LABORATORIO DI PROGETTAZIONE SULLA PREESISTENZA E ARCHITETTURA DEGLI INTERNI A - L

The purpose of the laboratory is to guide the student through the understanding and practice of the urban and architectural design on the pre-existence. The course aims to provide students with a critical methodology to tackle the architectural project on an urban scale, recognizing its peculiar trans-scalarity, the complex connection between the characteristics of a transformation of the existing and the interface with the pre-existence.
The items will be developed combining design exercises with the lectures. A final design essay will be the moment of synthesis and verification of what has been learned during the laboratory. 

The main training objectives of the course are: 

a) to elaborate on, through architectural practice, the relationship between new and pre-existing in the recovery as well as in the regeneration of the historical heritage of cities; 

b) to develop a new systemic planning in the relationship with the pre-existence perceived not as a passive and isolated component but as a vital matter of the redefinition process of the contemporary city. 

The idea of the pre-existence project also implies an interdisciplinary involvement in which the concepts of memory, matter, time and space are intertwined, fueling a dialogue aimed to giving a proactive response to the need of a regeneration of the existing, through an open and flexible identity strategy. 

The teaching will take place with ex cathedra lessons and with the development of an application project on a study area.
Thence, the teaching of the laboratory will have, as a final moment, the participation of the students to a final course project, that is a synthesis experience and a learning verification moment of the course topic principles. The final exercise intends to elaborate on some design solutions from the scale of the urban space to the architectural one, in response to some contemporary problems of the city of Noto: 

1) the solving of problems of marginality, in the relationship between historical center and the outskirts placed above the higher and below the lower level of the monumental area; 

2) the permeability of the historical center, its destiny in the contemporary condition and the fruition-enhancement of the architectural heritage of the city.

The laboratory combines lectures, seminars and design trainings with a final design work that will constitute a moment of synthesis and verification. Each exercise includes lectures on the topics of the course and collective and individual laboratory activities. Seminars are also planned, also held by external teachers and experts in the topics dealt with. 

Acquired skills in former architectural and urban design courses are sufficient. 

Basic knowledge of architectural and urban design methodologies. 

Basic knowledge of technical drawing methodologies. 

Manual of freehand drawing and models skills. 

Theoretical and historical knowledge of contemporary architecture. 

Attendance is binding for courses called "Laboratory". Students can request total or partial exemption from the attendance obligation for serious and / or justified reasons. The dispensation is deliberated by the Degree Course Council and at the same time it must provide for the possibility of participating in the sessions of the related exams. 

Lessons take place both in the first and in the second semester. 

The main topic of the laboratory is the architectural design into the relationship between architectural pre-existences and contemporary urban transformations, with a specific attention to the maintenance of the historical and archaeological heritage.

In the first semester we will proceed with a basic preparation on the architectural and urban design fundamentals through elementary lessons, exercises and monographic study of some exemplary case studies.
The course central moment, into the first part of the laboratory will be, above all, a cycle of programmed outdoor activities (freehand RICOGNIZIONI), alternated with classroom laboratory activities organized in order to deepen the topics addressed during the outdoor activities. During the RICOGNIZIONI and the laboratory, the preparation of a CARNET DE VOYAGE will be requested, a "logbook" that will collect all the materials and reflections useful for the exercises. The CARNET DE VOYAGE is a drawing notebook, a horizontal A5 or similar, with a hard cover, in which the student will have to collect their own graphic and written-graphic annotations, as well as LETTERS TO THE ARCHITECT.
The work on the drawings and letters collected in the CARNET DE VOYAGE is single. 

In the second semester, a final project will be elaborated which, starting from the first intuitions developed during the "RICOGNIZIONI freehand", proposes a strategy, defines the salient features of an unprecedented or re-meaning urban scenario, by means of measured and technically designed planning check (team work). 

For strategy we mean the preparation of some interrelated moves also belonging to different reflection planes; scenario means the formulation of hypotheses on future transformations and their possible consequences; for project actions we mean the representation on an adequate scale of interventions that modify the physical state of the places. 

