Architecture

Theme The theme of the laboratory takes into account the current condition of the city. In light of the increasingly urgent issues related to housing, the collective and community uses of spaces, and the ever more complex functions connected to leisure — from sports to culture — the laboratory will attempt to respond by questioning what the most innovative and experimental solutions within design practice might be. The specific theme concerns the transformation of a portion of the city that currently has a limited presence of services. The design area of intervention is defined at the urban scale by Via Prenestina, and in particular the project will be located in the area bounded by Via delle Gardenie to the east and Via dell’Acqua Bulicante to the west. Another boundary of the area to the southeast is the Casilino neighborhood, and to the north, Via Prenestina. The project, in its urban and architectural definition, occupies an empty area within the context described above. The project will have the character of an urban project. The intervention will respond, in both functional and formal terms, to the problems of the area in question, but it must also serve as an opportunity for the students to refine their design skills and develop their personal position on architecture. The students will design a structure or a set of structures intended for various functions — housing, leisure, residences, and covered collective spaces. Among the fundamental components will be a library and a civic center, to which additional complementary and useful functions may be added in order to reinforce the underlying idea of the project. The laboratory will be divided into two phases: the first, lasting 3–4 weeks, will involve exercises useful for deepening, specifying, and refining the design tools the student has developed so far. The second phase, lasting the remaining weeks until June/July, will focus on developing the actual project. Throughout the course, the instructor will give lectures on the foundations of architectural thought. Attendance Given the working method adopted, constant attendance will be very important in order to achieve the preparation required to take the exam within the timeframe of the course. Organization In the first phase, after the initial individual exercise, the students will choose to join one of four groups. Each group will study a specific aspect of the intervention area. At the end, the work of the individual groups will be presented to everyone and will become shared material. First individual exercise: this exercise aims to understand, through the redrawing of some well-known and significant examples, the permanent issues of design. Second group exercise: this exercise consists of an analytical/inventive task focused on the intervention area. The project itself will be developed individually. Lectures During the laboratory, the instructor will address topics preparatory to design work, as well as broader issues concerning contemporary architecture. Discussions Ample time will be devoted to classroom discussion in order to specify, reinforce, or simply define more deeply one’s own point of view on architecture, design, theory, and contemporaneity. These discussions are to be understood as the oral theoretical training required during the course and leading up to the exam. Submissions The submission of exercises will take place on the Laboratory’s Google Classroom and is a prerequisite for taking the exam.

Broad-spectrum skills in design topics and tools developed in previous years After the third year, students possess advanced knowledge and skills in design development. This means being able to address complex design issues, which presuppose knowledge of typological tools as well as the distributive characteristics of architecture. Furthermore, they must have already developed their own vision of architecture through knowledge of technical and historical disciplines, and have in-depth knowledge of the work of architects they have chosen as their mentors, and who have been recommended by the faculty during their studies and deemed useful for their education. They must possess both manual and digital graphic skills, as drawing is a fundamental expression of the architect.

D.Nencini, Libro Bianco Libro nero, Gangemi editore, 2019 D.Nencini, La piazza. Ragioni e significati nell'architettura italiana, 2012 F.Purini, et al. La Città Nuova Italia-y-2026, Invito a VEMA. edizioni compositori 2006 F.Menegatti, Milano verde. Un’idea per l’architettura e la città, Gangemi editore,2017 Roma, F.Menegatti, D. Nencini, Menegatti_Nencini. Architetture 2000 | 2016, Aion Edizioni, Firenze (2017) F.Menegatti, Itinerari italiani della residenza collettiva, Gangemi editore, Roma, (2012)

Attendance Given the working method adopted, regular attendance will be essential in order to achieve the level of preparation required to take the exam within the timeframe of the course.

Assessment will take place during the exam and will concern the first individual exercise, and subsequently the group work: the students will choose to join one of four groups. Each group will explore a specific theme related to the analysis of the intervention area. At the end, the work of the individual groups will be presented to everyone and will become shared material. First individual exercise: this exercise is aimed at understanding the permanent issues of design through the redrawing of some well-known and significant examples. second group exercise: this exercise is an analytical/inventive task focused on the intervention area. The project will be developed individually and will be assessed not only on the final outcome, but also on the commitment and consistency of the work carried out in class, in seminars, and individually.

The laboratory will be structured in two phases: the first, lasting 3–4 weeks, will consist of exercises aimed at deepening, specifying, and refining the design tools the student has developed so far. The second phase, during the remaining weeks until June/July, will focus on the development of the actual project. Throughout the course, the instructor will deliver lectures on the foundations of architectural thought. Organization: In the first phase, after the initial individual exercise, the students will choose to join one of four groups. Each group will explore a specific theme related to the analysis of the intervention area. At the end, the work of the individual groups will be presented to everyone and will become shared material. Lectures: During the laboratory, the instructor’s lectures will address topics preparatory to design work, as well as broader issues concerning contemporary architecture. Discussions: Ample time will be dedicated to classroom discussions, in order to specify, reinforce, or simply further define one’s point of view on architecture, design, theory, and contemporaneity. These discussions are to be understood as part of the theoretical training required orally during the course and leading up to the exam. Submissions: The submission of exercises will take place on the Laboratory’s Google Classroom platform and is a prerequisite for taking the exam.

