Architecture

ALESSANDRO LANZETTA

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO 3
In the studio the student will establish the draft of a residential complex of medium-sized integrated to the open space and the environment, with individual activities and seminars, through lectures and exercises. The studio integrates the elements of architectural and urban design with those more specific to the design and analysis of the green areas of the city and the territory. It is asked to the student to develop a project as a synthesis of morphological, distributional, technological and architectural solutions in construction including a degree of experimentation.

The educational aim of the workshop, in line with the general approach of the degree Course, is to help the student to carry out a complete experience that deals with the complex problems of the architectural project. This, starting from a guided experience on a topic of controllable dimensions that, however, contains all the variables useful for the formation of a framework of disciplinary refer-ences that can be traced back both to the urban dimension and, in the specific year of the Laboratory, to the topic of the building.
MAIN GOALS OF THE LABORATORY

The Laboratory is the place of design experience, in which the themes of theoretical-critical reflection will have to find immediate practical and operational confrontation. A didactic space within which to provide the tools capable of giving shape and figure to the relationships that exist between the moment of conception and that of construction, trying to understand through which modalities of disciplinary translation and technological mediation the project takes shape. Other training objectives, in addition to those of a gen-eral nature set out in the introduction, are:

1. Reasoning on the different scales, in a circular inductive and non-linear deductive process through patient work across the different dimensions of design.
2. To root in the students the conviction that the project should never be considered as an abstraction from reality, and specif-ically from construction, and that it should continually refer to tectonics, techniques, technologies and more generally to all the mate-rial reasons that determine and reverse it.
3. Learning to work with a defined functional programme, with established and binding volumetric indexes and data, which are compatible with the instruments of control and government of the territory, translating the programme into morphological and spatial qualities starting from the concreteness of the design opportunity.
4. To use the design experience and specifically the design "references" as opportunities for a continuous comparison with the trends and languages of modern and contemporary architecture.
The Laboratory aims to initiate students in the understanding of the processes of architectural design through the simulation of a study experience "in the field", to refine the tools of the architect's work in the real context of the city. This means considering the project as the result of a cognitive process that considers the physical (morphology of the urban fabric, building typology, quality, and quantity of public and semi-public spaces) and anthropological (inhabitants, practices, conflicts) components of the neighbourhood, in order to learn how to select the materials for the project and simulate a design process that takes into account the people who will use that place and that building.

Students are required to have passed the Design Laboratory exams from previous years.
As prerequisites, a good knowledge of the history of ancient, modern, and especially contemporary architecture is expected, as well as adequate skills in architectural drawing and a willingness to experiment with other forms of representation, such as photography, video, collage, etc.
A good command of all software useful for drawing, graphic, video, and photographic editing, as well as for presenting results in class, is also desirable.

THEORETICAL ISSUE

The theoretical theme of the workshop is the concept of Mediterranean 'urban porosity', understood as the interpenetration of plac-es, flows, times, and populations. A spatial, temporal, and social concept identified in 1924 by Walter Benjamin and Asja Lacis in the chaotic context of Naples, where they noted a 'profound interpenetration of day and night, of festive day and weekday, of silence and noise, of street and home, as the fabric that characterizes its everyday aspects'. A definition born from the observation of the tuffa-ceous rock on which the city's buildings are grafted, and then extended to the entire metropolis and its architecture, thus understood as a "synthesis of community rhythm", in which everything is interpenetrated in the transition between rock, walls, streets, squares, houses and monuments:

«The architecture is as porous as this stone. Construction and action interpenetrate in courtyards, arcades and staircases. Everywhere, space is maintained so that it can become the scene of new, unforeseen circumstances. What is final and formed is avoided. No situation appears to be as it is, designed for all time, no form declares its "so and not otherwise". This is how architecture develops here as a syn-thesis of the community rhythm: civilised, private and ordered only in the large hotels and quayside warehouses - anarchic, rustically in-terwoven in the centre, where just forty years ago people began to dig up large roads» .

