The design studio addresses architectural and urban design through an integrated approach that combines critical analysis of the context, constructive awareness, and a civic vision of the project. The goal is to guide students toward sustainable transformation strategies and solutions capable of enhancing the quality of inhabited spaces. The design studio work is conceived as a complex and multidimensional design experience, attentive to typological, morphological, and environmental aspects. It encourages a critical and experimental approach aimed at fostering students' ability to develop original and contextually coherent design solutions, capable of responding thoughtfully to the challenges posed by climate change, ecological transitions, and ongoing transformation processes.

The course aims to achieve the following learning outcomes:

1. Knowledge and Understanding
   Acquire theoretical and operational knowledge of the themes and tools of sustainable architectural design in complex contexts, with attention to environmental, cultural, and social factors, as well as to the construction dimension.
2. Applying Knowledge and Understanding
   Develop integrated and coherent design proposals capable of addressing functional, environmental, and cultural needs by applying appropriate methods and techniques, even within complex urban settings.
3. Autonomy of Judgment
   Develop an independent critical capacity in evaluating contexts, community needs, and the environmental implications of design choices, justifying decisions with respect to different scales and themes.
4. Communication Skills
   Clearly and effectively represent the design project using graphic, textual, and digital tools suited to various audiences, and communicate one’s design vision in a structured and informed manner.
5. Learning Skills
   Develop the ability for continuous learning, including independently, to stay updated on methods, techniques, and tools for sustainable design, and to address complex architectural problems with a multidisciplinary and international perspective.

One of the most significant books of recent decades is the collection of essays of Privacy and publicity: modern architecture as mass media (MIT Press, 1992), in which Beatriz Colomina captures the tension that, in the design of domestic space, links and separates the intimate, personal, private dimension from the public, social, representative one, and from the exchange with the outside.

In Colomina’s analysis, the two architects who most clearly interpret these two drives are Adolf Loos and Le Corbusier. The former, with his Raumplan, develops a theatrical conception of the interior, where perspectives and viewpoints are all designed to protect the primacy of the inhabitant over the visitor, placing obstacles and screens in the way of the outsider’s incursion into the domestic space. Windows are opaque and hard to reach; light is indirect; visual axes may not align with paths; and the tactile dimension prevails over the visual. Le Corbusier, by contrast, conceives of domesticity as a spectacle oriented outward: large glazed openings, the fluidity and continuity between inside and outside, and the wall conceived as a permeable diaphragm, establish the primacy of the gaze that pierces the spatial boundaries of the domestic environment, which is merely a breathable and luminous shell open to dialogue with the public realm.

In both cases, dwelling is conceived as a theatrical action, where the theatrical metaphor is reinterpreted in opposite ways. In Loos’s domesticity, the inhabitant is protected and separated within an enveloping interior; access to the inner spaces of the house is progressive, complex, winding, and the inhabitant already occupies the space, visually monitoring the visitor. In Le Corbusier’s domesticity, the inhabitant is a visitor moving through a stage, performing like an actor among transparent partitions, offering their privacy to the outside gaze. At the same time, the outside becomes a stage offered to the inhabitant’s gaze, projected outward—toward the city, the landscape, the perception of light and weather conditions.

With the relatively recent advent of the digital order, the private and public dimensions now coexist, both outdoors and indoors: on sidewalks, on public and private transport, in workplaces and study spaces, and in the domestic sphere. Everywhere, our devices—primarily the smartphone, but not only—connect us to a public network while simultaneously keeping us in a private and personal, albeit virtual, space, even in completely collective environments. Just consider the widespread use of smartphones to record and preserve all significant events—family, political, sports, etc.

This dual space—public and private, real and virtual—coexists and overlaps in the same location, sometimes positively, enhancing the intensity of exchange, and other times negatively, reflecting the clash of conflicting actions that must coexist unnaturally.