The main theme of the laboratory is based on the relationship between project and pre-existence with particular attention to the recovery of the historical heritage. The laboratory will be introduced by a series of lectures that frame the theme of the laboratory, with particular attention to significant national and European experiences. 

The proposed exercises will be aimed to acquiring a critical ability of working with the new in relation to the historical pre-existence in urban contexts and / or archaeological sites, with a conceptual approach that is not based on opposition or otherness but which is always based on "sense of continuity ". 

Targeted exercises will be carried out concerning the “interior” design, intended as architectural space (the room of a building) as well as the collective space in an urban context (the city room), the both intended as design elements and values bearers bonded to collective identity memory and able to establish a mutual connection. 

Critical intervention areas will be chosen, where these values are often considered obstacles to contemporary urban development, to experiment with a new proactive design approach with respect to this cultural assumption. 

Within the laboratory, the student’s activities will have the character of an exercise which will involve particular attention not only to the design outcomes of their work, but also to the critical and training process of the project itself. 

The laboratory exercises will be organized into four phases and several levels of in-depth study: 

1st Step) identification of the project areas, analytical reading of the places (RICOGNIZIONI a mano libera: CARNET+LETTERA ALL’ARCHITTTO, individual work), editing of city reading basic materials, drawings on the most important existing buildings and elaboration of the functional program (team work);

2nd Step) development and presentation of the project concept, general definition of the project with volumetric insertion of the new structures in the context; drawings and / or models on an adequate scale (team work);

3rd Step) architectural development of the project with explanatory tables - plans, elevations and section in adequate scale and relative study models (team work); 
4th Step) development of the urban and compositional aspects of the project. The various components of the project must be designed and verified with scale study models (plans, elevations and sections) and significant details on an adequate scale (team work). 

1)    JARDOT, M., Le Corbusier: dessins, Editions mondes, Paris, 1955.

2)    AA.VV., Le Corbusier-Savina. Sculptures et Dessins, a cura di, ed. Fondation Le Corbu- sier/ Philippe Sers Editeur, Paris, 1960.

3)    Cullen, G., Townscape, The Architectural press, London, 1961.

4)    BOESIGER, W., GIRSBERGER, H., Le Corbusier. Œuvre Complete, a cura di 1° edizione 1953, Verlag fur architektur (artemis), Zurich, 1967.

5)    PETIT, J., Le Corbusier lui-même, Editions rousseau, geneva, 1970.

6)    CURTIS, W., SEKLER, E., Le Corbusier at work, harvard University Press, Cambridge mass., 1978.

7)    VON MOOS, S., L’architecte et son mythe, 1° edizione in tedesco, Le Corbusier, element einer synthese, Verlag huber Frauenfeld, Basel, 1968, ed. horizons de France, Paris, 1971. Edizione in inglese: Le Corbusier. Element of a Synthesis, MIT Press, Cambridge 1979.

8)    Rossi, A., The Architecture of the City, MIT Press, Cambridge Mass, 1982.

9)    JENCKS, C., Le Corbusier and the Tragic View of Architecture, Penguin Books Ltd, 1° Edizione 1973, harmondsworth, middlesex, England 1987.

10) AA.VV., Alvar Aalto: Complete Work, Birkhauser, Basel 1990.

11) Aris, C. Martì, Las variaciones de la identidad. Ensayo sobre el tipo en arquitectura, prefacio de Giorgio Grassi, Ediciones del Serbal, Barcelona 1993.

12) Koolhaas, R., Delirious New York. A retrospective manifesto of Manhattan, The Monacelli Press, New York 1994.

13) A. Loos, Ornament and crime: selected essays, Adolf Opel 1997.

14) A. Angelillo, Alvaro Siza: writings on architecture, Skira, Milano 1997.

15) JENCKS, Ch., Le Corbusier and the continual revolution in architecture, ed. Monacelli press, New york, 2000.

16) AA.VV. (a cura di), e Utzon Library: Utzon’s Own Houses, Arkitektens Forlage Danish Architectural Press, Copenhagen, 2004. 

17) Le Corbusier, Toward an Architecture, introduced by Jean Louis Cohen, The Getty Research Institute Publication Program, ed. Frances Lincoln, Los Angeles, 2007.

