In the Atelier “Architecture and Urban Space”, students will continue to enhance their skills in managing a complex architectural project autonomously. They will elaborate a complex urban design, in its urban and architectural components, integrating the architectural design of a building to demonstrate the possession of the techniques, the methodologies and the specific abilities of the “European architect”. Through the knowledge and in-depth analysis of the specific design theme, students will acquire a deeper understanding and interpretation of the complex phenomena that characterise the contemporary processes of urbanisation and urban regeneration, at both local and global levels. The overall educational goal of the “Architecture and Urban Space” Atelier is to elaborate a complex urban project from the knowledge and skills provided by two specific subjects, complementary between them: Architectural Design, and Urban Planning, the latter providing detailed knowledge about the urban dimension of architecture.

In the experience of the Atelier “Architecture and Urban Space”, the understanding of the complex phenomena that govern urban and territorial transformations, both in its architectural and urban components, occurs through the knowledge and the in-depth analysis of the specific design theme. The instructors provide multi-disciplinary knowledge of all the aspects of the context within which the design has to be developed. The ability to understand and interpret the complex phenomena that characterize the practices of urbanisation and urban regeneration, at both local and global levels, also occurs in the ability to work in un international context, in the capacity of a design and narrative synthese. The experience of the Atelier, characterized by an intense experimentation, is configured as a partial simulation of effective design practices in the real-world. The ability to process 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 exams, in the first examination session consecutive to the Design Unit.

The basic critical and design skills, along with the concepts and introductory tools in urban planning and design, are considered as already acquired in the disciplinary courses and in the design workshops of the Bachelor's Degree in "Architecture". The knowledge and skills acquired during Atelier 1 are also required, in particular the ability to independently manage and process a complex architectural project in a defined time.

Suburbanization is treated as a universal phenomenon in Western countries. In Chinese cities, it appears to be developing since 1980, responding to the country’s rapid economic development. Taking form of the emergence of vast industrial parks, large-scale transportation infrastructures, and mass-produced housing estates in suburban areas, China’s suburbanization have brought both opportunities and challenges to traditional suburban villages. On one hand, small towns and traditional villages gain unprecedented attention thanks to the growingly important role suburbs play in the global economy. On the other hand, regional culture, which extends from planning and architecture to people's long-evolved lifestyle and culture memory, is threatened by the domination of industrialization, real estate development, invasive tourism, etc. There is a power unbalances between the old and new, a seemingly contradictory and yet coexisting binary. The Design Studio will address the issue of Chinese suburbanization using Chengxiang Old Town as the site (TBC). The town is about thirty kilometers away from the city center of Chengdu. The studio will analyze the quality of urban space and architecture, both from a tectonic and functional point of view. The goal is to find a way for suburbs to evolve for their new context while preserving their uniqueness. To do this, students will first produce a research booklet dedicated to a systematic urban design strategy for the suburban condition, and then provide their architectural intervention in coherence with the urban design strategy. Each solution will have to react to the existing overlapping and chaotic suburban fabric of the local community. Materials, tectonics, and the architectural tonality will be the focus for the architectural design, for establishing a new relationship with the existing built environment. The contribution of Architectural Design (6 credits) will present a series of public spaces and buildings for social activities in the fringes between urban and rural. The contribution of Urban Planning (6 credits) will focus on emerging transformations in suburban areas and on how contemporary urban design aims to address them, both in the East as in Western countries. To do this, particular attention will be paid to: (i) the way in which analyze and represent complex urban systems across multiple scales of intervention and development, (ii) the way in which projects involved in the reshaping of environmental systems emphasize their role in the organization of a collective landscape. Involving as a Visiting Professor Gong Dong from Vector Architects, Beijing, the Design Studio can count on a great scientific and professional experience, both in terms of knowledge of the transformation processes of contemporary China, as well as professional practice consolidated through the realization of internationally well-known projects.

The first weeks of the course will work on 3 parallel levels, to make students able to understand the Chinese context: a mapping analysis of the site at the large scale; some case-study of Chinese public and collective architectural projects; lectures and readings aimed to provide the theoretical and methodological tools for the project. Then, after about 3 weeks, the urban design area will be assigned and divided in individual themes of architectural design.

Bologna, Alberto, 2019. Chinese Brutalism Today. Concrete and Avant-Garde Architecture. San Francisco: ORO Editions.  Bonino, Michele; Carota, Francesco; Governa, Francesca; Pellecchia, Samuele (eds.), 2020. China Goes Urban. La nuova epoca della città. The city to come. Milan: Skira.  Bonino, Michele; Governa, Francesca; Repellino, Maria Paola; Sampieri, Angelo (eds.), 2019. The City after Chinese New Towns. Spaces and Imaginaries from Contemporary Urban China. Basel: Birkhäuser.  Governa, Francesca; Sampieri, Angelo, 2019. Urbanisation processes and new towns in contemporary China: A critical understanding from a decentred view. Urban Studies, vol. 57, pp. 366-382.  Lee, C. C. M., 2016. Common Frameworks: Rethinking the Developmental City in China. Harvard University Graduate School of Design.  Padoa Schioppa, Caterina, 2021. Vector Architects. Libria  Ren, Xuefei. 2013. Urban China. Cambridge: Polity Press.  Rowe Peter G., 2016. China's Urban Communities. Basel: Birkhäuser.  Rozelle, S., & Hell, N., 2020. Invisible China: How the Urban-rural Divide Threatens Chinas Rise. Univ of Chicago Press.  Vector Architects. Cosmopolitan Vernacular, Arcquitectura Viva n.220.  Wang, X., 2020. Blockchain Chicken Farm: And Other Stories of Tech in China’s Countryside. Farrar Straus & Giroux.  Wu, Fulong, 2015. Planning for Growth: Urban and Regional Planning in China. New York and London: Routledge.

Slides;

Modalita di esame: Prova orale obbligatoria; Elaborato progettuale individuale; Elaborato progettuale in gruppo;

Exam: Compulsory oral exam; Individual project; Group project;

... During the final oral exam, the design materials produced during the semester are discussed and evaluated, both in groups and individually. Students are interviewed individually, critically discussing the project's results and development. During the semester, the teaching activities may include intermediate exercises, carried out individually or in groups, the delivery of which is considered a prerequisite for taking the final exam. The intermediate exercises consist of drafting texts and producing targeted project actions, which receive an orientation evaluation from time to time. During the final interview, each student must be able to give precise feedback on the work done during the semester and the project drawings presented. The evaluation will be the result of the assessments expressed by the entire teaching staff for each disciplinary contribution, but defined as a single overall grade, based on the exercises carried out during the semester, the quality of the final tables, and the ability to sustain the oral interview, the project, the lessons and the bibliography provided by the course.

Gli studenti e le studentesse con disabilita 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'Unita Special Needs, al fine di permettere al/la docente la declinazione piu idonea in riferimento alla specifica tipologia di esame.