Design Studio 4 proposes a design theme contextualized within the urban fabric of Rome. It is a complex urban system, set in a highly valuable environmental context determined by centuries of interaction between natural and anthropic components. The aim of the Laboratory is to promote, through innovative proposals, the revitalization of an important part of the city, ensuring a process of maintenance—and strengthening—of the residential and everyday life of the context. The program involves the construction of residences (a limited number of apartments for the free market, indistinguishable from the majority of apartments, which are instead dedicated to social housing), public services for new residents and the city, a limited number of underground parking spaces, and new public spaces that are fully accessible to pedestrians.

A fourth-year student should already have reached a level of maturity and design autonomy to be able to deal with the subject of a complex architectural organism. It is then taken for granted that he/she is able to read an urban fabric, design a medium-sized residential building integrated with the context and a public service in an urban area. After undergoing three Architectural Design Studios he/she should have mastered the techniques of representation (hand and digital), a good familiarity with the different scales of design (from urban design to detailing) and with the main architectural typologies. He/she should then demonstrate basic knowledge of the history of architecture and the city, as well as the main constructive, technological and environmental aspects of architectural design. Attendance of courses and the sequence of reporting exams must follow the details of the regulations of the Course of Study.

Specific texts will be provided during the course of the Design Studio. Some general reference texts are indicated below. C. Sitte, L’arte di costruire le città, Jaca Book, Milano 1994 (1889) G. Ponti, Amate l’architettura (1957), Rizzoli, Milano 2015 A. Siza, Scritti di architettura, Electa, Milano 1997 A. Rossi, Autobiografia scientifica, Nuova Pratiche Editrice, Milano 1999 B. Secchi, Prima lezione di urbanistica, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2000 H. Hertzberger, Lessons for Students in Architecture, 010 Publisher, Rotterdam 2001 L. I. Khan, Architettura è. Gli scritti, a cura di M. Bonaiuti, Electa, Milano 2002 H. Tessenow, Osservazioni elementari sul costruire, Franco Angeli, Milano 2003 P. Zumthor, Pensare architettura, Electa, Milano 2003 G. Clement, Manifesto del terzo paesaggio, Quodlibet, Macerata 2005 A. de Botton, Architettura e felicità, Guanda, Parma 2006 L. Reale, Densità, Città, Residenza, Gangemi, Roma 2008 A. Deplazes, Constructing Architecture, Birkhauser, Basel 2011 F. Venezia, Che cos’è l’architettura. Lezioni, conferenze, un intervento, Electa, Milano 2011 J. Utzon, Idee di architettura. Scritti e conversazioni, Christian Marinotti Editore 2011 L. Reale, La Residenza Collettiva, SE Sistemi Editoriali, Napoli 2015 A. Caruso, In sintonia con le cose, Christian Marinotti Editore 2016 L. Moretti, Spazio. Gli editoriali e altri scritti, Marinotti Editore, Milano 2019.

Attendance at the Design Studio is compulsory: attainment of the 12 cfu is conditional on reaching 70 percent attendance and obtaining at least a sufficient grade on the intermediate exercises (respecting delivery dates). There are some scheduled project progress stages where students will present the required papers with a seminar discussion. At the end of the course, before the first exam call, there will be a pre-exam check that will help the student to figure out which call he/she would prefer to appear at.

The midterm exercises and final project will be evaluated for the clarity and coherence of the proposal, which must be presented by the student with simple but eloquent drawings and models, demonstrating that he or she has achieved a design maturity and ability to represent architecture appropriate to the 4th year. In the examination, each student will set up, as in an exhibition, all the elaborates produced individually and in groups during the course (intermediate and group exercises, final project elaborates). Specific questions may be addressed to the student, who will entrust the exhibition of his or her proposal solely to the materials presented (technical drawings, physical and virtual models, diagrams, more expressive elaborations such as photomontages, collages, etc.). Throughout the Laboratorio, each student will use an A5-size notebook on which, among other things, he/she will elaborate freehand drawings and sketches testifying to the development and progress from the project idea to detailed aspects. The evaluation of the examination is based on the quality and maturity and conceptual rigor of the design choices, the student's autonomy and inventive ability, the level of thoroughness and completeness of the proposal in relation to the proposed theme, and the value of graphic works and models submitted. Number and format of required papers will be communicated during the course.

The teaching activity of the Design Studio will take place in the presence, mainly in the classroom, barring some possible outings to the city (project site) or sites of interest (exhibitions, etc.,). During the individual course days, the teacher will offer lectures on specific course topics in the first part of the afternoon. During these communications each student is invited to intervene with questions, doubts or any comments. In the second part of the afternoon the work will be mainly devoted to the development of the students' project, through collegial reviews, face-to-face reviews. Also crucial is the interaction on the project among the students themselves.

Ferretti L.V. (2019) Paesaggio urbano, spazio urbano, FrancoAngeli. Mariano C. (2012), Progettare e gestire lo spazio pubblico, Aracne. Reale L., (2008) Densità, città, residenza, Gangemi. Tsiomis Y., L'aporia dell'architetto: la qualità dello spazio urbano, in Marcelloni M., a cura di, Questioni della città contemporanea, Franco Angeli, Milano, 2005