AIMS AND CONTENT

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The atelier aims to train future professionals and technicians capable of developing design processes in complex contexts with particular attention to contemporary needs and tools.

At the end of the atelier, through participation in the planned educational activities and practical different exercises, even with autonomous contributions, students will be able to:

• identify and describe the relationships between architectural-spatial configurations, structural forms, executive techniques and materials with particular reference to the increasing role of the building envelope, a technical and expressive element;
• correctly set up more detailed design exercises, responding to the specific needs dictated by the context and the type of users;
• assessing aspects and problems related to the actual feasibility and construction choices;
• recognise and distinguish the relationships and impacts of executive choices on the environment (criticality, durability, resource saving, efficiency);
• describe the potential and limits of digital tools.
• - gain awareness of one's own learning strategies
• - understanding one's own needs and ways of developing competences,
• - organising and evaluating personal learning according to what they have understood and learnt.

TEACHING METHODS

The teaching is structured in the form of lectures, group and individual work, case analyses and active student contributions (flipped classroom), possibly supplemented by external seminars held by specialists. The students, in parallel with the lectures, will face one or more design and construction themes and analyse them by applying, from time to time, the methods and knowledge imparted through lectures, made available via aula-web.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The theoretical and methodological insights, made available via Aulaweb and necessary for students’ practical laboratory work, cover the following key topics:

1) Technique, technology and architecture: The role of structural forms in spatial design. Examples of contemporary architecture and construction technologies. Complex geometries: design, construction and realisation. Detailed design, construction and the role of digital technologies

2) An approach to building thermal insulation: strategies, solutions and materials.

3) Detailed design of opaque building envelopes: materials and expression of opaque building envelopes. Requirements and performance of the building envelope: strategies and materials for thermal, acoustic and light control, as well as longevity and durability in building construction.

4) Detailed design of glazed facades: types of glazing, requirements and performance; strategies and materials for thermal, acoustic and light control.

5) Timber construction. Timber: a renewable resource and a material useful for the decarbonisation of the construction sector; from natural resource to engineered product. Structural types and construction and detailing solutions.The examination of the technical topics is framed within wider cultural contexts and horizons, also taking as an example recent projects and achievements and with the possible help of digital tools. The individual and/or small groups exercises, are intended as applications of the knowledge learnt both through the topics addressed by the lecturer and through individual in-depth studies.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Specific teaching materials, drawn from an extensive basic bibliography, will be made available in aulaweb.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The verification of takes place by means of a final oral examination during which the students will describe their own exercise and answer questions on the programme, following the explanation given through Aulaweb. The oral exposition can be accompanied by simple graphic elaborations that help the student to correctly explain technical arguments.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The oral examination allows to verify

• the ability to analyse, also from a technical and executive point of view, an architectural project from a critical perspective and using an appropriate technical vocabulary;
• the ability to recognise hierarchically the phases of the construction process and the different construction methods;
• the ability to identify the impact of different construction solutions on the environment and their effectiveness with respect to the users' needs and required performances.