LABORATORIO DI ARCHITETTURA E PROGETTO DEL PAESAGGIO M - Z

The purpose of the Studio is to guide the student to to understand and practice the urban and architectural design. The course aims to provide students with an operational methodology to tackle the landscape design.. The aim of the course is that students acquire a project method capable of tackling different issues and topics. The landscape not so much and not only as a support on which to intervene but rather as a "place of relationships in which each part is not comprehensible if not in relation to a whole that is in turn integrated into a larger whole". These concepts will be developed trough lectures and design exercises. A final design essay will be the moment of synthesis and verification of the proposed Studio.
According to the Dublin Descriptors (DdD), passing the exam certifies the acquisition of the following results:

DdD 1 knowledge and understanding

• Knowledge and understanding of the theoretical and methodological fundamentals of landscape design for their use in the design process for the transformation of places.   

DdD 2 ability to apply knowledge and understanding

• Ability to apply knowledge and understanding to control the construction tools and compositional aspects of the project, its typological and functional characteristics, which regulate the qualitative relationships of landscape forms at various scales. Ability to control measurements and proportions in landscape design scales.

DdD 3 (autonomy of judgment), 4 (communication skills) and 5 (learning ability)

• ability to operate and communicate independently the design choices made (DdD 3, 4 and 5).

The Teaching will take place both through ex cathedra lectures, which will focus on architectural design theory and contemporary methodologies, and through the development by students of an application project on a study area. The development of the project includes field experiences through visits and inspections, surveying and drawing activities on the study sites.

 Attendance at classes is mandatory.

In the first semester  we will proceed to a basic preparation on the fundamentals of the landscape and architectural design through lessons and elementary exercises. In the following semester a final project will be elaborated which, starting from the hypotheses illustrated above, proposes a strategy, defines some scenarios, and the elements of a coherent conceptualization developing measured and technically controlled project actions. By strategy we mean the predisposition of some inter-related moves also belonging to different levels of reflection; by scenario we mean the formulation of hypotheses on future transformations and their possible consequences; by conceptualization we mean an effort of abstraction which, coming out from a logic of problem solving, evaluates the general implications of the issues addressed; project actions mean the representation on an appropriate scale of interventions that modify the physical state of the places. Strategy, scenarios, conceptualizations and actions are not to be understood as operations aligned within a deductive process: although it may be useful to question some possible scenarios before designing specific actions, the different operations maintain considerable independence, while evaluating the relationships established between the various operations and hypotheses; each of them requires to choose within different types of descriptions and surveys, within different forms of representation and the use of different scales: as a whole these operations constitute the urban and architectural design.

1. M. Lupano, L. Emanueli , M. Navarra, Lo-Fi - Architecture as curatorial practice, Marsilio, Venezia 2010;
2. R. Koolhaas, Junkspace. Per un ripensamento radicale dello spazio urbano, Quodlibet, Macerata 1999.
3. M. Navarra, In WalkaboutCITY. Il paesaggio riscritto. Un parco lineare tra Caltagirone e Piazza Armerina,, Biblioteca del Cenide, Villa S. Giovanni 2002.
4. M. Navarra, Repairingcities. La riparazione come strategia di “sopravvivenza”, Lettera Ventidue Siracusa 2008.
5. M. Navarra, Terre Fragili, Lettera Ventidue, Siracusa 2017.
6. M. Navarra, Le città di Robert Adam, Lettera Ventidue, Siracusa 2018.
7. R. Koolhaas, Junkspace. Per un ripensamento radicale dello spazio urbano, Quodlibet, Macerata 1999.
8. J. Till , Architecture depends, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England 2009
9. H. Küster, Piccola storia del paesaggio, Donzelli Roma 2010A. Roger, Breve trattato sul paesaggio, Sellerio Palermo 2009
10. P. Nicolin, F. Repishti, Dizionario dei nuovi paesaggisti, Skira Milano 2003

The Studio to shape up as a collective learning exercise in which knowledge is developed individually and in groups, and then shared more widely. Active participation and contribution to the development of the various Studio phases is strongly encouraged and will be positively evaluated.

The students will be evaluated on the base of their preliminary analytical work (Translation), their attendance and active participation in the collective discussion, and the quality and depth of their design proposal at various steps (Assemblage, Construction). The evaluation will focus on the acquisition of critical awareness.
Final exams as well as intermediate deliveries will consist in the presentation and discussion of the requested materials. Marks will be individual and based on the students’ understanding of the issues involved. The evaluations for the interim reviews and submission will be given a weight of 40% of the final mark. The remainder 60% will be assigned to the final project which will ought to be concluded by the end of the semester.
The assessment of the learning outcomes and of the competences of students will follow the objectives of the Dublin indicators. In the interim reviews and submission the learning skills and the capacity of knowledge and understanding of the contents of the lectures and readings will be assessed through the elaboration of a written presentation. In the final review and submission, the capacity of applying knowledge and understanding, of making judgements and the communication skills of the students will be assessed through the oral presentation and the delivery of models, boards, personal sketchbook and a portfolio collecting all the works elaborated during the studio.

Ex.01 

Actions: OCCUPYING THE SPACE Describe the principles underlying the occupation of space and the distribution of elements in the image, by drawing a plan or section.
Tools and materials: 1 A4 sheet of paper, pen.
Time: 30 minutes. 

Objectives: To observe To understand. On understanding the principles of space occupation 

Ex.02

Actions: Draw, on an A4 sheet of paper, the settlement and composition logics of different types of landscape you see in the picture and describe them with a 100-word text 

Tools and materials : 1 sheet of A4 paper, pen.
Time : 20 minutes.
Objectives: To observe To understand. On understanding the different shapes and materials of landscapes

Ex.03

Actions: 1. Take a photo sequence of parks or fringe landscapes in the city where you live or study (3 frames) representing different landscape forms and systems. 

2. Compose the photographs on an A4 page and print the file in .pdf Tools and Materials: 1 camera Time: 10 minutes for each photo Objectives: Observe Select. On observation skills. On understanding the principles of space occupation. On the refinement of photographic tools. 

Ex.04

Actions: 1. Choose three different types of landscape in GOOGLE Maps or BING and describe the characteristics of each landscape freehand on an A4 sheet of paper. 

2. Describe the characteristics of each landscape by means of a title, five key words and a 100-word text on an A4 page to be printed in .pdf format.