This description interests us not only as a source of compositional inspiration, but also because, in the incoherent and informal spaces of contemporary metropolitan suburbs in which we operate, there coexists a society that is also porous, in which the various social classes interpenetrate in public and private space:

«Everyone is divided into an infinite number of simultaneously animated flaps. Balcony, entrance, window, driveway, staircase and roof-top all serve simultaneously as stage and scene. Even the most miserable of existences is sovereign in its obscure awareness of being part [...] of one of the unrepeatable images of the street [...] Private life is fragmentary, porous and discontinuous. [...] Private actions and behaviour are inundated with streams of community life. Existence, which for the northern European is the most private of affairs, is here [...] a collective matter. [...] Thus the home is not so much the refuge to which people retreat as the inexhaustible storehouse from which they flow. Not only through the doors does life burst forth, not only on the square in front where people do their work. [...] Just as the domestic environment is recreated on the street, with chairs, hearth and altar, so, only much more noisily, does the street penetrate into the interior of the house.» .

In contemporary architecture, the concept of the porosity of urban contexts, public spaces and building volumes can be found in the works, on all scales and of all types, of many masters of modern-contemporary architecture, starting with the works of the exponents of Team X such as Aldo van Eych, Giancarlo De Carlo and the Candilis-Josic-Woods group, and then encountering it in the architecture of Lina Bo Bardi, Rem Koolhaas, Bernard Tchumi, MVRDV, Steven Holl and many others.
PROJECT THEME

Laboratory proposes as a design exercise a complex of special medium-sized residences, aimed at categories of "fragile" citizens (im-migrants waiting for work or a residence permit, families, individuals, minors or elderly people in difficulty and in need of protection), integrated with various types of open-air spaces and the natural and environmental context. In other words, a complex with a social character, including cultural, educational, sports and social services, integrated with green areas and open to all citizens of all ages.
The workshop is also aimed at integrating the elements of architectural design with those more specific to urban design and green areas, and therefore requires the student to use rudimentary tools for analysing the city and the territory. The student is thus required to develop a project that is a synthesis of morphological, distributive, technological and constructive aspects, while also taking into account the social, cultural and sporting needs of the neighbourhood, including a certain degree of fragmentation in the architectural solutions.
The choice of a multi-purpose residential complex was made in order to invite the students to begin to focus their design on the need for spaces and facilities suited to life in the contemporary metropolis: a city that is now multi-ethnic and transversal, inhabited by dif-ferent "urban tribes", which must necessarily be healthy, on a human scale, equipped with bicycle and pedestrian mobility systems and public transport networks. The project is thus conceived as part of a "resilient" urban space adapted to the new health and envi-ronmental emergencies that have characterised recent years.
The compound to be designed is a sort of "Cité de Refuge", like Le Corbusier's "centre of social services" and residences for the homeless and the indigent, built between 1929 and 1933 in Paris for the Salvation Army, also similar to Lina Bo Bardi's SESC Pompeia complex of cultural and social services, built between 1975 and 1982 in São Paulo, Brazil. In short, the Roman Cité de Refuge should be a reception Centre for all its inhabitants, Italians and foreigners alike, to create a place of aggregation, integration and healthy co-existence: a reception complex with open, well-equipped public spaces, close to an urban river park; a project that emphasises cer-tain contemporary aspects of solidarity-based living and social coexistence, such as urban gardens, a direct market, craft activities, places for socialising, culture and basic sports activities for all ages.
The design exercise is planned in an area adjacent to the infrastructural hub of Ponte Mammolo, bordering several zones of the Valle dell’Aniene Regional Nature Reserve, a vast fluvial natural area that stretches from its confluence with the Tiber River to the Grande Raccordo Anulare (Rome’s ring road). It is located across both semi-central and peripheral neighborhoods such as Salario, Montesacro, Pietralata, Ponte Mammolo, Tiburtino, Casale Rocchi, and Casal dei Pazzi. This is a diverse urban quadrant which, however, lacks in-tentionally designed public spaces, whether mineral (built) or natural.

