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 space and building production in the contemporary urban condition. The overall educational goal of the “Architecture and Construction Systems” Design Unit is to elaborate a complex architectural project from the knowledge and skills provided by two specific subjects, complementary between them: Architectural Design, and Technology of Architecture, the former concerning strategic thinking at different scales, the latter providing specialist knowledge about materials and methods of construction and of the building process. 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 Architectural Technology, mandatorily required by the Master’s degree, as an alternative to the 2nd Year Course in “Technology of Architecture”.

Design Unit 1 provides the advanced knowledge and the design skills needed to complete the education of an architect. A series of multi-disciplinary lectures will address state-of-the-art experiences and theoretical issues relevant to design disciplines and the Unit themes. The advanced progress 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 Construction Systems”, the understanding of the complex phenomena that govern space and 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 about 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, involves the interaction with different specialisms, which has to be carried out through individual research, aimed to connect design, history and the knowledge of the building elements in architecture. In the design experience during the Design Unit, applying knowledge and skills primarily means the ability to independently manage a complex architectural project in a given time, through the mastery of techniques, and methods specific to the job of the Architect. This requires to analyse complex and non-univocal information, and to interpret them into a shared decision-making process, but also 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 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 to apply knowledge and understanding. This ability is assessed through intermediate and final evaluations within the Design Unit, with the contributions of guest experts, with special 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. Processing 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 the examination session consecutive to the Design Unit.

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

Retrofit and Infill of Industrial Dismissed Areas. The Design Unit will be aimed to deepen the students' capability to deal with very complex mixed-use leftover areas, common in most European cities including Turin. These sites are often located in areas that are crucial to the city. The students will be confronted with an intricate architectural problem: they will be asked to address an urban infill project by means of an experimental hands-on engagement with: -mixed-typologies, -best management practices, -carbon neutral strategies, -sustainable design, -renewable technologies, -innovation in light structures and in envelope design and construction. A challenge for sustainable design is retrofitting area to host a mix of types, including small and medium enterprises, residential and tertiary activities in complex areas. During the first part of the Design Unit a series of lectures and discussions will focus on the reading of urban spaces and on the collection – also by the students – of relevant historical and contemporary case-studies. Other lectures and seminars will be held by invited scholars and professionals. Innovation in light structures and in envelope addresses specific and changing design and construction issues, relevant to industry and to architectural practice. The Course deals with the technical aspects and the formal results that define the appearance of the building. Students prototype an innovative facade component of their designs: -in collaboration with leading industrial partners, to shape the material and component properties and the production workflow. -in the class and the shop floor with construction drawings, instruction in production techniques, BIM and Computer Aided Manufacturing. Lectures and studio work are complete with study visit to (1) construction site, (2) product manufacturers, and (3) the shop floor.

This studio aims to improve individual abilities and, together, promote collaboration by a “competitive-cooperative” method, which means an alternate proliferation of personal proposals and group elaboration of the most fitting ones. In other words, students will work out individually the solutions selected at each step in critics and tutorials, regardless of whether they proposed them or not. It is a way to get a more intense design experience and to anticipate the workflow of a typical practice. This studio aims to work as an exchange environment, with a constant ‘peer review’ approach. This means that the whole activities will lean on the participation of students in critics and lectures. ‘Having words’ is a prerequisite to getting involved in these discussions; theoretical issues play therefore a crucial role and will be addressed in the whole Unit unfolding.

Students are expected to fully engage in the studio discourse, to prepare for each individual desk discussion and argumentation, and to spend significant time outside of studio hours developing designs. The studio requires the students a two-part assignment. Assignment 1 This assignment will address site densification of a semi-dismissed mixed-use area in a European city, experimenting with innovative mixed types, using infill strategies to densify and implement the area. These strategies are aimed to maximize quality, concentration, and urban impact. The site infill projects will focus on contextual relationships to the urban area. - Part 1 (3 weeks, individual). Attempts: students will be asked to reach a schematic design of different versions of the project, designed according to different concepts. 1:500. - Part 2 (4 weeks, teamwork). Final design of the overall intervention. Mid-term review with external critics. Scale 1:200. Assignment 2 Students will be asked to choose one building of the prosed infill project in order to work out an in-depth design of its constructive features, with special attention on the envelope in relation to the immediate site conditions, and on façades as mediators between the private building interior and the public space. This assignment will develop high-performance envelope systems. The industrial partner assists the students in designing innovative design modelling to achieve desired pattern, texture, coating, and colour to manifest different performance results and façade mediator role, and surface strategies with BIM and CAM, to manufacture an envelope component, to achieve self-shading, to minimise heat exchange, and to achieve the desired visual permeability inside-outside. Offsite construction strategies are explored, that is design, fabrication and assembly of building elements to foster rapid and energy efficient construction. - Part 3 (7 weeks, teamwork and individual work). Architectural design of one building or a portion of a building, with a specific attention to the construction technologies. Final review with external critics. Scale 1:50 with construction details from 1:20 to 1:1.

Berens, Carol, Redeveloping Industrial Sites: A Guide for Architects, Planners, and Developers (Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2011). The Unknown City: Contesting Architecture and Social Space, ed. by Iain Borden, Joe Kerr, Jane Rendell (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2000). Bizley, Graham. Architecture in detail II. Routledge, 2010. Corbellini, Giovanni, Ex Libris: 16 Keywords of Contemporary Architecture (Siracusa: LetteraVentidue, 2018). Corbellini, Giovanni, Dr. Corbellini’s Pills (Siracusa: LetteraVentidue, 2012). Detail, Journal published by Institut für internationale Architektur-Dokumentation GmbH. Lovell, Jenny, Building Envelopes: An Integrated Approach (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2010). Lawson, Mark, Ray Ogden, and Chris Goodier. Design in modular construction. (Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2014).. Watts, Andrew. Modern construction envelopes. Birkhäuser, 2014.

