THE ARCHITECTURE THAT MAKES CITY
The second-year design laboratory deals with the theme of residence in an urban context, extending the reflection to the settlement principles, to the architectural typology and to the notion of urban context. The Laboratory deals with the theme of collective residence in an urban situation in a phase of transformation, where a new building will characterize the life of the community in the neighborhood and contribute significantly to the definition of the urban design of the place.
The course also aims to promote a critical awareness of architectural design issues and related issues. Windows (CinemaLAB, FotoLAB and LiteratureLAB) will open on related disciplines to develop an extended knowledge and a critical position that must be at the base of any process of both investigation and interpretation.
The laboratory has the objective of beginning to verify, through the experience of the project, the contribution of the different knowledge that contribute to the definition of an architectural project. The project develops as a "wise game" that crosses different layers of reflection by successive approximations: from the comparison with the urban context and its settlement principles to the one with the distributive and typological characteristics of the buildings; from the relationship between built volumes and open spaces, from the definition of the elements constituting the architecture to the choice of construction techniques and from the quality of the materials to the choices that contribute to the sustainability of a project.
The laboratory addresses the problem of moving from project intentions to their concrete expression
verifying the materials (physical, theoretical, technical and literary) that are intentionally arranged and evoked by the formal and expressive strategies of the project itself. This aims at building a design attitude that holds the idea of architecture as a formally and figuratively meaningful synthesis. In this sense, architecture as a cultured and intellectually committed knowledge is configured as a critical expression of the contemporary.
The lessons will accompany the entire duration of the workshop with a greater intensity in the initial part.
The students' work will be organized in three main phases (until Easter)
1st phase: critical analysis of TWO modern and contemporary residential architecture works assigned.
Each pair of students will have to analyze in a single way, each in their own notebook, the two assigned works. Subsequently each pair will instead work together with the card of one of the two buildings (which will be assigned).
All the cards will allow us to create a list of useful references for all students.
This first exercise aims to learn how to read and interpret a project by analyzing, by parts, all the elements that contribute to the definition of a work of architecture.
They must be analyzed:
CONTEXT. The context is the space affected by the project, which expresses ways of living, uses, values, with its morphology and iconography, but also the social, political and cultural reality, the set of cultural and material values of users and clients. Evaluate the transformation of the place, where the project is placed.
PROJECT AREA information on the area, dimensions and functions already present, if any.
CONCEPT - PROJECT IDEA
FORM - TYPE The typology is the classification of buildings based on the presence of certain functional, dimensional, distributive and organizational characteristics.
STRUCTURAL SYSTEM
ORGANIZATION OF THE SPACE - ELEMENTS AND PARTS OF THE BUILDING ground connection and standard floor
STUDY OF PROSPECTS - RHYTHM OF THE SCREWS, MATERIALS AND CONSTRUCTIVE ELEMENTS.
2nd phase: analysis of the context conditions of the project area and of the architectural typology;
3rd phase: definition of the strategies and characters of the planimetric system through models and drawings.
Project theme and area.
The project area is in Rome, in the Flaminio district, along the urban axis of via Guido Reni and in front of the MAXXI by Zaha Hadid. It is in a very stimulating context and characterized by important modern and contemporary architecture (Olympic Village, Sports Hall of P.L. Nervi, Auditorium of R. Piano, etc. in addition to the aforementioned MAXXI). The Flaminio district has been and still is the object of important urban transformations promoted by the various public administrations and characterized by the presence of significant buildings for culture that return a stimulating and contemporary image to this urban sector of Rome.
In 2015 the Municipality of Rome held a competition for the construction of a new cultural and residential center of excellence, the City of Science, recovering a former military area, now abandoned, right in front of MAXXI. The competition had as its objective the creation of a new Science Museum (to be defined only in a preliminary way) and of an entire residential quarter in the place of the old structures of the former electronic and precision military establishment that could be maintained or demolished
Your project will address the issue of collective residence in this context of great interest.
We have chosen two lots within the area, one facing Via Guido Reni and another on Via Pinturicchio, of rather similar size. You will have to choose one and propose one or more new buildings within one of the lots indicated, respecting the urban planning data given. Your project will have to include a coherent system of public spaces (small squares, gardens, etc.) a vehicular access system with underground parking lots and relevant parking lots, a component of commercial and collective spaces to be associated with the residence.
Within the design laboratory, there will be three thematic laboratories that intend to offer a broader view of the subject under discussion. The first is a Cinema Laboratory (CinemaLAB) where you will see the most significant films made about Rome. This will be an opportunity to learn about the different cinematographic interpretations that Rome has had since the war, but above all to stimulate your critical reflection on themes and contents that go beyond the strict architectural discipline.
The second is a Photography Laboratory (FotoLAB) in which you will be yourself, through photography, collecting impressions, interpretations and comments on the urban environment in which we live. In particular, during the study trip to Rome, you will be asked to take a series of critical shots that can convey your interpretation of that city and the buildings you will be visiting. The second edition of the “Architecture that makes the city” competition is expected with the awarding of the best results.
The third is a Literature Laboratory (LABLIT - after Easter) in which you will be asked to read a significant book and to extract a brief critical summary of it.
These workshops will complement your daily work as architecture students. They must contribute to creating critical awareness in you, to "refining" your culture and stimulating cultural transmigrations from one discipline to another.
The Laboratory places great importance on the work done in the classroom, on the constant presence for reviews and delivery of the exercises. Students will work in groups of up to two students. Absences for more than three times in a row constitute the cancellation from the laboratory.
Each student must have a sketch book (A5 format - blank sheets) on which he must document the whole Laboratory and the history of the project. In this notebook you will have to write down the notes of the lectures, the exercises, the sketches of your project and you will have to consider it as a diary of your laboratory, or the history of your project. This book will be seen during the reviews and will be a decisive part of the final exam.
