150
Architectural and Urban Composition
REGGIO DI CALABRIA
Overview
Date/time interval
Syllabus
Course Objectives
The workshop will be carried out in continuity with the MedASA Project, an international project coordinated by the Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria and the University of Naples Federico II, in partnership with the Polis University (Tirana, Albania), the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Faculty of Architecture-Skopje (Skopje, North Macedonia), and the University of Montenegro (Podgorica, Montenegro).
The overall objective of the course is to provide students with the conceptual and operational tools to address the complex challenges of contemporary public space design, particularly in marginal contexts. The focus is on the interaction between settlement principles, environmental and resource sustainability issues, social and participatory dynamics, and related infrastructure issues. In this context, the Soil Project is proposed as the primary tool for integrating these complex dimensions and defining spaces capable of bringing together hydrogeological protection, increased biodiversity, climate mitigation, water resource management, and the social and cultural needs of the community.
The course will consist of an educational workshop comprising two modules (Urban Design for Urban Regeneration CEAR-12/B, A. Taccone - Design of Public Space CEAR-09/A M. Tornatora) aimed at deepening the study of tools and techniques related to contemporary landscape, the built environment, environmental and territorial sociology, the definition of settlement principles and the peculiarities of public space and urban centres through appropriate design hypotheses/verifications.
The Architectural and Urban Design module is divided into three modules corresponding to three assignments organised into lectures with partner lecturers and external guests, group exercises and classroom laboratory activities, and field surveys. Each module concludes with an online jury review with all the lecturers involved.
Qualifying educational objectives:
Assignment 1_ The Soil as Text
The first phase aims to enable students to understand the relationship between design/project/architecture through the analysis and interpretation of case studies assigned by the teaching staff.
The work required in this phase consists of interpretative drawings that highlight the compositional and constructive articulations of public spaces in relation to architectural structures.
Planned activities: seminars with partner lecturers and external guests, field surveys, classroom workshop activities.
Required work: printed book, 1 summary of the work carried out and PowerPoint presentation.
Online review with partner universities.
Assignment 2_ Soil as matter and topography
Focus on the project areas proposed by the various locations for the development of interpretative designs and project hypotheses based on the paradigm of the “earth city”, in the relationships between architecture and soil, architecture and place.
Planned activities: seminars with partner lecturers and external guests, field surveys, classroom workshop activities
Required work: printed book, 2 summaries of the work carried out and presentation
Online review with partner universities
Assignment 3_ The Soil as Measure and Form
The design experimentation of a housing system proposed as a formal city-nature unit.
Planned activities: seminars with partner lecturers and external guests, field surveys, classroom workshop activities.
Required work: printed book, 3 summaries of the work carried out and presentation.
Online review with partner universities.
FINAL PROJECT (groups of 2):
The final phase focuses on the design experimentation of the connecting spaces of a housing system proposed as a formal city-nature unit.
Planned activities: international workshop with teachers and students from partner universities visiting UNIRC.
Required deliverables: 1 printed book with plans, sections, elevations, and a three-dimensional model of the design proposal.
Course Prerequisites
No particular prerequisites are required.
Teaching Methods
1.TYPES OF TRAINING ACTIVITIES
The course consists of lectures and interactive lessons, seminars and days dedicated to in-depth study of theoretical topics and classroom laboratory activities, as well as assessment and review of students' work.
Enrolment must be formalised via the course mailing list (by accessing the personal area with credentials) no later than the second week of lessons and on Teams.
Attendance is compulsory, as per the Course Regulations, and students with less than 70% attendance will not be admitted to the exam.
Lectures (hours/year in the classroom): 30 hours/semester
Practical classes (hours/year in the classroom): 20 hours/semester
Practical activities (hours/year in the classroom): 30 hours/semester
Calendar of training activities with reference to the academic calendar:
Assignment 1_PRECEDENT (group of 4/5):
weeks 1-2-3-4
Planned activities: lectures, seminars, group exercises.
Assignment 2_FOCUS (group of 4/5):
weeks 5-6-7
Planned activities: seminars, field surveys and classroom laboratory activities.
Assignment 3_FINAL PROJECT (group of 2):
weeks 8-9-10-11-12 + final workshop
Planned activities: seminars, classroom laboratory activities, workshops
2.STUDENT SELF-EMPLOYMENT
Specify the methods, content and timing of the work that students will be required to complete independently outside of classroom teaching hours (to complete the hours/credits).
1 credit = 25 hours (10 hours of classroom teaching/15 hours of independent study*)
- In-depth study/study of bibliography (theoretical part) -35
- Preparation for each assignment (project experimentation) - 40
- Exam preparation – 45
Assessment Methods
Learning assessments are planned for each module (Assignment).
These assessments are carried out through compulsory assignments on the dates and in the manner that will be communicated by the teaching staff from time to time (reports, tables, PowerPoint presentations, etc.).
In particular, the following are planned:
Assignment 1
1_ mid-term assessment on lectures and seminars, analysis and interpretation of assigned case studies.
Assignment 2
2_ mid-term assessment on project experimentation
Assignment 3
3 _ Workshop and final assessment – Final Review
Examination procedure: Theory/Practical
Examinations will be conducted as follows:
• Interview on the theoretical topics covered during lectures;
• Presentation and discussion of the work produced during laboratory activities.
The final examination must be taken at the end of the entire training course, including verification of the contents of this programme. It will be taken by candidates individually and will focus on the discussion of both the project proposal developed and the theoretical principles and bibliographical references.
The mark will be based on assessment criteria relating to: attendance; ability to express oneself appropriately and critically rework the various topics; quality and relevance of the proposed project content; graphic quality; presentation and organisation of the work.