Modalità di esame: Prova orale facoltativa; Elaborato progettuale individuale; Elaborato progettuale in gruppo;

Fully attendance and positive participation in lectures, seminars, and further activities of the Design Unit are preconditions to access the assessment. The final exam will take place in the first week of the examination session consecutive to the Design Unit. In case the final design work is not completed on time or is judged inadequate or incomplete, the student may submit the final project in the second examination session consecutive to the Design Unit. The final grade will consider the student ability to develop a complex architectural design in a given time. The final evaluation will be individual and will use the available range of marks. It will be carried out through group discussion of the Design Unit professors, taking into account the weight of each discipline (in terms of credits) and considering carefully the studio central experience and its project activities. Specific activities undertook during the Unit and their outcomes (written texts, presentations and the likes) will contribute to the final grade. The student's attitude to synthetize and bring together in the project what acquired from the different disciplines of the Design Unit is considered a background value. Assessment criteria 1. INVESTIGATION OF THE PROJECT Evaluating the ability to analyse and to interpret the physical and social context of the project through original elaborations. Evaluating the ability to manage the complexity of the information provided by the teachers and proposed by the student, and to interpret the architectural context. Guiding Criteria: _Reading and synthesis. _Interpretation and critical processing _Awareness of construction technologies and their architectural aims. _Design results. 2. CONCEPTUALIZATION Evaluating the ability to conceptualize an argued proposal, as a strategic answer to the identified problems. Evaluating the ability to describe the general aspects of the project and its feasibility in relation to ordinary practices. Guiding Criteria: _Clarity of proposal. _Vision. _Connection with design references. _Autonomy in the elaboration of the proposal. 3. ARCHITECTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF PROJECT AND RESULTS Evaluating the ability to develop, within an available time, a coherent project through a circular process (development, discussion, feedback). Evaluating the quality of the final result and its consistency with the design process. Guiding Criteria: _Critical capacity and self-criticism. _Adaptation to the feedback of the reviews. _Completeness and quality of the final results. 4. COMMUNICATION Evaluating the ability to represent and transmit the project at all stages of the learning experience, employing the appropiate scales of representation in order to control and direct the construction. Evaluating the ability to communicate in innovative ways the specific aspects of different disciplines and their integration into the project. Guiding Criteria: _Conscious use of presentation tools. _Effectiveness of public presentation and discussion. _Theoretical awareness. 5. DISCIPLINARY CONTRIBUTIONS Evaluating the ability to identify disciplinary issues in a relevant way according to the proposed project case. Evaluating the ability to intercept a complex design theme using cross-fertilization of knowledge. Evaluating the capability to represent in detail a project aimed to construction. Guiding Criteria: _Maturation of knowledge in the Unit’s disciplines. _Disciplinary relevance of individual contributions in the project. _Integration of disciplines at different scales.

Modalità di esame: Prova orale facoltativa; Elaborato progettuale individuale; Elaborato progettuale in gruppo;

Fully attendance and positive participation in lectures, seminars, and further activities of the Design Unit are preconditions to access the assessment. The final exam will take place in the first week of the examination session consecutive to the Design Unit. In case the final design work is not completed on time or is judged inadequate or incomplete, the student may submit the final project in the second examination session consecutive to the Design Unit. The final grade will consider the student ability to develop a complex architectural design in a given time. The final evaluation will be individual and will use the available range of marks. It will be carried out through group discussion of the Design Unit professors, taking into account the weight of each discipline (in terms of credits) and considering carefully the studio central experience and its project activities. Specific activities undertook during the Unit and their outcomes (written texts, presentations and the likes) will contribute to the final grade. The student's attitude to synthetize and bring together in the project what acquired from the different disciplines of the Design Unit is considered a background value. Assessment criteria 1. INVESTIGATION OF THE PROJECT Evaluating the ability to analyse and to interpret the physical and social context of the project through original elaborations. Evaluating the ability to manage the complexity of the information provided by the teachers and proposed by the student, and to interpret the architectural context. Guiding Criteria: _Reading and synthesis. _Interpretation and critical processing _Awareness of construction technologies and their architectural aims. _Design results. 2. CONCEPTUALIZATION Evaluating the ability to conceptualize an argued proposal, as a strategic answer to the identified problems. Evaluating the ability to describe the general aspects of the project and its feasibility in relation to ordinary practices. Guiding Criteria: _Clarity of proposal. _Vision. _Connection with design references. _Autonomy in the elaboration of the proposal. 3. ARCHITECTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF PROJECT AND RESULTS Evaluating the ability to develop, within an available time, a coherent project through a circular process (development, discussion, feedback). Evaluating the quality of the final result and its consistency with the design process. Guiding Criteria: _Critical capacity and self-criticism. _Adaptation to the feedback of the reviews. _Completeness and quality of the final results. 4. COMMUNICATION Evaluating the ability to represent and transmit the project at all stages of the learning experience, employing the appropiate scales of representation in order to control and direct the construction. Evaluating the ability to communicate in innovative ways the specific aspects of different disciplines and their integration into the project. Guiding Criteria: _Conscious use of presentation tools. _Effectiveness of public presentation and discussion. _Theoretical awareness. 5. DISCIPLINARY CONTRIBUTIONS Evaluating the ability to identify disciplinary issues in a relevant way according to the proposed project case. Evaluating the ability to intercept a complex design theme using cross-fertilization of knowledge. Evaluating the capability to represent in detail a project aimed to construction. Guiding Criteria: _Maturation of knowledge in the Unit’s disciplines. _Disciplinary relevance of individual contributions in the project. _Integration of disciplines at different scales.