AIMS AND CONTENT

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The Design Studio 3 module "Architecture Project" combines lectures and intense design work. It supports the development of the students' skills regarding critical analysis and theoretical synthesis. Moreover, it guides the development of project scenarios towards clear, coherent, conscious, and autonomous results. Ending the Bachelor's course, this design studio's module adopts operational tools and methodological approaches intended simultaneously as synthesis and verification of the student's training process.
Students have to develop: a critical reading on the material/cultural context within which their interventions take place, in both local and general terms; an in-depth study of the project topic (similar cases/projects' analysis, even reasoning in terms of typologies); a constant review of the project's choices and characteristics, within the groups and collectively (an autonomous improvement process should help mature discussions with teachers and experts); a set of technical drawings, along with other representations and models, useful for understanding the project.
Critically analyzing thoughts, choices, and project proposals – from own and others – is a complex and nonlinear process. It represents a fundamental skill while elaborating on new project scenarios. In this sense, further module's goals are the ability to communicate the essential reasons underlying the project synthetically and also the rhetorical-dialectical ability to respond to criticisms.

TEACHING METHODS

The module includes lessons and exercise work. The laboratory-type activity is prevalent. Personal and collective reviews are associated with classroom work to monitor and verify progress constantly. At the same time, teachers and experts present lectures or seminars relating to the module's topic and formative objectives. They help clarify the theoretical aspects and provide a critical interpretation of references.
Usually, the design exercise is faced in groups of two, three, or four students due to the complexity of the work; however, it is allowed to work alone. Some preliminary activities or deliveries can be carried out individually. Group work and discussions are essential for developing critical and judgment skills. So, they are encouraged.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

This Design Studio 3 module deals with the "architectural project" as an integrating device of cultures and technical knowledge. It realizes this approach and verifies its effectiveness by developing a thematic design exercise. This time, it is focused on a wine-producing company's buildings – devoted to both vineyards' farming and winery – located in the Langhe area, Piedmont (within the UNESCO Cultural Site "Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato", from 2014).
The Design Studio's module focuses on the concept of integration. It explores the relationship between buildings and nature – concerning the conscious establishment of a new landscapes – and the study and definition of the organisms/machines of the company's farming and winery buildings. Those places are inhabited by the men's work – whose rituals feed the design process, according to the analytical-interpretative perspective settled within the "Architectural Design Instruments C" module of Design Studio 3 (first semester).
Considering the main steps, the program is planned as follows. First of all, the need to express the relationship between the design exercise's topic and the analytical-critical framework developed along the module "Architectural Design Instruments C." Then: an in-depth presentation of the matter and program, and the definition of the methodology, organization of student groups; collective inspection, with significant insights by experts, at the site of the design exercise in Monforte d'Alba; classroom work – alternating with theory lessons and critical case studies analysis and with individual, group and collective reviews; possible further site visits of relevant winery cases in the area of ​​the Verona-Valpolicella wine-district (circa April 2023); intermediate and final deliveries, with external guests.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Biraghi, Marco and Giovanni Damiani (eds). Le parole dell’architettura. Un’antologia di testi teorici e critici: 1945-2000. Torino: Einaudi, 2009.
Chiorino, Francesca and Roberto Bosi (eds). Nuove cantine italiane. Territori e architetture / New Italian Wineries. Territories and Architectures. Milano: Electa, 2022.
Darley, Gillian. Fabbriche. Origine e sviluppo dell’architettura industriale. Bologna: Pendragon, 2007 [Darley, Gillian. Factory. Londra: Reaktion Books, 2003].
Espuelas, Fernando. Madre materia. Milano: Christian Marinotti Edizioni, 2012 [Espuelas, Fernando. Madre Materia. Madrid: Lampreave, 2009].
Giedion, Sigfried. Architecture You and Me: The Diary of a Development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1958.
Hertzberger, Herman. Lezioni di architettura. Roma-Bari: Laterza, 1996 [Hertzberger, Herman. Lessons for Students in Architecture. Rotterdam: Uitgeverij 010 Publisher, 1991].
Martí Arís, Carlos. La cèntina e l’arco. Pensiero, teoria, progetto in architettura. Milano: Christian Marinotti Edizioni, 2007 [Martí Arís, Carlos. La cimbra y el arco. Barcelona: Fundacion Caya de Arquitectos, 2005].
Perec, Georges. Specie di spazi. Torino: Bollati Boringhieri, 1989 [Perec, Georges. Espèces d’espaces. Parigi: Editions Galilée, 1974].
Rice, Peter. L’immaginazione costruttiva. Milano: Christian Marinotti Edizioni, 2012 [Rice, Peter. An Engineer Imagines. Londra: Artemis, 1994].
Rowe, Colin. La matematica della villa ideale e altri scritti. Bologna: Zanichelli, 1990 [Rowe, Colin. The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa and Other Essays. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1976].
* Further specific bibliography will be introduced later during the design studio activities.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

FILIPPO FANCIOTTI (President)

LUIGI MANDRACCIO (President Substitute)

LESSONS

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Attendance is mandatory to take the exam.
The final exam involves the delivery and public presentation of the project scenario developed by the student or the group of students during the module through a series of analyses and project plates. External guests will attend the public presentation. The examination commission comprises professors from the Department of Architecture and Design of the University of Genoa.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The design scenario's evaluation considers the project's characters and the plates' quality to be judged in terms of clarity and coherence as a sign of the maturity reached regarding analysis and synthesis skills. Likewise, the student's behavior during the module is considered, including the commitment and the correctness demonstrated in the intermediate stages.
The oral discussion, both intermediate and final, also contributes to the evaluation.

Exam schedule