• Soft Skills

The Final Design Studio provides a complex and multidisciplinary planning experience, combined with the deepening of some specific issues at the center of the practice, culture and contemporary architectural debate. Through a design experimentation characterized in the different laboratories by the various topics and in-depth scale addressed, the common goal is to develop a synthesis project that combines the theoretical argumentation of the proposed theme with the applied activity based on the skills and know-how gained during the three-year educational path.

An innovative teaching activity (1 cfu) entitled "Projectelling" is planned with the aim to increase the communication skills of the results of the design activity.

After the studio experience the student is able to systematize the different knowledge learned both during the previous years and within the studio, promoting the synergy between scientific, technological, artistic and humanistic disciplines in order to enrich and integrate the reference areas that occur in the design activity.

CITY AND AGING, PEOPLE PLACE AND PRACTICES

The design studio City and Aging incorporate the three disciplines of Interiors and Domestic Culture (ICAR/16), Housing politics and design (ICAR 20), and Photographing contemporary dwelling (ICAR 17). 

Through photography, interiors and urban design practice, the studio will address contexts on an aging society. It will explore how the progressive aging of society affects private and public spaces. The exercise aims to investigate the relationship between living and aging in ten in Milan through the spatial project. In particular, it will focus on the transformation and adaption of housing neighbourhoods and public space, taking into account both the strengths and vulnerabilities of the elderly population.

Looking at the United Nations data, the percentage of individuals over 65 in the total population in 2019 amounted to 9%. This number is expected to increase to 16% in 2050. But if we look at these figures nationwide, what emerges is an even more radical picture. In fact, in countries such as Germany, Japan, Spain, North Korea, and Italy, the percentage over 65s will exceed 30%. Population aging will become a new urban question. However, the demographic crisis is already making itself visible in the city. Aging has already begun to affect the uses and practices of private and urban spaces.

Students will have the opportunity to experience prolonged fieldwork investigations and develop possible scenarios for seven neighbourhoods in Milan. The challenge will be to integrate multiple investigation tools to obtain knowledge on the subject that will guide the design exploration: use of data to expand demographic, social, and economic indicators; use of cartography not only as an investigation tool but also as a tool that allows the construction of different interpretations; use of architectural ethnography approach to producing thick visual descriptions; use of photography as an instrument of knowledge and investigation technique; use of interviews as a tool to trace some micro-stories that can build the housing careers of the interviewees; use of urban design and interior architecture process as a way to introduce long-term visions in contexts affected by aging process. 

The design studio aims to develop: awareness and understanding of the themes investigated during the semester and their application through the design process; the ability to learn a working methodology; increase communication skills; expand graphic skills; improve photographic survey practices; and work in a team.

Within this background, the studio intends to reconstruct the taxonomy of living in the elderly population and define possible transformation scenarios.

An introductory set of lectures and complementary activities, such as field visits and a photo-shooting campaign, will support the work. A reading list will be available to provide references.

The studio intends to explore these themes in the city of Milan through three main working phases:

1. Exploration and mapping of people, places, practices, policies, and design options at work.
2. Research and analysis: What is an age-friendly neighbourhood? What meaning(s) does it assume? What are its implications?
3. Drafting scenarios and visions focused on regulation, policies, programs, & interventions envisioning spatial scenarios.

 Bibliographical suggestions

Briata P., Postiglione G., “Reinvenzioni nel quotidiano. Didattica e ricerca sui conflitti tra forma e uso nell spazio domestico”, in Giampino A., Todaro V. (eds) Post Pandemic Cities. Le sfide dell’urbanistica dopo l’emergenza, «Urbanistica Dossier», 25, 2022, pp. 96-102.

Carsten, J., House-lives as ethnography/biography, «Soc Anthropol», 26, 2018, pp. 103–116. doi:10.1111/1469-8676.12485

Cranz, G., Ethnography for Designers, Routledge, London & New York 2016.

Kaijima, M., (et Alt eds.), Architectural Ethnography, TOTO Publishing, Tokyo 2018.

During the educational path the sequence of the courses and the order of registration of the related exam must follow the priority specified in the Study Programme Regulation.

Students will be evaluated based on both group and individual work. There will be tutoring, extempore, midterm reviews, and a final presentation accompanied by an Instant Exhibition, which will experiment and test the tools and knowledge acquired. The course will be firmly based on an open interaction between the teaching staff and the students. Active participation and interaction of students in the class will be welcomed, encouraged, and evaluated.