The Atelier deals with the architectural design of open space, both public and private, in contemporary urban contexts, focusing on the role that open space plays in urban regeneration processes, adaptive reuse practices of urban voids, and contrasting environmental risks due to climate change.
The main spaces assigned for design activities are therefore the places usually used for collective urban practices - streets, squares, gardens, parks, riverfronts, etc. - but also areas that have changed their original functions - dismissed industrial areas, abandoned infrastructural spaces - and that will be part of urban transformation practices. The training aims are oriented to design exploration of possible transformations of spaces for public use based on a thorough knowledge of the places - historical, geomorphological, built, social, environmental - and aimed at prefiguring culturally significant, systemically sustainable, and socially shared places. Design solutions that, through the integration of disciplines, aim to encourage interaction between users and places to promote environmental quality, visual, acoustic, and thermal well-being of the urban habitat, and appropriate renewable energy and smart and adaptive technologies.
The settlement scale of the interventions is the small-medium scale that allows the control of the urban design and its constituent elements and extends to the constructive and technological definition of the detailed design of the open space.
The Atelier deals with the architectural design of open space, both public and private, in contemporary urban contexts. It focuses on the role open space plays in urban regeneration processes, adaptive reuse practices of urban voids, and contrasting environmental risks due to climate change.
The main spaces assigned for design activities are, therefore, the places usually used for collective urban practices - streets, squares, gardens, parks, riverfronts, etc. - but also areas that have changed their original functions - dismissed industrial areas, abandoned infrastructural spaces - and that will be part of urban transformation practices.
The training aims to design exploration of possible transformations of public spaces based on a thorough knowledge of the places - historical, geomorphological, built, social, and environmental - to prefigure culturally significant, systemically sustainable, and socially shared places.
Through integrating disciplines, design solutions aim to encourage interaction between users and places to promote environmental quality, visual, acoustic, and thermal well-being of the urban habitat, and appropriate renewable energy and smart and adaptive technologies.
The settlement scale of the interventions is the small-medium scale that allows the control of the urban design and its constituent elements and extends to the constructive and technological definition of the detailed design of the open space.
The knowledge that the teachings of the Atelier aim to transmit in the field of design investigation are:
• the acquisition of theories and techniques for the architectural design of open space, public and private, in contemporary settlement contexts and the perspective of transformative hypotheses in a functional key. Particular attention will be paid to design examples that have introduced renewed collective practices of places and adaptive solutions in response to emerging environmental issues;
• the acquisition of methods and tools for a sustainable, socialising, comfortable and safe contemporary design conception of public space, in terms of function and landscape organisation, service design and innovation of the layout, techniques for the enhancement of the sound and light landscape and the control of heat islands, the use of renewable energy and smart technologies.
The skills the students are expected to have at the end of the atelier concern:
• the ability to approach the design practice of public space based on the knowledge of the theories and techniques derived from the acquisition of a repertoire of historical and contemporary projects.
• the ability to examine and analyse the significant aspects of the project areas, also concerning their historical, urban and environmental location, in order to develop design hypotheses that respond to the identity characteristics of the places studied
• the ability to interpret and solve complex problems with the project in a multidisciplinary and integrated perspective, functional to the qualitative transformation of the natural and urban environment and knowing how to identify solutions that affect the well-being and safety of individuals, both about climatic emergencies and with the available environmental resources.
The knowledge that the teachings of the Atelier aim to transmit in the field of design investigation are:
the acquisition of theories and techniques for the architectural design of open space, public and private, in contemporary settlement contexts and the perspective of transformative hypotheses in a functional key. Particular attention will be paid to design examples that have introduced renewed collective practices of places and adaptive solutions in response to emerging environmental issues;
the acquisition of methods and tools for a sustainable, socialising, comfortable, and safe contemporary design conception of public space, in terms of function and landscape organization, service design and innovation of the layout, techniques for the enhancement of the sound and light landscape and the control of heat islands, the use of renewable energy and smart technologies.
