1. Didactic purposes and course theme
The course, which is designed as a logical continuation of that of the first year, intends to introduce the student to the study of spatial, functional and constructive situations of some complexity, proposing a student residence as a design theme and focusing the exercise on
relationship between individual spaces and collective spaces. If the exercise of the first year had intended to focus on the fundamental experience of residency, directly comparable with the biographical and ancestral experience of each one, this year an expansion of the problematic field is proposed, asking the student to become an interpreter of needs and aspirations that continue to be perceptible in the first person, in everyday university life.
Through the choice of a student home, three areas are addressed
thematic which are:
1. the relationship with the physical and social context, of which the student settlement becomes a part;
2. the variety of spaces: individual, collective and intermediate between the individual and collective spheres, (closed and / or open, internal and / or external, serving and / or served) however understood as places of coexistence among students, such as decisive areas for removing student residences from
logic of the pure dormitory, and instead establish a relevant social role;
3. the living cell, as a module-object which can be aggregated in various ways to constitute a building and / or fabric.
2.Individual and collective
The individual as well as the collective sphere correspond to specific organizations of the space, relating to the way it is used.
A house is a place of intersection between individual areas (one's bed, one's room, one's wardrobe, etc.) and collective ones (the dining table,
the kitchen, the living room, etc.); similarly, a city is a place where areas of different degrees are arranged, compared and superimposed
of individuality and / or collectivity. Reason why the relationship between individual and collective is one of the great themes that have always accompanied the discipline of architecture and since the postwar period, in particular, reflection on these aspects has taken on
a crucial role.
In general terms, the definition of individual and collective spatial areas, and the organization of space that follows, is one of the
engines of the construction of the city and the territory. It is therefore considered extremely appropriate for the student to become aware of it a
starting from the early years.
3. Organization of the course
The course is organized in two parts:
3.1 Preparatory exercise
It is an exercise whose analytical and interpretative nature is only apparent, which will consist in the study of examples of student houses. Of
these will include functional, spatial, distributive, structural, linguistic and urban devices, elaborating suitable sketches and drawings.
Subsequently the students will have to produce an interpretative model. An interpretative model is an elaborate different from a descriptive model, since it does not propose to represent the artefact as it is, but rather to provide an adherent critical reading: adherent, since it will be based on a relevance to the artifact capable of avoiding any arbitrariness; critical, because it will try to capture one or more salient aspects of the building and highlight it in the construction of an object which, for what has been said, will not be similar to the starting building but rather analogous. On closer inspection, this exercise is a planning act.
3.2. Design exercise
It is a question of designing a student house, to be established in the city of Pescara. The program plans to accommodate about 150/200 students, with all the necessary services (canteen, living rooms, laundries, study rooms, gymnasium, etc.) and some cultural equipment of urban interest (library and multipurpose space). Particular attention must be paid to the living meanings of the choices made on the spatial organization: from the cells, to the confined spaces for small groups, to the distribution, to the spaces intended for the entire population of the student home, including the external appurtenances.
Lessons
the lessons will cover the following topics:
- Inhabiting density (individual and collective space)
- The context: architecture / place relationship
- Building and city: the ground connection of the architectural volume
- Structure, module, living cell
- The collective house: model and flexibility
- On the casing
Exercises
About the project:
- Inspection and analysis of the area
- Plastic realization of the area 1: 500
- First verification of the study model 1: 500 (inserted and verified with the general model of the area)
- Plan and general project sections (1: 500)
- Study of the volume (Plans, sections, model of study 1: 200)
- Housing study (Plans, sections 1: 100)
- Insight into volume trance (sectional model 1:50)
- study on the space
