LABORATORIO DI ARCHITETTURA E PROGETTO DEL PAESAGGIO A - L

The purpose of the Studio is to guide the student to the understandanding and the practice of the urban and architectural design into the landscape. The course aims to provide students with an operational methodology to tackle the architectural design in relationship with landscape. The aim of the course is that students acquire a project method capable of tackling different issues and topics. The architecture in 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 adquired skills are usable into the context of quality managing in civil, industrial and services organisations, according to the UN Agenda 2030 goals 9,11, 12 for the sustainable development.

Basic knowledge of architectural and urban design methodologies. Basic knowledge of technical drawing methodologies. Manual skills in constructing scale models and in live drawing. Theoretical and historical knowledge of contemporary architecture. 

The will, the determination, the passion and the curiosity.

Attendance at classes and to all the others studio activities during the course hours is mandatory.

The studio will be held balancing theoretical classes, on the basic preparation on the fundamentals of the landscape and architectural design, with brief ex tempore and recognition activities. To conclude the experience of the studio, at the end of the 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.

The Studio to shape up as a collective learning exercise in which knowledge is developed individually and in groups, and then shared more widely. The studio participants will be stimulated to a sharing approach in order to interact each other as a design team. 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.