ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN - STUDIO II (LAB C)
Academic year and teacher
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2017/2018
- Teacher
- RICCARDO MISELLI
- Credits
- 11
- Didactic period
- Secondo Semestre
Training objectives
- After having accomplished the opening experience of the first year, the Architectural Design Laboratory 2 is a further step toward the complexity of the architectural design. The aim of the course is to professionalize students with theories and technics for designing in urban site characterized by an average level of functional complexity.
Knowledge to be acquired:
- action strategies in urban sites
- composition and quality of built spaces
- interrelation among space, function and structure
Skills to be developed:
- analysis of urban structure and design of occupy methods
- identification of spatial standards and their dimensioning
- correct use of distribution and architectural elements Prerequisites
- To attend the Laboratory the student must have passed the following exames:
- Architectural Drawing
- Architectural Design Laboratory 1
More generally, the students will demonstrate to be able to understand and describe forms in space, using the basic knowledge of building models and the graphic representation techniques in a correct way, both by hand and computer. Course programme
- The course is 132 hours long for 11 credits, organized on three coordinated courses (A-B-C), formed of a main teaching and two specialized modules:
Architectural composition (84 hours - 7 credits), main teaching.
Urban morphology and buildings typologies (24 hours - 2 credits), specialized module.
Materials and design of structural elements (24 hours - 2 credits), specialized module.
The course, in its complete articulation, explores the relations between the contemporary architecture and the historical city. The student is supposed to develop an architectural design in an urban site. During the lessons and the design reviews, the following topics will be discussed:
- methods of composition of shapes and volumes
- materials of architecture: light, colors, textures
- building for the city: the places and the concept of place
- memory and invention: the connection with the tradition
- morphological structures of the historical city: phases and changes
- density and contamination: basics of building typology
- functional diagrams and distribution
- architecture and representation: cladding and casing
- basic models of structures and technical elements
- the contemporary debate on architecture and the city: examples, opinions and interpretations
Students are supposed to produce pictures and drawings in the appropriate scale, representing architectural concepts and relations set up with the city and the environment, developing the main elements up to technical details. Drawing is not the only required activity: the project is a complex intellectual exercise that involves knowledge, tools and skills that students are expected to have assimilated, but also to be able to raise them and use in a conscious way. Didactic methods
- The didactic works within the laboratory are organized through:
- lectures
- review and seminar presentations
- exercises ex-tempore
The development of the projects is constantly followed by the teachers through reviews and meetings. The course includes some midterm critics through the presentation of the projects and their collective discussion. The design activities are carried out individually or in groups, with different workloads. Working in groups enhance the social and interpersonal skills of the students, while sharpening their attitudes to the discussion.
Participation in any outdoor activities (visits to building sites or buildings, surveys etc.) is suggested but not mandatory. Learning assessment procedures
- The final examination will verify the knowledge and the achieved skills of the student, as described in the educational goals. The final project is made of drawings, a report and further graphics which describe the progression of the didactic course. The final test is oral, and consists in the discussion and evaluation of the architectural design which has been developed during the semester, through the analysys of the adopted urban strategies, the architectural quality and the consistency of the building choices.
Reference texts
- Holl S., Parallax, Birkhäuser, Basel, 2001 (2000).
Moneo R., La solitudine degli edifici e altri scritti, 2 voll., Allemandi, Torino, 1999.
Zumthor P., Pensare architettura, Electa, Milano, 2004 (1998).