Surrounding the project area is an entirely informal park, actively used and creatively inhabited by a socially stratified, multicultural, relaxed, and sporty population. This community has spontaneously been created, without any formal planning, urban gardens, play-grounds, sports fields, and relaxation areas.
The project area therefore includes both degraded zones and areas of high environmental quality, which also host numerous cultural assets from different eras and of various kinds: Paleolithic evidence, Roman monuments, medieval and Renaissance farmhouses, and remarkable architecture from various periods of the 20th century.
The Ponte Mammolo hub also serves as a major transport node, connecting Metro Line B, multiple bus lines, and the new Togliatti tramway, which links it to Metro Lines A and C, as well as to regional train stations. Finally, the area is crossed by the so-called GRAB (Grande Raccordo Anulare delle Biciclette) — Rome’s bike beltway.
The exercise will begin with a very short initial phase to be carried out in groups, during which students must produce an ur-ban/perceptual analysis and a schematic/diagrammatic urban project of the entire project area. This phase should also identify urban tiles — segments of the site that include a portion of the river and green spaces — where the architectural projects will be developed by sub-groups of up to two members. In the second phase, also brief, the sub-groups must produce: A cross-sectional urban drawing of their tile, from the urban edge to the river; A study model, with an initial design hypothesis to further develop; A short storyboard of the future project, describing “how users will experience the building: what they will see before arriving on-site, how they will per-ceive the building in its context, and how they will cross the threshold from public space to private or semi-public space”; A first design proposal, through a site plan and model. The final phase, carried out within the sub-groups, will consist of the actual architectural de-sign, during which students must also complete part of the work individually.

Methodological reference texts:

Quaroni L., Progettare un edificio. Otto lezioni di architettura, Milano 1977.
Benevolo L., Un’introduzione all’architettura, Laterza, Milano 2005.
Angeletti P., V. Bordini, A. Terranova, Carocci, Roma 1987.
Le Corbusier, Verso un’architettura, Longanesi, Milano, 1973.
Hertzberger H, Lezioni di architettura, a cura di Michele Furnari, Laterza ed, Roma-Bari 1996.

Recommended texts (from which to choose the book to be read):

1- General books on architectural theory:

Banham R., Los Angeles. L'architettura di quattro ecologie, Torino, Einaudi, 2009)
Capuano A., B. Di Donato, A. Lanzetta (cur.), Cinque temi del modernocontemporaneo, Quodlibet, Macerata 2020.
Gregotti V., Il territorio dell’architettura, Feltrinelli, Milano, 1966
Koolhaas R., Delirious New York, Electa, Milano 2000.
Moneo R., Inquietudine teorica e strategia progettuale nell’opera di otto architetti contemporanei, Milano, Electa, 2005.
Neutra R., Progettare per sopravvivere, Edizioni Comunità, Milano 1956.
Norberg-Schulz C., Genius Loci. Paesaggio Ambiente Architettura, Electa, Milano, 1979.
Rossi A., L’architettura della città, Città Studi Edizioni, Milano 1966.
Terranova A., F. Toppetti, Teorie figure architetti del Modernocontemporaneo, Gangemi, Roma 2012.
Venturi R., Complessità e contraddizioni nell'architettura, Ed. Dedalo, Bari 1980.
Venturi R., Scott Brown D., Izeneour S., Imparare da Las Vegas. Il simbolismo dimenticato della forma architettonica, Quodlibet, Macerata 2010.