The skills the students are expected to have at the end of the atelier concern:
the ability to approach the design practice of public space based on the knowledge of the theories and techniques derived from the acquisition of a repertoire of historical and contemporary projects.
the ability to examine and analyse the significant aspects of the project areas, also concerning their historical, urban and environmental location, in order to develop design hypotheses that respond to the identity characteristics of the places studied;
the ability to interpret and solve complex problems with the project in a multidisciplinary and integrated perspective, functional to the qualitative transformation of the natural and urban environment, and knowing how to identify solutions that affect the well-being and safety of individuals, both in climatic emergencies and with the available environmental resources.
Students are considered to have acquired the fundamentals of the disciplines and themes of architectural and urban design, architectural representation, architectural technology, and technical physics applied to architectural design addressed in the three-year cycle of studies and the first year of the master's degree.
The teaching experience will be concentrated on the thematic and specialised studies necessary for the open space design, for which the following are required:
• basic knowledge of the history, and the contemporary condition, of architecture and the city to enable critical analysis of the project sites through a cartographic, historical, functional and perceptive reading;
• good knowledge of the techniques of representation (descriptive geometry) and communication of the project both in traditional forms (freehand sketches, study models, technical drawing, etc.) and in digital representation techniques (CAD, basic virtual modelling, rendering);
• the ability to set up, supported by the teachers, a reconnaissance and synthetic description of the areas and themes of the project through traditional (writing, drawing) and contemporary (photography, video, digital graphics) tools and methods to analyse and identify the criticalities from different disciplinary points of view (morphological, settlement, environmental, urban well-being) and possible design solutions;
• the mastery of the techniques of representation and communication of the contemporary project, i.e. with the integrated use of technical drawing, digital representation, writing and graphic rendering of information and data.
Students are considered to have acquired the fundamentals of the disciplines and themes of architectural and urban design, architectural representation, architectural technology, and technical physics applied to architectural design addressed in the three-year cycle of studies and the first year of the master's degree.
The teaching experience will be concentrated on the thematic and specialised studies necessary for the open space design, for which the following are required:
basic knowledge of the history, and the contemporary condition, of architecture and the city to enable critical analysis of the project sites through a cartographic, historical, functional and perceptive reading;
good knowledge of the techniques of representation (descriptive geometry) and communication of the project both in traditional forms (freehand sketches, study models, technical drawing, etc.) and in digital representation techniques (CAD, basic virtual modeling, rendering);
the ability to set up, supported by the teachers, a reconnaissance and synthetic description of the areas and themes of the project through traditional (writing, drawing) and contemporary (photography, video, digital graphics) tools and methods to analyse and identify the criticalities from different disciplinary points of view (morphological, settlement, environmental, urban well-being) and possible design solutions;
the mastery of the techniques of representation and communication of the contemporary project, i.e., with the integrated use of technical drawing, digital representation, writing, and graphic rendering of information and data.
The "Adaptive Public Space" Atelier proposes a design activity concerning the open space seen as a privileged place for collective life, functional and comfortable areas, and a key for mitigating and preventing climatic and environmental risks. Therefore, the study areas and design issues will focus on open spaces, as areas between, around buildings, or in contiguity with them.
More generally, the unbuilt space of the contemporary city. Integration and coexistence between mobility system facilities, social relations, public life, and commercial and leisure spaces are the topic of the project. Open or roofed spaces, public or private, artificial or natural, together constitute the image of the city by defining its urban landscape, horizontal, designed, built, and the project's forms for an adaptive and resilient urban space.
Medium and small-scale urban transformations in districts or neighborhoods are taken into account. Here, the architectural research is oriented towards the design of significant places of public space, with particular attention to environmental sustainability, urban comfort, and the use of eco-friendly materials and installations. Design solutions aim to increase user integration and interaction between people and places and promote environmental quality, from visual and thermo-acoustic well-being to the appropriate use of renewable energy and smart technologies.The knowledge investigations with the design explorations aim to a possible spatial transformation of urban contexts, led through a disciplinary integration approach, applying the circular process in architectural design.
The themes and project areas are defined year by year, also in cooperation with public institutions and local stakeholders.
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN FOR THE REHABILITATION OF URBAN SPACE (6CFU - 60 Hours)
The course provides theoretical, methodological, and design contributions to the organization of contemporary public space, i.e. outdoor spaces and places considered 'empty' on a small-medium scale, such as streets, squares, open spaces, intermodal exchange areas, courtyards, gardens, residual spaces, etc.
