COMPOSIZIONE ARCHITETTONICA E URBANA. PER UN QUADRO DELLA RICERCA A REGGIO CALABRIA

When in 1967 in Reggio Calabria is founded the Iusa (University Institute of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture since 1982), Ludovico Quaroni, as chairman of the Technical Committee, influences cultural attitudes of the new university of Calabria, pointing out the “città-territorio” and the town design as the main areas of research and design. But twenty years after the Quaroni's studies on the territory of Reggio C. - Villa S. Giovanni, the plan by Balbo, Busca, Cervellini, Vendittelli, for the Campus (1989) must put in order a lot of university buildings no connected with the city and with the territory.
The design theories, developed by Quaroni, in Reggio Calabria point out the defeat of the urbanism, used as a tool for emergency planning which attempts to repair the damages of the territory, but also the architecture is defeated, because it does not cause any change for the better in the urban context. The Quaroni's cultural heritage concerns us, but we must take note of his nature "complex and contradictory" (Portoghesi): to make the 'contradiction' a wealth of research, bringing order to the 'complexity', which could become inextricable.
In the Eighties develops in the “Icar 14” (Architectural Design) a lively debate in the Faculty for the presence of personalities very marked in the field of cultural and stylistic research: Accasto e Fabiano, Renato and Sergio Bollati, Franco Purini, Giuseppe Rebecchini, Zagari and Donin, Anselmi, D'Amato, Pierluisi, Thermes. However, the creativity of that decade brings the counterweight of the incoherence of the scientific programs, which seems to prolong the contradictions and complexity of the research of Ludovico Quaroni in the Architectural Design.
A significant breakthrough in the research programs of the “Icar 14” is given by the theme of the restoration of the southern landscape, proposed by Laura Thermes as director of the Department Dastec, from 1999 to 2005, and developed with studies and projects for the two sides of the Strait of Messina
For the Calabrian side was conducted the POP research (Operative Multi-fund Programme): "The redevelopment of the urban settlements of Calabria through the design of public facilities" (1998-2001); in this research, Laura Thermes coordinates two teams to study the possible transformations in Reggio Calabria: the planning of shopping centres and commercial facilities alongside the Calopinace stream and alongside the Sant'Agata stream (team: Neri-Morabito-Partenope-Simone-Thermes), the planning of cultural facilities alongside the Annunziata stream (team: Arcidiacono-Caminiti-Cardullo-Lo Curzio-Marino). Arcidiacono in 2002 coordinates the PRIT Research (Territorial Programme): "Architecture and environmental project in Calabria"; and designs a forum for sport and recreation to connect the university campus arranged on the Feodivito hill with the Annunziata stream in Reggio Calabria, proposing an abacus of typological models, in paper "Streams as cultural resources of Calabrian cities", presented at the Polytechnic of Bari in the International Conference "Landscapes of water"; the research shows that alongside the Annunziata stream the contemporary city can regain the ancient classical Mediterranean scenario of forums, gymnasia, spas performing many interrelated functions, because the multiplicity of the diverse elements characterizing the site could facilitate the symbiosis between nature and architecture, sport and culture.
Laura Thermes amplifies the research on the streams from Reggio to the whole of Calabria, and connects with the research "The project of the southern city" (Ph.D. programme in Architectural Design, by her managed since 1999). The Research team Neri-Thermes studies also the landscape of Calabria in re