2 - Metropolis and Rome:
VV.AA., Le Mappe della diseguaglianza. Una geografia sociale metropolitana, Donzelli, Roma 2019.
Criconia A. (cur), Una città per tutti. Diritti, spazi, cittadinanza, Roma, Donzelli editore, 2019.
Capuano A., Lanzetta A. (cur), #Curacittà Roma. La Sapienza della cura urbana , Quodlibet, Macerata 2020
Cellamare C. (cur.), Fuori raccordo. Abitare l’altra Roma, Donzelli, Roma 2016.
Ilardi M., Le due periferie. Il territorio e l’immaginario, DeriveApprodi, Roma 2022.
Koolhaas R., Junkspace, Quodlibet, Macerata, 2018.
Lanzetta A., Non ci sono strade nella periferia estrema, «asfalto», 2/11/ 2021, https://asfalto.archphoto.it/non-ci-sono-strade-nella-periferia-estrema/
Lanzetta A., Roma informale. La città mediterranea del GRA, Manifestolibri, Roma 2018.
S.M.U.R., Roma città autoprodotta. Ricerca urbana e linguaggi artistici, Manifestolibri, Roma 2014.

3- About “porosity”:
Benjamin W., A. Lacis, Napoli, in W. Benjamin, Immagini di città, Einaudi, Milano 2007.
Benjamin W., A. Lacis, Napoli porosa, Dante e Descartes, Napoli 2020.
Holl S., Parallax. Architettura e percezione, Postmedia Books, milano 2005.
Lanzetta A., Opaco Mediterraneo, Modernità informale, Libria, Melfi 2016.
Lanzetta A, Barbieri P., Fiorelli A, Il Respiro delle città, Libria, Melfi 2023.
Lanzetta A., Barcellona/ESP. Lo spazio pubblico al centro della politica, in F. Toppetti, L.V. Ferretti, (edited by.) La cura delle città. Politiche e progetti, Quodlibet, Macerata 2020.
The Why Factory (W. Maas, A Ravon), Porocity. Opening up Solidity, nai010 publishers, Rotterdam, 2018.
Wolfrum S. et al., Porous City: From Metaphor to Urban Agenda, Birkhauser Architecture, Basel, 2018.

4 - About the 'pandemic city'
VV.AA., Pandemic City, «archphoto 2.0», n. 07, 2021.
Lanzetta A., Biopolitica e paura. Fine dello spazio post-moderno?, in: «archphoto.it, 18/03/2020, https://www.archphoto.it/archives/5583
Lanzetta A., L’ossessione della natura in città, «asfalto», 2/03/2021, https://asfalto.archphoto.it/ossessione-della-natura-in-citta/
5- Filmography
Berlino. Sinfonia di una grande città (Berlin - Die Sinfonie der Großstadt), regia di Walter Ruttmann, Germania, 1927
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVqPoV9q4ck&ab_channel=BERLINCHANNEL
Blow up, regia Michelangelo Antonioni, Italia - Regno Unito - Stati Uniti d'America, 1966
Homo Urbanus- 1-10, di Ila Bêka e Louise Lemoine, France, 2017-2022 https://vimeo.com/ondemand/homourbanus
L'année dernière à Marienbad (L’anno scorso a Marienbad), regia di Alain Resanais, Francia-Italia, 1961
La riappropriazione della città, di Ugo La Pietra, Ed. Centre Georges Pompidou, Parigi, 1977
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77JcWziPJbU&ab_channel=UgoLaPietra
Mon Oncle (Mio zio), regia di Jacques Tati, Francia, 1958
Pasolini- "La forma della città, regia di Paolo Brunatto, Italia, 1974 https://youtu.be/btJ-EoJxwr4
Play Time (Tempo di divertimento), regia di Jacques Tati, Francia-Italia, 1967
Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles, di Reyner Banham, BBC, 1972 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlZ0NbC-YDo&ab_channel=TylerGoss