The subject of the design project work will be the re-organization, rehabilitation, and revitalization as well as the new construction of public and adaptive urban spaces through the design of soil, streets, green and blue infrastructures, small architecture, and facilities.
The themes explored include the contemporary city's ecological transition, the eco-systemic urban landscape, and adaptive and resilient open space. Moreover, the understanding and description of open space (drawing, writing, photography) in relation to the environmental, functional, and social context, the relationship between "in-built" and "empty" urban spaces, and environmental and mobility infrastructures as a flexible and temporary soil design (signs, traces, morphologies) to reconnect fragments and residual spaces of the ordinary city.
ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN (4CFU – 40 ore)
The course provides theoretical, methodological and design contributions for setting up the urban scene through the principles of demanding design, eco-design with a systemic approach and contextual design, integrating with these skills the urban architecture project object of the design exercise. The topics covered by the lectures concern:
- the functional urban landscape and e-motion;
- the systems of urban narration in detail (green, soil, information, spaces for relationships and rest);
- the services design for the smile city (social + smart);
- hints of methodologies for performance design (for serial and / or ad hoc components).
TECHNOLOGIES AND ENERGIES FOR THE ENVIRONMENT (4 credits - 40 hours)
The course provides theoretical contributions and tools to address the physical and technical problems connected with light, sound and thermal well-being in the outdoor urban environment.
The topics covered by the lectures concern:
quantities and indices of acoustic, visual and thermal comfort to be applied outdoors;
soundscape, lightscape and outdoor thermal comfort;
principles and techniques for energy efficiency and outdoor environmental comfort.
Compliance with current regulations related to noise and light pollution control in the outdoor environment will also be verified.
Experimental and calculation tests will be at the base of the exercises on building physics topics.
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Students will develop the design activity through computer tools by the use of raster (Photoshop), vector (Illustrator, Indesign), 2D (CAD or other), 3D (Rhino, Blender, Solid Works), and manual drawing (sketches). Furthermore, accurate models can be required with commonly used and light materials (paper, cardboard, light woods, etc.) in relation to the exercise theme.
The activities that constitute the Atelier are both theoretical (lectures) and design practice (workshop), divided into steps of reading/scenario, conceptualization, design development, simulation, and calculation.
Each activity's results are considered as intermediate steps for the final design product developed through a circular process. On set dates, the students will present such steps in digital and/or printed form to all the members of the Atelier (lecturers and students).
They will be discussed during the final exam, where external subjects will participate (experts, technicians, administrators).
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN FOR THE REHABILITATION OF URBAN SPACE
Clément G., Jones L. (2006), "Une écologie humaniste", Aubanel, Genève.
Carmona, Mathew.(2021) Public Places-urban Spaces the Dimensions of Urban Design. 3rd ed. Amsterdam [etc.]: Elsevier, Print.
Gehl J. (2010), Cities for People, Island press, Washington
Gehl J., Svarre B. (2013), How to study public life, Island press, Washington
Gehl, Jan, Jo Koch. (2010) Life between Buildings Using Public Space. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, first ed. 1987. Print.
Guerra, M., Ottolini, L. (2019). In the street. Participatory actions in public spaces. Mantova: Corraini.
Highmore, B. (2011). Ordinary lives. Studies in the Everyday. (Routledge, Ed.). London.
Ibelings H. (2000), "The Artificial Landscape – Contemporary architecture, urbanism, and landscape architecture in the Nederlands ", NAi Publishers.
Jalbert E.- In situ (2015), Paysages public / public landscapes, ICI Interface, Paris.
Jacobs, Jane.(1960) The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Random House, Print.
Lydon M; Garcia A. (2015), Tactical Urbanism: Short-term Action for Long-term Change, Island Press, Washington
PROAP, "Arquitectura paisagista / Landscape architectures", Note ed., Lisboa, 2010.
Prominski M., Stokman A., Zeller, Stimberg D., Voermanek H., (2012), River. Space. Design. Planning Strategies, Methods and Projects for Urban Rivers, Birkhauser, Switzerland
Richardson P., Dietrich L. (2001), XS: Big Ideas in Small-scale Buildings, Thames &Hudson, London.
