The laboratory is the student's first contact with architectural design. The teaching is therefore proposed to provide the student with the knowledge and skills necessary to be able to recognize and design spaces at ARCHITECTURAL scale, also in relation to a deliberately simplified context and program. The articulation of the educational path in several consecutive thematic exercises allows the student to measure himself with the fundamentals of design, progressively approaching the complexity of the architectural project in its entirety. The first Atelier thus introduces the sequence of interdisciplinary design laboratories in which the Bachelor degree is structured.

The knowledge and skills whose actual acquisition will be verified during the examination are structured around four thematical axes: 1 Space: Knowledge: types and characters of the three-dimensional space Skills: knowing how to read, break down and compose the three-dimensional space into simple units and complex configurations; know how to recognize the different types of spaces 2 Distribution characters: Knowledge: elementary residential distributive characters Skills: to know how to analyse the organization of circulation in simple spaces and therefore to compose elementary distribution schemes 3 Design references: Knowledge: references for the project Skills: knowing how to recognize, choose and consciously redesign design references 4 Principles of constructive morphology: Regarding the structure: Knowledge: skin/structure relationship Skills: recognizing the different possible structural configurations of a simple architecture, proposing and developing the structural form in relation to the characteristics of the space and to the organization of the distribution. Regarding construction techniques: Knowledge: relationship between fundamental constructive principles and architectural image Skills: recognizing and using the fundamental building principles and the architectural meaning of the specific technologies of a simple architecture, and to develop its application in coherence with the other aspects of the project.

Easily managing the fundamentals of geometric design in terms of orthogonal projections and projective geometry, Discerning and representing scales and dimensions of architectural space through manual tools. Skilfully using the sketch as a tool for representation and conception of space. Knowing how to make simple physical three-dimensional models with low cost and easily manipulated materials (paper, balsa, polystyrene, cardboard, plasticine etc.) Students are asked to keep a sketch book and graphic notes from the beginning of the first semester to document his/her introduction to architecture, both through elaborations linked to the contents of the courses of the first semester, both through independent research. The notebook will accompany the student during the atelier, documenting in graphic form the individual path of introduction to the project. The notebook is subject to evaluation during the final exam.

The laboratory is developed through a sequence of 4 exercises that address, individually or transversally, the four proposed thematic axes (space, distribution, structure, techniques), referring to the interpretation of a simple architectural program, focused on to dwelling in its possible variations. The exercises will be mainly individual, even if the organization of the atelier will include discussions and collective reviews, as well as at least one exercise or parts of exercises in groups of 3 or 4 students. The exercises will be carried out mainly through hand drawing, both technical and freehand, and the realization of study models. The start of the exercises will take place in the classroom, under the direction of the teachers, and it will be followed by a subsequent autonomous development by the student outside the laboratory hours, and then concluded by a check and discussion with the teacher, on a weekly basis. Therefore consistent attendance of the laboratory is strongly recommended. The teachers will present and discuss with the students examples of significant architectures, as a whole or for specific aspects; students are required to have an independent and constant attendance of on-line and paper architecture magazines, searching for references for the different themes proposed. It is also recommended to participate in extra-curricular cultural activities organized by the College of Architecture, and to external cultural activities that can be reported by the teachers. Each of the four exercises will last approximately three weeks. The last two weeks are dedicated to the reworking of what was done, in a final presentation (graphic tables and physical model). Coordination and exchange with the architecture design and survey laboratory can be activated both at the first and in the second semester, through joint lectures and periodic checks on the progress of the courses. Possible common exercises in collaboration with the Culture and foundations of architectural technology course and/or with the Morphology and conception of structures course will be communicated at the beginning of the 2nd teaching period, together with the related organizational methods and times.

The course will work on the idea that architectural design can be interpreted as a work of “problem finding” and “problem solving” guided by – or at least representing - a specific set of values. The students’ work will be articulated in 4 projects which are designed in order to challenge one unique architectural problem from 4 different points of view. The architectural problem will be a small residential building in a given easily accessible context. Three out of four projects will be caried out in groups, while one will be individual. 1st project: thinking 3d The given architectural problem will be designed through the use of physical study models on different scales 2nd project: plan The building will be redesigned using only the tool of the plan, retaining at the same time the memory of the models built for the 1 assignment. 3rd project: section The state of the art reached in the previous assignment will be transformed by introducing the possibility of designing in section. 4th project (individual): megadrawing The student will have to finf his/her own way of representing a sintesys of the design of the building, formulating and realizing his/her own set of drawings and models. This method is designed to clarify the powers of each representation method, and its tremendous influence on the design process. Students will be constantly invited to reflect and to express the values/keywords which are always embedded in each design decision.

A datailed bibliography will be given during the semester. Some basic texts which will be extensivley used along the course are: Italo Calvino, Six Memos for the Next Millennium, Harvard University Press Cambridge, 1988. Rafael Moneo, Theoretical Anxiety and Design Strategies in the Work of Eight Contemporary Architects, The MIT Press Cambridge 2005. Luca Molinari, Le case che siamo, nottetempo Roma, 2016.

Modalità di esame: Elaborato grafico individuale; Elaborato grafico prodotto in gruppo; Progetto individuale; Progetto di gruppo;

Exam: Individual graphic design project; Group graphic design project; Individual project; Group project;

... The student receives a continuous feedback from the teacher on his progress through individual and group reviews. A joint collective review of the 6 + 1 laboratories is planned, indicatively placed at the middle of the second semester, and a final exhibition of the projects, with a joint critical discussion in the presence of invited expert guests. The exam takes place through a brief discussion of the individual project path, supported by the exhibition of the different intermediate materials produced by the student during the semester. The evaluation will take into account the following aspects, assessed on the basis of the final and intermediate group and individual products, weighed in the final evaluation as follows: · Ability to interpret and propose spatial configurations, 20% · Ability to interpret and propose distribution configurations, 20% · Ability to interpret and propose structural forms, 20% · Ability to interpret and propose constructive systems, 20% · Quality of representation and communication 20%

Gli studenti e le studentesse con disabilità o con Disturbi Specifici di Apprendimento (DSA), oltre alla segnalazione tramite procedura informatizzata, sono invitati a comunicare anche direttamente al/la docente titolare dell'insegnamento, con un preavviso non inferiore ad una settimana dall'avvio della sessione d'esame, gli strumenti compensativi concordati con l'Unità Special Needs, al fine di permettere al/la docente la declinazione più idonea in riferimento alla specifica tipologia di esame.