WORKSHOP PROCEDURE

The course will tend to encourage maximum exchange between theoretical lessons, in-depth thematic applications, and student work. The periodic checks on the progress of the work will be mainly collective, in the classroom, by means of audio-visual micro-presentations of the work (power point, video, etc.). The programme thus envisages, in addition to the drafting of the final papers, several collective intermediate checks according to the different stages of the work, which will be organised as follows:

Phase A – Working groups of 6–8 students

Phase A1: Visual/Perceptual and Historical/Morphological Analysis

Deliverables:
1. Perceptual survey of the area through on-site visits, with output presented via photographs, videos, sketches, models, etc.;
2. Psychogeographic map reflecting the perceptual analysis;
3. Conceptual map illustrating critical issues and potentials, cultural and environmental assets, urban morphology, historical development, and any other themes identified by the group.
Submission:
• Format: 70x70 cm boards and audiovisual presentations (max. 3 minutes per group, in class).
• This submission is mandatory and a prerequisite for progressing in the design studio.

Phase A2: Schematic/Diagrammatic Urban-Scale Project
Deliverables:
1. Project concept, with a conceptual diagram and dimensional references to major Roman urban forms;
2. Conceptual urban model of the project at 1:5000 scale;
3. Masterplan at 1:5000 scale, indicating the locations of the architectural projects.
Submission:
• Format: 70x70 cm boards and audiovisual presentations (max. 5 minutes per group, in class).
• This submission is mandatory and a prerequisite for progressing in the design studio.
Phase B – Sub-groups of 1–2 students
Phase B1: Preliminary Definition of the Project Idea
Deliverables:
1. Storyboard of the project;
2. Conceptual diagram of the project;
3. Site plan and urban sections at 1:2000 scale of the selected site, with an initial project hypothesis;
4. Study model of the selected tile, with a preliminary project idea.
Submission:
• Format: 70x70 cm boards and audiovisual presentations (max. 5 minutes per group, in class).
• This submission is mandatory and a prerequisite for progressing in the design studio.

Phase B2: Architectural Project Development
Deliverables:
1. General site plan, sections, and physical model at 1:1000 / 1:500 scale;
2. 3D drawings illustrating the overall project (axonometric views, perspectives, collages);
3. Plans, elevations, and sections of a part of the project, at 1:100 / 1:200 scale (individual work by each student);
4. 3D visualizations such as axonometric views, perspectives, exploded views, and collages (individual work by each student);
5. Architectural detail at 1:50 / 1:20 scale (in group projects, one detail per student).
This phase involves the definition of the building and its spatial and morphological organization in all its components.
Submission:
• Format: 70x70 cm boards, presentation and discussion in class with external guests.
• This submission is mandatory and a requirement for registering for the final exam.

In the Laboratory, the greatest attention must be paid to the care of Architectural Drawing, meaning freehand drawing, automatic drawing, and physical models (maquettes), to complete the students' ability to present themselves graphically and orally. Further-more, a graphic style that avoids realistic three-dimensional representations (render) is considered more appropriate for the commu-nication of architectural projects, in favour of a more synthetic, abstract, "line-based" style. The students are also required to have a thorough knowledge of at least one of the following texts, to be agreed with the lecturers, except for the "basic reference texts from a methodological point of view".
To facilitate the student's full understanding and maturation of the subject, the lessons conducted during the teaching semester will be deposited on the course's e-learning site, divided into topics, which in turn will be divided into several micro-lessons. Please note that the topics of the lectures will be the subject of the examination discussion.

As a workshop, attendance is compulsory.

The student will be evaluated on the basis of an average of the results:

1-of the various submissions produced during the Workshop;
2-of the final exercise, assessed both as regards the maturity of the design contents and as regards architectural drawing in all its forms (technical drawings, diagrammatic and three-dimensional descriptive drawings, maquettes);
3- the final discussion, which includes both the presentation of the final project, complete in all its phases, and the knowledge of a recommended text, to be agreed with the lecturer, as well as the topics of the lectures.

The questions will focus on the project developed in the Laboratory and on related disciplinary topics.