Tonkiss, F. (2013). Cities By Design: The Social Life Or Urban Form. Igarss 2014. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13398-014-0173-7.2
Waldheim C., (2016) Landscape as urbanism: a general theory, Princeton Architectural Press, New York
Whyte, W. H. (1980). The social life of small urban spaces. New York: Project for public spaces.
ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
Barbaux S., Object urbains. Vivre la ville autrement, ICI Interface, 2010 (fr/en)
Broto C., Street furniture, LinksBooks, Barcelona 2012 (en)
Ecodesign. A manual for ecological design, Wiley Academy, GB 2006 (en)
Germak C., Esterni urbani contemporanei, in: AA.VV. Uomo al centro del progetto. Design per un nuovo umanesimo, Germak C. (a cura), U.Allemandi & C., Torino 2008, (it/en)
Gianfrate V., Longo D., Urban micro-design. Tecnologie integrate, adattabilità e qualità degli spazi pubblici, FrancoAngeli, Milano 2017 (it)
Holden R., Liversedge J., Construction for landscape architecture, Laurence King Publisging Ltd, London 2011 (en)
Yeang K., Aymonino A., Mosco V.P., Spazi pubblici contemporanei. Architettura a volume zero, Skira, Milano 2008 (it)
Tamminga K. and Knüvener T., Sustainable | Sustaining City Streets, MDPI open access 2021 (en)
Vitamin Green, Phaidon, Berlin 2012 (en)
TECHNOLOGIES AND ENERGIES FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
D. Casciani, The Human and Social Dimension of Urban Lightscapes, 2020, Springer Cham.
F. Aletta, J. Xiao, Handbook of Research on Perception-Driven Approaches to Urban Assessment and Design, 2018, IGI Global.
Reducing Urban Heat Islands: Compendium of Strategies - Urban Heat Island Basics:
https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2014-06/documents/basicscompendium.pdf
Modalità di esame: Elaborato progettuale in gruppo;
Exam: Group project;
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The final exam consists in presenting and discussing the final project deliverables developed in the area identified by the Atelier lecturers. The elaborates are presented in a large-format document (A2), collecting in an uninterrupted sequence the work carried out in the investigation and reading of the project context, the conceptual hypothesis and the founding principles of the intervention proposal, the design development from the urban to the detailed architectural scale, the assessments and the design solutions of the physical and technical aspects.
In practice, the Atelier's seminar structure, founded on the integration of disciplines around the practice of the project, is reflected in the final product - the project dossier - which will be submitted for discussion. A collegial evaluation by the lecturers will be expressed with a single grade.
The project activity will be carried out in small groups of students (3 components) and will be checked individually and collectively by the lecturers. The evaluation of these checks will contribute to the project's final evaluation.
In order to evaluate the student contribution to the collective work and their individual project development capacity during the course, the project practice requires students' participation continuously and assiduously.
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.
Exam: Group project;
The final exam consists in presenting and discussing the final project deliverables developed in the area identified by the Atelier lecturers. The elaborates are presented in a large-format document (A2), collecting in an uninterrupted sequence the work carried out in the investigation and reading of the project context, the conceptual hypothesis and the founding principles of the intervention proposal, the design development from the urban to the detailed architectural scale, the assessments and the design solutions of the physical and technical aspects.
In practice, the Atelier's seminar structure, founded on the integration of disciplines around the practice of the project, is reflected in the final product - the project dossier - which will be submitted for discussion. A collegial evaluation by the lecturers will be expressed with a single grade.
The project activity will be carried out in small groups of students (3 components) and will be checked individually and collectively by the lecturers. The evaluation of these checks will contribute to the project's final evaluation.
In order to evaluate the student contribution to the collective work and their individual project development capacity during the course, the project practice requires students' participation continuously and assiduously.
In addition to the message sent by the online system, students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) are invited to directly inform the professor in charge of the course about the special arrangements for the exam that have been agreed with the Special Needs Unit. The professor has to be informed at least one week before the beginning of the examination session in order to provide students with the most suitable arrangements for each specific type of exam.