Architecture intended for collective actions today faces this dual trend. On the one hand, there remains a strong and widespread need to gather, to be together, to share experiences physically and bodily. Just think of the growing popularity of architecture biennials and triennials, and international exhibitions that draw large numbers of visitors across continents. On the other hand, each of us lives in symbiosis with our devices, constantly connected and active online, seeking the privacy needed to view and operate our screens away from prying eyes.

This dual reality is the design theme we intend to explore in the design studio by designing a building that unites these two polarities, these two opposing characteristics. In other words, a building that is both a cultural and social catalyst—a place for events and collective activities such as conferences, meetings, and receptions. We refer to a type of building whose archetypal example may be Cedric Price’s Fun Palace, and whose realized utopia is represented by the Centre Pompidou (Beaubourg)—albeit at a much larger programmatic and dimensional scale than what we intend to address.

At the same time, our “reception hall” must also be a place where visitors can continue their online activities peacefully, finding spaces and conditions suited to this purpose.

We believe that the coexistence of these two needs can lead to the design of fluid, next-generation spaces—innovative solutions that create environments with clearly defined, differentiated spatial and environmental conditions, tailored to the user’s changing needs.

Architecturally, then, the design studio focuses on the creation of a socially and culturally open building whose typological, spatial, and structural identity is based on the coexistence of large and small spaces, fluid and enclosed, public and private.

From an urban perspective, the project must engage with existing structures and infrastructure and develop new potential for the open spaces as well.

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING MODULE
The module aims to provide the basic tools of Structural Engineering, necessary to understand the behavior and preliminary design techniques of the main structural components in reinforced concrete and steel.

The module is structured in two phases.
The first phase, through lectures and seminars, presents the theoretical background and technical tools for the preliminary design of the main structural elements.
The second phase, through supplementary seminars on specific construction techniques commonly used in the context of the design studio topic, and through guided practical activities, applies the acquired skills to the development of the Design Studio project.

At the end of the first phase, an assessment of the acquired skills is scheduled (approximately halfway through the semester). A positive outcome of the skills assessment in the first phase is a necessary condition to access the final Laboratory exam. The second phase involves preparing schematic drawings for the structural laboratory project.

• SDG3 - GOOD HEALTH AND WELLBEING
• SDG8 - DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
• SDG13 - CLIMATE ACTION

The project the students will develop must take into account environmental impact in terms of recyclable materials, soil occupation and porosity, indoor and outdoor climate control, economic sustainability and social equity, as well as the conditions of comfort and socialization in living and working environments.

• Progetto/i - Elaborato/i obbligatorio, di gruppo, con revisioni periodiche, senza presentazione/discussione finale

The Studio adopts a learning-by-doing process in which we exchange knowledge, skills, tools, and aims as part of a fluid progression. All Students must actively contribute to advancing the workshop, which requires Students to attend all classes. Once a week, professors and tutors will review programs, intentions, design proposals, and advancements presented by the Students with sketches, diagrams, technical drawings, and models.
We encourage teamwork with a maximum of three components.
The exam consists of the presentation of these deliverables:
A set of technical drawings at adequate scales:
- an accurate representation of the existing situation (plans, sections, elevations, approximately scale 1:200);
- a masterplan of the area with (approximately scale 1:500 or 1:200);
- drawings of the buildings and the outdoor spaces ((plans, sections, elevations, 1:200 / 1:100 / 1:50, 3d models, renders);
- cardboard models;
- a presentation booklet.
The final evaluation will essentially consider the architectural quality and correctness of the project, particularly verified through these factors:
- deep comprehension and representation of the site, with an analysis of the constraints and potentialities;
- formulation of a specific program, including regular and exceptional functions;
- design of the new building(s) and outdoor spaces.

BCA 720.105 COLOB 001

BCA 729.1 FUNOO

BCA 720.1 MARTAC 005

BCA 720.1 ROCCA 001 a

BCA 720.47 ROCCA

BCA 724.7 ROCCA