Definition of objectives

The Architectural Design Studio 2C is focus on the design of a residential building in an historical context, providing theoretical and technical tools for the students. The goal is to try to think first about the "how" and then about "why".
The student, after the first year of studies dedicated to obtain basic informations about the architectural composition, will be driven within the discipline to improve their skills. The theoretical facts will find a first practical application. We work to give to the studentcultural and practical tools necessary to design site-specific, to read identity and atmosphere in order to sharpen their critical sensibility and improve their knowledge.

Course Description

The Architectural Design Studio 2C is the place where is possible to experiment different formal composition in according to the constraints of a specific contexts and urban life. We will try to highlight some possible explorations that we hope will be a tool for thinking about the future of the city. The main topic for the exercises will be "Building the Intensity. Continuing the Density for the City". Each student will develop a project for a residential building, a clear architectonic object, in an historic urban fabric.
Through lectures will talk about architectural composition, morphological and urban reading, spatial perception and its description. The students will work managing the typical architectural tools: drawing, photography and models at different scales. Specific workshop on building construction and on design presentation will enrich the study experience.

Articulation of lessons

The design course will be divided in four steps: reflection on the topic; the knowledge of the place; from the idea to the concept; the construction of the atmospheres.

Reflection on the topic:

We will make a study trip in Milan. We will study (with drawing and photographic exercises and building conceptual models) some residential buildings evidence of how modern architecture was absorbed by the Italian twentieth century architectonic culture. We will study urban and spatial relations and construction techniques to be used as reference for the projects.

The knowledge of the place:

Through survey, drawings, graphics-photographic surveys and construction of models in different scales in the studio we will rebuild the context of the proposal projects trying to understand specific atmosphere, the precise existing spatial relationships looking for their real identity.

From the idea to the concept:

The exercise will start with a clear choice, at the same time, of a spatial sequences able to determine a clear formal hierarchy and setting a new mass of the building in relation to its context. The compositional and formal actions will be verified by building models and images (collages, photomontages).

The construction of atmospheres:

All the spaces defined by the new building will be verified and studied thinking about structure, construction, materials and texture. We will define all the aspect of the building: from the general mass consideration until some construction detail.

The examination

There will be three internal and two external critics.
The exam will be the opportunity to verify both the whole experience and the final project in its physical consistency. The drawings will be delivered before to internal teachers to have access to the final external critic.

The required drawings are:
- A5: personal portfolio of the design studio
- A2: set of drawings about the building in different scale.
- A1 format: a board with cleary express the personal answer to the general topic "Building the Intensity. Continuing the Density for the City"
- Models from the urban scale up to detailed models in appropriate scale.

Bibliography

Calderoni, A. 2015, Appunti dal visibile
Campo Baeza, A. 2013, L'idea costruita
Collotti, F. 2002, Appunti per una teoria dell'architettura
Marti Aris, C. 2002, Silenzi eloquenti
Moneo, R. 2005, Inquietudine teorica e strategia progettuale
Moneo, R. 2004, La solitudine degli edifici, vol. 2
Pallasma, J. 2014, La mano che pensa
Perec, G. 1989, Specie di spazi
Quaroni, L. 1977, Otto lezioni di architettura
Rilke, R. M. 1929, Lettere ad un giovane poeta
Sennett, R. 2013, L'uomo artigiano
Snozzi, L. 2013, 25 Aphorismen zur Architektur
Tanizaki, J. 2000, Libro d'ombra
Utzon, J. 2011, Idee di architettura
Zumthor, P. 2008, Atmosfere
Zumthor, P. 2003, Pensare architettura

Website

http://albertocalderoni.wixsite.com/backoffice