18) Rowe, C., Kotter, F., Collage City, The MIT Press, Cambridge Mass, 2010.

19) CURTIS, W., Le Corbusier Ideas and Forms, 1° edizione 1986, Phaidon Press, London.

20) CARTE, P., Mies Van Der Rohe at work, Phaidon Press, London 2011.

21) VANDENBERG, M., Farnsworth House. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Phaidon press, Londra, 2005. 

22) CACCIAORE F., FOTI F., Barclay & Crousse. Segnali di vita tra i due deserti. Señales de vida entra los dos desiertos, LetteraVentidue Edizioni, Siracusa, 2012.

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23) FIDONE, E., THE LANDSCAPE OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE CONTEMPORARY CITY Erasmus Intensive Programme 2013/2014, LetteraVentidue Edizioni, Siracusa 2016.

The exam includes an oral interview on the disciplinary contents and course documents, including the design ones and those of the first semester’s exercises (written-graphic notes for reconnaissance and letters to the architect) collected in the "logbook".
During the oral interview the following must be demonstrated: mastery of the topics covered during the lessons, overall expressive ability, ability to report examples relating to general topics, ability to connect with other topics, relevance of answers, quality of content and personal contribution to team work. 

- The theme of the pre-existence transformation in the historical evolution of architecture and city in europe. Describe some significative cases.

The purpose of the laboratory is to guide the student through the understanding and practice of the urban and architectural design on the pre-existence. The course aims to provide students with a critical methodology to tackle the architectural project on an urban scale, recognizing its peculiar trans-scalarity, the complex connection between the characteristics of a transformation of the existing and the interface with the pre-existence.
The items will be developed combining design exercises with the lectures. A final design essay will be the moment of synthesis and verification of what has been learned during the laboratory. 

"The projects had to develop according to a process that went from the inside out". (Adolf Loos, My School of Architecture). The discipline of “interior architecture” is conceived as an inseparable part and fundamental moment of the architectural project. The course intends to work on the creation of a design research path that questions the preconceptions related to the theme of interior design, a theme often seen as the creation of a "furniture" of pre-existing environments; instead, it is intended to verify how starting from an "inside" it is possible to measure and govern the world (with a process "from the inside out" founding the best architectural culture). In this case we will investigate the ability of the architectural and urban pre-existence to shape the neighboring surroundings, from this reverberating on the structure of the city, in the greatest tradition of the "urban design".

The teaching will take place with ex cathedra lessons and with the development of an application project on a study area.
Thence, the teaching of the laboratory will have, as a final moment, the participation of the students to a final course project, that is a synthesis experience and a learning verification moment of the course topic principles. The final exercise intends to elaborate on some design solutions from the scale of the urban space to the architectural one, in response to some contemporary problems of the city of Noto: 

1) the solving of problems of marginality, in the relationship between historical center and the outskirts placed above the higher and below the lower level of the monumental area; 

2) the permeability of the historical center, its destiny in the contemporary condition and the fruition-enhancement of the architectural heritage of the city.

The laboratory develops alongside the lectures, seminars and design exercises with a final design work that will constitute the moment of synthesis and verification. Each exercise includes lectures on the topics of the course and collective and individual laboratory activities. Seminars are also planned, also held by external teachers and experts in the topics addressed. 

Acquired skills in former architectural and urban design courses are sufficient. 

Basic knowledge of architectural and urban design methodologies. 

Basic knowledge of technical drawing methodologies. 

Manual of freehand drawing and models skills. 

Theoretical and historical knowledge of contemporary architecture. 

Attendance is binding for courses called "Laboratory". Students can request total or partial exemption from the attendance obligation for serious and / or justified reasons. The dispensation is deliberated by the Degree Course Council and at the same time it must provide for the possibility of participating in the sessions of the related exams. 

Lessons take place both in the first and in the second semester. 

The main topic of the laboratory is the architectural design into the relationship between architectural pre-existences and contemporary urban transformations, with a specific attention to the maintenance of the historical and archaeological heritage.

The students in the first part of the course will carry on the design of the city of Noto, mainly plans, sections and sketches in which it will be possible to let emerge the role of historical architecture into the shaping of an idea of form of the city. The work on the city drawings will accompany the students into the acknowledge process toward the second part of the course. 

