In the Design Unit 1, the students will enhance their skills in managing a complex architectural project autonomously, both at the urban and architectural scales, acquiring the techniques, the methodologies and the specific abilities of the European architect. Through the knowledge and in-depth analysis of the specific design theme, the students will acquire an understanding and interpretation of the complex phenomena that characterise the building production in the contemporary urban condition.
The overall educational goal of the “Architecture and Structural Forms” Design Unit is elaborate a complex architectural project from the knowledge and skills provided by two specific subjects, complementary between them: Architectural Design, and Structural Analysis and Design, the latter providing specialist knowledge about the constructive dimension of architecture. Through the experience of the Design Unit, the student will acquire not only the general design skills, but also the specific knowledge and skills in Science and Technology of Structures, mandatory in the Master’s degree, as an alternative to the 2nd Year Course in “Theory and Design of Structures”.

The Design Unit 1 provides the advanced knowledge and the design skills needed to complete the education of an Architect: such a knowledge is acquired within the Design Unit and through a series of mono-disciplinary or multi-disciplinary lectures, and through studies and in-depth modules on theories, relevant to the design themes and issues. The advanced progresses in knowledge and understanding will be assessed through mid-term and final evaluations during the Design Unit, especially aimed at assessing the students’ capability to synthesise and to integrate the different disciplines contributing to the Unit.
In the experience of the Design Unit “Architecture and Structural Forms”, the understanding of the complex phenomena that govern building production, both in its constructive and urban components, occurs through the knowledge and the in-depth analysis of the specific design theme. The instructors provide multi-disciplinary knowledge of all the aspects of the complex context within which the design has to be developed. The ability to understand and interpret the complex contexts, in which the practice of architecture takes place today, also occurs in the ability to interact with different specialisms, in the ability to carry out individual research, aimed to connect design, history and the knowledge of the structural elements in architecture.
In the design experience during the Design Unit, the capability to apply knowledge and skills is primarily defined by the ability to independently manage a complex architectural project in a given time, through the mastery of techniques, methods and skills specific to the job of the Architect. The capability to independently manage an architectural project is expressed in the ability to analyse complex and non-univocal information, to interpret them into a shared decision-making process, but also in the ability to exert leadership in a necessarily multi-disciplinary design team, even toward languages and social and public practices. The experience of the Design Unit, characterized by an intense experimentation, is configured as a partial simulation of effective design practices in the real-world. As such, it ensures the acquisition of the ability of applying knowledge and understanding. This ability is assessed through intermediate and final evaluations within the Design Unit, with the contributions of guest experts from practice, with especial attention to the capability to integrate and synthesize the various disciplines involved in the Unit, as well as to meet the timetable of the activities, which requires the students to complete the project at the end of the semester. The ability to process a complex architectural project in a given time represents a specific ability of the work of the architect: this will be verified at the exam that will take place during the first week of exams, in the first examination session consecutive to the Design Unit.

The basic critical and design skills, along with the concepts and introductory tools in Structural Analysis and Design are assumed to have been acquired during the Disciplinary Courses and the Design Ateliers of the Bachelor Degree in “Sciences of Architecture”.

The specific programme of the Design Unit will be defined in a next stage.

The DU will develop through:
- exercises
- lessons
- seminars

During the teaching course, bibliographical references will be available to students, and extra working material uploaded on the website.

1. Fully attendance to and engagement in the lectures, seminars, and further activities of the Design Unit is a required precondition for the positive participation in the planned activities.
2. The design documents (drawings, models, documents, diagrams, tables, etc.) will be discussed and reviewed by the instructors throughout all the Design Unit. The ability to communicate in a clear and effective way designs is relevant to evaluation.
3. Though the design assignments can be partially carried out in teams of three students, the final grading is individual and takes into account the reviews and argumentations, the mid-term evaluations, and of individual’s participation throughout the Design Unit.
4. The final grade will be awarded based on the presentation and public discussion of the final design documents.
5. The student’s ability to develop a complex architectural design in a given time will evaluated in the final exam that will take place in the first week of exams, during the first examination session consecutive to the Design Unit. In the case that the final design work is not completed on time or is judged inadequate or incomplete, the student may resubmit the final project work in the second examination session consecutive to the Design Unit. Because of the student’s inability to meet the deadline, it will result in a grade penalty.