The Architectural Construction Studio "Building in the built environment" has two main objectives:
• To incorporate into the education agenda a design experience focused on the individual building and its relationship to the nearest environment;
• To provide specific knowledge to design a building in the built urban fabric.

• grasping the design potential arising from the interaction between form and technique, related to the nearest environment
• interpreting the area in relation with the cityscape and its symbols, building typologies, plan organizations, and construction techniques
• consistency of design choices (spaces and techniques)
• analysis and satisfaction of functional requirements, above all regarding living quality
• appropriate specification of building materials and systems according to physical properties, expected performance and feasibility
• appropriate use of design-oriented technical drawing

Having passed the examinations of the 1st year Atelier and the of 1st year course of Architecture Fundamentals of Architectural Technology by February 2014

Educational activities will consist in accompanying the organic development of a design process, both through theoretical lessons and collective project reviews. Theoretical classes and presentations will rather take part in the first part of the semester, while the second will be mainly dedicated to design improvement, to the drafting of the final documents and cross-checks on different scales.
Activities will also possibly include presentations of external architects or experts, visits to buildings, etc.
Students will work in groups of two on selected buildings in a popular and densely built neighbourhood in Torino.
Design composition and requirement-driven approach will affect each other. The Studio teaching program will be focussed on the analysis of functional requirements and an appropriate response to such requirements; the relationship between interior and exterior of buildings regarding the envelope design; and the role of building elements. Particular attention will be paid to the issue of sustainability, understood as a basic design requirement.

The design experience will start from the nearest urban context (at a scale of 1/1000), moving on to the design of the building proper (1/200) and its detailing (1/50). Design activities won’t involve any kind of restoration skills.
Students will be asked to submit the products of their work at three stages:
- At the end of week 3, a "reading" (interpretation) of the urban context;
- At the end of week 6, a building program including goals and strategies;
- On the examination day, the final work consisting in 3 A1 panels, a maquette, and a booklet that collects the intermediate material summarizing the most significant steps of the process.

- Andrea Deplazes (editor), Constructing Architecture: materials, processes, structures. A Handbook, Basel : Birkhäuser, 20082
- Varis Bokalders; Maria Block, The Whole Building Handbook. How to Design Healthy, Efficient and Sustainable Buildings, London : Earthscan, 2010
Further bibliographic references will be provided by teachers during the Studio and will be made available through the web.

Exams will consist in the presentation and discussion of the A1 panels, model and process booklet.
The final grade will be the sum of the marks for the three steps of the process.
Marks will be individual and based on the students' understanding of the issues involved, and their contribution in the development of the project.