Texts
- Amaro O. e Tornatora M., Landscape in Progress: idee e progetti per la Città Metropolitana di Reggio Calabria, Gangemi, Roma 2015.
- Tornatora, M., & Crupi, M. L. (2022). Building the “Earth City”. A vision for the suburbs in Reggio Calabria. TECHNE - Journal of Technology for Architecture and Environment, (24), 85–93. https://doi.org/10.36253/techne-12877
- Koolhaas R., Junkspace. Per un ripensamento radicale dello spazio urbano, Quodlibet, Macerata 2006.
- Samonà G., La città in estensione, Stass, Palermo 1976.
- SLA Architects. Cities of Nature: Designing for a Sustainable Future. SLA, Copenhagen 2016.
- Viganò P., La città porosa. L'architettura del paesaggio per la città contemporanea, Maggioli Editore, Santarcangelo di Romagna 2017.
Contents
1_DESCRIPTION
The Laboratory is aimed at providing students attending the fifth year of the Degree Course in Architecture (LM-4) with an advancement of knowledge on the topics of public space design as an evolutionary discipline, which today requires specific skills to respond to complex problems of sustainability, quality of life and urban resilience.
The concept of "Project of soil" is introduced, understood as an urban device capable of integrating spaces for relationships, mobility, resource management, ecological functions, becoming a strategic platform for regeneration in urban and marginal contexts.
The Laboratory experiments with innovative teaching methods through the MedASA (Mediterranean Advanced School of Architecture) Programme, an international project coordinated by the Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria with the University of Naples Federico II, in partnership with: Polis University (Tirana, Albania), Ss. Cyril and Methodius University - Faculty of Architecture (Skopje, North Macedonia) and the University of Montenegro (Podgorica, Montenegro).
The course activities include:
- Theoretical insights into architecture, contemporary cities and landscape in relation to the areas chosen by the four universities involved in Med_ASA (Reggio Calabria, Tirana, Podgorica, Skopje)
- Design workshop based on significant case studies
- Seminars and workshops with international lecturers.
2_COURSE PROGRAMME
The content will focus on the design implications of the relationship between public space and architecture in marginal areas of the city. We will work on those heterogeneous and interstitial spaces, characterised by discontinuity in the Italian heritage of public housing neighbourhoods—built between the 1960s and 1980s—which today require a new reflection on contemporary living. They are the result of a pervasive city model based on the practice of consumption and “exploitation” of natural areas, which has disseminated buildings lacking in architectural quality and connection with the land, with repercussions on the environment. However, these areas reveal an unexpressed character, a “celibate identity” (Purini 1997) that prompts us to reflect anew on the idea of land design as “writing on the earth”, a relationship between nature, the built environment and agriculture. Here, it becomes more urgent to work on the underlying characteristics, starting from an interpretation of the territorial reality (Gregotti, 1966), down to the most interstitial folds, in search of possible traces of a collective memory where 'the primary reference does not seem to be the usual attention to urban morphology and traditional space, but rather a direct relationship with the forms of the terrestrial landscape' (Bocchi 2010).
This broad and transformative vision identifies the concept of Soil Design as a true ‘expanded field’, which transcends the mere action of topographical modelling or the creation of public spaces in the strict sense, and integrates complex issues such as hydrogeological defence, ecological dimensions – biodiversity, water resource management, climate mitigation – together with social and cultural dimensions. Ultimately, soil is no longer proposed as a mere abstract plane but as a complex and dynamic design medium capable of recomposing parts and fragments of urban indeterminacy, of redefining the relationship between man and the environment with a view to an “earthly city” that overcomes traditional dichotomies but also the misunderstanding of “soil consumption”. Often reduced to purely technical solutions and “functional products”, it risks ignoring a design approach capable of reinterpreting complex contexts, drawing on the Italian tradition of urban studies.
The course will focus on integrating the theoretical and practical aspects underlying the project, divided into modules, each comprising:
- Theoretical lessons on cities, architecture and landscape in relation to new sustainability issues. These lessons will be conducted by the workshop lecturers and international lecturers from the partner universities of the MedASA (Mediterranean Advanced School of Architecture) programme.
- In-depth lessons on the concept of public space with reference to case studies: Reggio Calabria, Italy; Tirana, Albania; Skopje, North Macedonia and Podgorica, Montenegro.
- Study and analysis of the urban and landscape contexts of the areas chosen by the four universities involved in Med_ASA (Reggio Calabria, Tirana, Podgorica, Skopje).
- Design experimentation developed in the form of a workshop through classroom exercises and a final workshop.
- Design experimentation in its scalar, functional and figurative meaning through the forms of drawing as forms of architecture.
- Drafting of a 3,000-characters written text that must address the theoretical issues addressed in the project and its figurative references.
3_EXPECTED RESULTS
Knowledge and understanding
At the end of the course, students should have gained a deep understanding of the theoretical and methodological foundations of architectural and urban design, with a particular focus on the role of architecture in defining contemporary public space. They will need to understand how architectural design addresses current social, environmental and technological challenges, developing spatial ideas that are not only functional but also recompose urban discontinuities, “voids” and fragments.
Applying knowledge and understanding
Students must demonstrate their ability to apply their knowledge and understanding of places by developing appropriate design methodologies. They must also possess the necessary skills to devise and support arguments, solve problems in their field of study, and conceive, design and implement a research process.
Making judgements
Students will be required to demonstrate their ability to integrate knowledge and manage complexity, as well as to formulate judgements based on analyses of locations in relation to in-depth case studies.
Communication skills
Students will need to demonstrate that they can communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions clearly and appropriately.
Learning skills
Students must demonstrate that they have developed the learning skills necessary to undertake further studies with a high degree of autonomy.
More information
Further information will be provided during the academic year via the Teams platform.