The students will deal with the design of the most significant urban and architectonical spaces - a project of “street furniture”, in essence - through the method of the Minimal Project. 

1)    JARDOT, M., Le Corbusier: dessins, Editions mondes, Paris, 1955.

2)    AA.VV., Le Corbusier-Savina. Sculptures et Dessins, a cura di, ed. Fondation Le Corbu- sier/ Philippe Sers Editeur, Paris, 1960.

3)    Cullen, G., Townscape, The Architectural press, London, 1961.

4)    BOESIGER, W., GIRSBERGER, H., Le Corbusier. Œuvre Complete, a cura di 1° edizione 1953, Verlag fur architektur (artemis), Zurich, 1967.

5)    PETIT, J., Le Corbusier lui-même, Editions rousseau, geneva, 1970.

6)    CURTIS, W., SEKLER, E., Le Corbusier at work, harvard University Press, Cambridge mass., 1978.

7)    VON MOOS, S., L’architecte et son mythe, 1° edizione in tedesco, Le Corbusier, element einer synthese, Verlag huber Frauenfeld, Basel, 1968, ed. horizons de France, Paris, 1971. Edizione in inglese: Le Corbusier. Element of a Synthesis, MIT Press, Cambridge 1979.

8)    Rossi, A., The Architecture of the City, MIT Press, Cambridge Mass, 1982.

9)    JENCKS, C., Le Corbusier and the Tragic View of Architecture, Penguin Books Ltd, 1° Edizione 1973, harmondsworth, middlesex, England 1987.

10) AA.VV., Alvar Aalto: Complete Work, Birkhauser, Basel 1990.

11) Aris, C. Martì, Las variaciones de la identidad. Ensayo sobre el tipo en arquitectura, prefacio de Giorgio Grassi, Ediciones del Serbal, Barcelona 1993.

12) Koolhaas, R., Delirious New York. A retrospective manifesto of Manhattan, The Monacelli Press, New York 1994.

13) A. Loos, Ornament and crime: selected essays, Adolf Opel 1997.

14) A. Angelillo, Alvaro Siza: writings on architecture, Skira, Milano 1997.

15) JENCKS, Ch., Le Corbusier and the continual revolution in architecture, ed. Monacelli press, New york, 2000.

16) AA.VV. (a cura di), e Utzon Library: Utzon’s Own Houses, Arkitektens Forlage Danish Architectural Press, Copenhagen, 2004. 

17) Le Corbusier, Toward an Architecture, introduced by Jean Louis Cohen, The Getty Research Institute Publication Program, ed. Frances Lincoln, Los Angeles, 2007.

18) Rowe, C., Kotter, F., Collage City, The MIT Press, Cambridge Mass, 2010.

19) CURTIS, W., Le Corbusier Ideas and Forms, 1° edizione 1986, Phaidon Press, London.

20) CARTE, P., Mies Van Der Rohe at work, Phaidon Press, London 2011.

21) VANDENBERG, M., Farnsworth House. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Phaidon press, Londra, 2005. 

22) CACCIAORE F., FOTI F., Barclay & Crousse. Segnali di vita tra i due deserti. Señales de vida entra los dos desiertos, LetteraVentidue Edizioni, Siracusa, 2012.

-->

23) FIDONE, E., THE LANDSCAPE OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE CONTEMPORARY CITY Erasmus Intensive Programme 2013/2014, LetteraVentidue Edizioni, Siracusa 2016.

The exam includes an oral interview on the disciplinary contents and course documents, including the design ones and those of the first semester’s exercises (written-graphic notes for reconnaissance and letters to the architect) collected in the "logbook".
During the oral interview the following must be demonstrated: mastery of the topics covered during the lessons, overall expressive ability, ability to report examples relating to general topics, ability to connect with other topics, relevance of answers, quality of content and personal contribution to team work. 

- Describe the design solutions in your laboratory exercise, focusing on the theme of the relationship between historical pre-existence and innovative design solutions.

- The theme of the pre-existence transformation in the historical evolution of architecture and city in europe. Describe some significative cases.