminentemente rappresentativo e totalmente astratto. Le Corbusier e il Palazzo dei Filatori di Ahmedabad, Libria, Melfi 2023.

Alioscia Mozzato, L’eternità dell’attimo. Sul “Laboratorio Venezia” di Gianugo Polesello, LetteraVentidue, Siracusa 2024.

Aldo Rossi, The Architecture of the City, MIT Press, Cambridge Mass. 1984.

Aldo Rossi, Introduzione a Boulleé, in Etienne Louis Boullee Architettura. Saggio sull'arte, Marsilio, Padova 1967, pp. 7-24.

Colin Rowe and Fred Koetter, Collage City, MIT Press, Cambridge Mass. 1979.

Colin Rowe, The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa and Other Essays, MIT Press, Cambridge Mass. 1982.

Luciano Semerani, L'altro Moderno, Allemandi & C., Torino 2000.

Manfredo Tafuri, Theories and History of Architecture, Harper & Row, New York, 1980.

Manfredo Tafuri, Venice and the Renaissance, MIT Press, Cambridge (MA), 1989.

Teaching methods

Teaching activities include lectures delivered by the teaching staff, aimed at outlining and framing the historical, geographical and cultural contexts of the studio. These lectures review a wide range of design experiences, focusing on the understanding of compositional procedures adopted in selected modern and contemporary architectural works that engage with the themes of the course. At the end of each lecture, a bibliography related to the topic discussed will be provided. The schedule of lectures and design exercises will be communicated during the course of the studio activities.

The design experience places freehand drawing and the construction of physical models at the centre of the process, as the primary tools for the control and verification of the project’s compositional operations. Each student’s interpretative and design path will be assessed by the teaching staff through desk critiques, held weekly in the studio, as well as through collective discussions on the progress of the projects.

Each student is required to keep a “Notebook” (with strictly white pages and a recommended size of 19 × 25 cm), intended to document the reflections developed throughout the design process by means of study drawings, photographs and any other materials (exhibition tickets, fragments of materials and fabrics, images, and objets trouvés of any kind) useful for representing the construction of a critical and design-oriented mode of thinking. This mode of thinking, it should be noted, is never linear or exhaustive; rather, it takes the form of a “constellation” of reflections that defines a possible framework for interpreting reality and for understanding the existence of architecture.

Assessment methods

The final examination will take into account the results achieved during the activities of the course “Building Information Modelling II” and will include the assessment of the critical-interpretative and operative-design process developed within the studio. This assessment will be conducted through an oral discussion of the content of the final outcomes and of the studio activities carried out during the course.

The examination grade will be based on the quality of the project and its representation, with reference to the theoretical topics and the course bibliography. Particular emphasis will be placed on the coherence between the proposed themes and the design outcomes, as well as the appropriateness of the techniques used for the representation of the project.

The examination will be preceded by an “final seminar”, which all enrolled students are required to attend. Upon completion of the seminar, students who have completed the assignments requested by the teaching staff (details of which will be provided during the studio activities) will be eligible to sit the examination.

The examination will take the form of a collective presentation and an individual discussion of the materials produced during the course activities and of the final design outcomes. The examination board will express its assessment according to an evaluation framework that considers the quality of the presentation, the knowledge acquired, the level of theoretical depth, the adequacy of the design operations in relation to the studio theme, and the appropriateness of their representation.

Teaching tools

Each student is required to equip themselves with the necessary tools for the development of the project, both for freehand drawing and digital design. Graphic work and physical models for analysis and design will be developed according to a layout provided at the start of the course. The construction of physical architectural models is mandatory.

Office hours

See the website of Alioscia Mozzato