The Atelier is based on design activity specifically focused on the effects that sustainability has on the architectural design process. The concept of sustainability is assumed in the meaning accepted by the scientific community, which includes broader considerations, connected to the cultural and social implications of the project, alongside assessment indicators and quantitative parameters. T; this concept is here expressed both at the building scale and at the scale of built and natural landscape. To address the issue of green building design, the Atelier takes as its object of study a building system and its relationship with the peculiarities of the surrounding environmental, cultural, economic, social and landscape context, taking into account the resources and constraints of the site. The design process will be focused on the functional, spatial, constructive and linguistic aspects, related to the relevant spaces, the external space in its various expressions, the places of aggregation and mobility, and the natural and built environment. The atelier will be characterized by the definition of a design process that starts from the settlement scale, passes through the building scale and finally reaches the detail according to a process in which the settlement, architectural, construction and technological dimensions are strongly interconnected. 

The atelier aims to transmit useful knowledge to develop: • a cognitive approach in which historical-cultural, socio-economic, architectural and environmental aspects are combined, with the ability to recognize and interact with the main parameters characterizing the project area; hence both in terms of the relationship between the environment and present and planned building forms, and in terms of the correct understanding of the material and intangible, natural resources and the physical environment (climate, light, sound, green system, etc.) characterizing the existing context. • An evaluation of the different design options from a green perspective and the optimal communication of the final design and technological choices The skills that the student must acquire are addressed to: • the development of an overall project of the site, carried out taking into account: the specific context and the surrounding variables (resources, constraints and any vulnerabilities, for example climatic conditions); socio-cultural, environmental and economic sustainability; users; the quality of the built and, in particular, the relationship between the existing site and the newly designed buildings, the interaction between buildings, the open spaces and the services network; • the definition of a building system, whose design choices must derive from a design process aware of relationships between functional, spatial, constructive and linguistic aspects along with specific attention to the bioclimatic principles, to the user-centered and performance-based approach, to the use of resources and to the aspects of energy efficiency and quality of the environment, acoustic, thermo-hygrometric and lighting, internal and external.

Students must have good knowledge of the main topics dealt with in the field of urban and architectural design, technological design and environment-related physical science introduced in the 3-year Bachelor’s degree program and in the first semester of the Master degree program. Such are the essential foundations for the expected in-depth analysis process within the Atelier. Therefore, the students are asked to have acquired skills in previous curricular experiences to: • know the consolidated techniques of representation and communication of the project, both with reference to the more traditional forms of communication (perceptive, design sketches, physical models, etc.), and with reference to digital representation techniques (virtual modeling and rendering etc.); • know how to set up independently the reading of the morphological characters of the city and the territory through the techniques of cartographic, historical and perceptive reading; • be able to set up independently the reading of the technological features of the building (building components, materials and construction systems, etc.) and the analysis of the main environmental and climatic variables at urban and single building levels; • be aware of design choices consistent with the energy and ecological transition • know how to develop the project at urban and building scale (with reference to the typological and spatial aspects of buildings, structural typologies, etc.).

The research topics and the design case-study project will refer to one of the following issues: 1. Urbanization-Infrastructure; community services; housing; 2. Low tech/ high performance buildings; 3. Assisted/self-help construction; 4. Design for/in emergencies (temporary/transitional/permanent) 5. Sustainability and bioclimatic design. In particular, as far as concerns the Advanced Environmental performance and assessment discipline: Module 1. From theory to practice: recall of theoretical concepts and their application in a design perspective, using examples taken from professional cases. Module 2. Overview of the available tools. High-performance low-tech envelope solutions. Bioclimatic control. Comfort analysis. Renewable energy sources. Local sources exploitation. Module 3. Design exercise. Two groups: A bioclimatic control design and comfort analysis; B energy system design, exploiting local and renewable energy sources.

Teaching is delivered by oral presentations, brief collective exercises, project tutoring. Meetings with professionals and external experts, as well as visits to built works, complement the studio activity. The program may incorporate some hands-on experience, during which the students will build scale model(s) to explore constructional issues. Students will be working mainly in groups of (maximum) three units and are expected to develop their projects out of the lesson scheduling, team working. Students will be asked to submit the products of their work at given stages, as specified in the studio schedule.

• Lynne Elizabeth; Cassandra Adams (editors), Alternative Construction. Contemporary Natural Building Methods, Hoboken : John Wiley and Sons, 2005. • Yona Friedman, • Jon Goodbun (Guest Editor), Jeremy Till (Guest Editor), Deljana Iossifova (Guest Editor), Scarcity: Architecture in an Age of Depleting Resources, John Wiley and Sons,, 2012. • Kent A. Harries; Bhavna Sharma, Nonconventional and Vernacular Construction Materials, Sawston : Woodhead Publishing, 2016. • Cindy Harris; Pat Borer, The Whole House Book. Ecological Building Design and Materials, Machynlleth : Centre for Alternative Technology, 2005. • Barrett Hazeltine; Lars Wanhammar; Christopher Bull, Appropriate Technology: Tools, Choices, and Implications, New York : Academic Press, 1999. • Paul Gut, Dieter Ackerknecht, Climate responsive buildings, SKAT, 1993 • Andres Lepik, Small Scale, Big Change: New
Architectures of Social Engagement, MoMa, 2010 • Edward Mazria, The passive solar energy book. A complete guide to passive solar home, greenhouse, and building design, Emmaus, Pa. : Rodale Press, 1979. • Gernot Minke, Building with Earth. Design and Technology of a Sustainable Architecture, Basel : Birkhäuser, 2006. • Paul Oliver (editor), Encyclopaedia of vernacular architecture of the world, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1997. • Paul Oliver, Built to Meet Needs. Cultural Issues in Vernacular Architecture, Oxford: Architectural Press, 2006. • Victor Papanek, Design for the Real World. Human Ecology and Social Change, Frogmore : Paladin, 1974. • Victor Papanek, The Green Imperative. Ecology and Ethics in Design and Architecture, London : Thames & Hudson, 1995 • Michael Reynolds, Earthship: How to Build Your Own, Taos : Solar Survival Press, 1990. • Johan van Lengen, The barefoot architect. A Handbook for Green Building, Shelter, 2007. • Cynthia E. Smith, Design for the Other 90%, New York : Smithsonian, 2007. • Carole Ryan, Traditional Construction for a Sustainable Future, Abingdon : Spon Press, 2011. Further literature references, publications and software tools will be provided during the course, and will be made available through the web.

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

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

... Final exams as well as intermediate deliveries will consist in the presentation and discussion of the requested materials. Two parts compose the Atelier evaluation: first, the results of in itinere evaluations and the final exam. For what concerns in itinere evaluations, three specific steps are scheduled, in which students will deliver their presentations individually and/or group based with individual responsibilities. The evaluation for the intermediate deliveries (40%) will be taken into account in the final evaluation (60%). The final delivery by each student’s team will include a complete series of drawings related to the developed design solution at various scales and detail levels. During the final interview, some questions - related to lectures delivered, literature references, exercises - will be addressed. Marks will be individual and based on the students’ understanding of the issues involved, and their contribution to the development of the project. Assessment criteria will include the capacity of comply with scheduled deliveries and to finalize the project by the end of the semester.

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.