The primary aim is to develop the capacity to employ knowledge and understanding in order to independently manage a project of architectural restoration that is by its nature complex. This is achieved through the strong experimental focus of the Atelier. Students master the architectural techniques, methodologies and professional skills required in order to apply a project of built heritage, in both its construction and urban components. A second objective is the ability to analyze complex and ambiguous information and then transform it into a shared decision-making process. The Atelier promotes the capacity to coordinate a necessarily multidisciplinary project team, to participate in the public debate and to work positively with the authorities involved in restoration. Ability to apply the knowledge and comprehension gained is verified through mid- and end-course assessments reviews, relating both to theoretical knowledge and mastery of project technique, with particular regard to the ability to integrate the contributions of the two disciplines involved in the Atelier. The review panel may include external experts from a variety of institutions and professions. Since the Architecture and Restoration Atelier comprises attendance of the theoretical drawing course which takes place in the same semester, coordination between the two courses is foreseen.

In order to attend this Atelier, it is strongly recommended to have passed an examination of a course of Restoration Theories and History and at least one multidisciplinary architectural project Atelier. The Architecture and Restoration Atelier requires the architectural project skills provided by a Bachelor-level degree.

The Atelier will deal with the specificities of conservation and reuse of the built heritage, with particular reference to the diffuse heritage. The Atelier will consist of ex-cathedra lectures, on-site visits, exercises (mono- and multi-disciplinary), lessons on specific topics and meetings with experts, promoting active participation of students. Starting from the analysis of the assets identified as case studies and of the context in which they are located, identifying their strengths and weaknesses, the students will develop restoration and reuse projects compatible with the architectural and constructive characteristics of the assets and consistent with the identity features of the artefacts, paying particular attention to their functional vocation, past and future. Through the experience of the project, students will acquire the complex skills required for an architect to plan and implement interventions designed to preserve, reuse and redevelop the built environment. The case study consists of the abandoned village of Leri Cavour, an agricultural settlement in the rice fields of the Vercelli area. Architecture Nowadays, especially in areas of the world characterized by an older urbanization, the re-use and re-adaptation of existing buildings is an increasingly common practice. Therefore, an architect must be prepared to work on buildings that have been designed by others, which he must interpret and modify. In the case study chosen by the course, the restoration, adaptation, modification and extension of the buildings will be aimed at one or more specific new destinations. Therefore, students will have to interpret and apply a provided program of intended uses. Understanding the compositional, distributive, constructive and technological aspects of existing buildings is a fundamental part of the learning process, in order to intervene with the project in a way that is consistent with the context. The course includes: - lectures; - on-site visits of the complex selected as case study, illustrating its specific features and open problems of re-interpretation and adaptation to new uses; - conferences aimed at illustrating examples of similar or useful cases for the development of the course. Restoration Concerning the Restoration contribution in particular, the experience is aimed at (1) make students understand the architectural heritage in its material, technical-constructive, functional, structural statutes; (2) critically interpret the heritage in its need for protection, securing, conservation, reuse; (3) make the various forms of knowledge interact in the project choices; (4) make students acquire the ability to manage the complexity of the conservation, reuse and valorisation project. Students will acquire the ability to: (1) design projects for the conservation and protection of diffuse and landscape assets, with a primary focus on compatibility, and without losing an overall vision of the project, which must respond to the need to prolong the cultural values of the assets over time; (2) enhance the architectural and landscape heritage through the elaboration of proposals aimed at favouring their compatible use and fruition. The course includes: - lectures; - on-site visits of the complex selected as case study, illustrating its specific features and open problems of conservation and maintenance; - conferences aimed at deepening specific issues related to the restoration, reuse and enhancement of the built heritage; - visits.

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The Architecture module will be organised as follows: 1. Ex-cathedra lectures held by the teacher about subjects related to the methods of intervention in existing and consolidated contexts, illustration of examples and analogous cases (8h); 2. On-site surveys aimed at the knowledge of both buildings and site chosen as case study to identify their morphological and cultural characteristics together with resources useful for the development of the restoration and reuse project (9h); 3. Invited lectures aimed to illustrate examples of useful projects and methodologies for developing the course theme (5h); 4. Exercises on specific aspects of the design process (7h); 5. Project reviews ad discussion (40h). The Restoration module will be organised as follows: 1. Ex-cathedra lectures held by the teacher about subjects related to the sustainability of the restoration intervention, to the methodology for the elaboration of project for the conservation and enhancement of the built, to the degradation of materials and intervention techniques, to the relationship between pre-existence and new interventions (8h); 2. On-site surveys aimed at the knowledge of both buildings and site chosen as case study to identify their morphological and cultural characteristics together with resources useful for the development of the restoration and reuse project (9h); 3. Invited lectures aimed at deepening specific issues related to the restoration, reuse and enhancement of the built heritage (5h); 4. Visits to restored and reused buildings (4h); 5. Project reviews (34h). All the activity will be shared with the main stakeholders: local administration bodies, cultural associations, in order to design projects able to meet the real needs of the community.

Bibliography and thematic teaching material in digital form and relevant documents to the organisation of the activities will be made available to students on the portal of teaching or shared through padlet. Specific bibliographic references will be provided from time to time, after lessons and during the practical activity, in relation to the specific needs of the topics dealt with. J. ALLEN, Points of Balance, in S. Macdonald, K. Normandin, B. Kindred (eds.), Conservation of Modern Architecture, Donhead, Shafterbury 2007, pp. 13-46; G. G. AMOROSO, V. FASSINA, Stone Decay and Conservation, Elsevier, The Netherlands 1983 N. ASHURST, Cleaning Historic Buildings, Donhead, London 1994 C. CONFORTI, Restauro: una questione da affrontare, in «Rassegna di architettura e urbanistica», n. 145, gennaio-aprile 2015. M. CORREIA, L. DIPASQUALE, S. MECCA, Versus: heritage for tomorrow: vernacular knowledge for sustainable architecture, Firenze University press, Firenze 2014 (https://books.fupress.com/catalogue/versus-heritage-for-tomorrow/2920). M. DALLA COSTA, Il progetto di restauro per la conservazione del costruito, Celid, Torino 2000. E. DOEHNE, C.A. PRICE, Stone conservation, an overview of current research, published by The Getty Conservation Institute 2010 (https://www.getty.edu/publications/virtuallibrary/9781606060469.html). European Commission, 2015. Getting Cultural Heritage to work for Europe (https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/b01a0d0a-2a4f-4de0-88f7-85bf2dc6e004). Icomos-ISCS, Illustrated glossary on stone deterioration patterns/Glossaire illustré sur les formes d'altération de la pierre, ICOMOS, Paris 2008 (https://www.icomos.org/publications/monuments_and_sites/15/pdf/Monuments_and_Sites_15_ISCS_Glossary_Stone.pdf). J. JOKILEHTO, A History of architectural conservation, part 3, (https://www.iccrom.org/it/publication/history-architectural-conservation). C. MILETO and F. VEGAS, Preserving Heritage with Tomorrow's Technologies, APT Bulletin: The Journal of Preservation Technology, Vol. 48, No. 1, SPECIAL ISSUE ON CONCRETE (2017), pp. 32-39 Published by: Association for Preservation Technology International (APT) ( https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26291033). S. F. MUSSO, Tecniche di restauro, Utet, Torino 2013. M. PETZET, International principles of preservation, ICOMOS, 2009 (https://www.icomos.de/admin/ckeditor/plugins/alphamanager/uploads/pdf/principles.pdf). B. PLEVOETS, K. VAN CLEEMPOEL, Adaptive reuse as a strategy towards conservation of cultural heritage: a strategy towards conservation of cultural heritage: a literature review, in C.C. BREBBIA, L. BINDA (eds.), Structural studies, repairs and maintenance of heritage architecture, Wit Press, Southampton, UK, 2011, pp. 155-164; M. VECCO, A definition of cultural heritage: from the tangible to the intangible, in "Journal of Cultural Heritage", n. 11, 2010, pp. 321-324. We also recommend consulting the journals 'Journal of Architectural Heritage', 'Journal of Cultural Heritage' and the proceedings of the conference Scienza e Beni Culturali (Bressanone) for more up-to-date information on the discipline of restoration with particular reference to theoretical and practical-operational aspects. L. BAZZANELLA, A. DE ROSSI, M. BERTA, A. DELPIANO, R. DINI, M. GIUSIANO, D. ROLFO, P. CASTELNOVI (a cura di), Indirizzi per la qualità paesaggistica degli insediamenti. Buone pratiche per la progettazione edilizia, L’Artistica Editrice, Savigliano 2010. L. BAZZANELLA, A. DE ROSSI, M. BERTA, A. DELPIANO, R. DINI, M. GIUSIANO, D. ROLFO, P. CASTELNOVI (a cura di), Indirizzi per la qualità paesaggistica degli insediamenti. Buone pratiche per la pianificazione locale, L’Artistica Editrice, Savigliano 2010. M. BOSCH, L. LUPINI, J.F. MACHADO (eds.), Yellowred. On reused architecture, Mendrisio Academy Press / Silvana Editoriale, Mendrisio 2022. R. DINI, V. DELLA SCALA, S. LANTERI (a cura di), Riabitare Alicia. Studio di fattibilità per la qualificazione della città antica di Salemi, Politecnico di Torino, Torino 2021. S. GIRIODI, Torino. Ritorno al futuro. Storie di rinascita urbana, Prinp, 2017. R. INGARAMO, Rust Remix. Architecture: Pittsburgh versus Detroit, LetteraVentidue, Siracusa, 2017. M. ROBIGLIO, Re-USA. 20 American stories of adaptive reuse. A toolkit for post-industrial cities, Jovis, Berlin 2017. We also strongly recommend consulting the main journals of architecture design, as for instance ‘Casabella’, ‘Detail’, ‘Domus’, ‘Parametro’, etc. in order to constantly have an up-to-date overview on the discipline of architecture design.

Exam: Group project;

The projects will be discussed and revised in itinere with the lecturer throughout the Atelier. The final examination will consist of the presentation and discussion of the project developed. Attendance at the atelier is a fundamental condition for successful development of the planned activities. The verification of the work, i.e. the assessment of the results, will consider the individual student's degree of learning and maturation of the various topics covered during the Atelier, as well as his or her ability to return ideas and proposals in a way that is suitable for explaining and fostering understanding of the project proposals. The student will be assessed individually, also in relation to the contribution provided to the design exercise developed in a group. The exam will take place in the following way: - interview with the presentation of the project developed in a group with interventions by all members; - answer to the 2/3 questions asked by the teachers regarding the course contents (lessons, bibliography), with reference to the design strategies adopted. The final assessment will also consider the on-going assessments (40%), the presentation and discussion of the final group's overall work, but also individual participation in this work (60%). The final mark of the atelier will result from the weighted average of the evaluations of the two disciplinary contributions. The examination can only be passed if the Atelier teachers judge the student positively in all the disciplines related to the Atelier.

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.