ARCHITECTURE AND ARCHITECTURAL COMPOSITION II AND LAB

Module ARCHITECTURE AND ARCHITECTURAL COMPOSITION II

The course aims, after clarifying that in architecture today there are no valid recipes for any place, at spurring toward an aptitude to the architectural design trying to enhance the sensitivity to all those aspects of everyday life that may have design repercussions. It also aims to make students aware toward the environment and therefore to use of all the necessary tools for sustainable design. Last but not least, it tries to draw a path to awareness of the responsibilities of the designer.

The course consists of two modules (Architecture and architectural composition II and Laboratory Architecture and architectural composition II) that are completed in a single program that is being described here and that is therefore reported without variations in both modules.

The course is carried out through theoretical lectures (which are detailed in the section dedicated to the contents of the course) and architectural design exercises. The theoretical lessons support the exercises.
The design process will take place specially during the design lab hours in the form of a workshop-competition, so that we can always compare with the teaching staff and with the external contributions involved from time to time. The project exercises are individual and team. The work must be completed on time to the deadlines set and discussed publicly in the classroom. The architectural design exercises have test value in itinere useful for carrying out the final exams. All the design work carried out during the classroom design lab hours will be compose in A1 format, whose graphic design will be evaluated. The design documents will be delivered at the time of the examination.
The scale of the project may vary from that of the landscape to that of the object and, in any case, the architectural design exercise must be represented with: concepts; models; technical drawings; virtual representations.

The course deals with the theme of the sense of contemporary dwelling in the Heideggerian meaning. Dwelling therefore studied through the observation of all aspects of contemporary life related to the new needs of society in economic, environmental, social, technological, anthropological, cultural, aesthetic and ethical terms. Issues that are declined in the following contents of the course: the sense of dwelling (from home to objects); ethics and architecture; aesthetics and architecture; ethics and aesthetics; hints of industrial design; public space.

The complexity of the architectural project is the theme that, consequently, is faced during the theoretical lessons, which are structured and argued as follows:

• For the understanding of architecture and in particular of contemporary architecture (the topics addressed are of an instrumental and theoretical nature;
• Monographs on the work of the masters of contemporary architecture;
• Movies;
• Interventions by external guests (the contribution of designers or other professional figures and / or testimonies that can enrich students' cultural baggage is hosted in the seminars of the course);
• External visits and conferences;
• In-depth themes chosen by the students of the course (at the beginning of the course, immediately after the presentation of the program and contents, students are asked to suggest a topic of their particular interest, not included in the program, which they want to be addressed with a specific lesson)

Essential bibliography:

1. D’Urso S., Le forme della memoria. Artifici mnemotecnici nella progettazione dello spazio pubblico, Malcor D’, Catania 2018.
2. D’Urso S. (a cura di), I confini del progettare. Seminari sull’architettura l’uomo e la bellezza, LetteredaQALAT, Caltagirone 2015.
3. Cassarà L., D’Urso S., Goodbye Topolinia. Su architettura e fumetto, Malcor D’, Catania 2013.
4. D’Urso S., Il senso dell’abitare contemporaneo. La casa unifamiliare, Maggioli, Rimini 2009.

Complementary reading:

To dream

1. Abbott Edwin A., Flatlandia. Racconto fantastico a più dimensioni, Adelphi, Milano 1993;
2. Calvino I., Le città invisibili, Mondadori, Milano 1996;
3. Tanizaki J., Libro d'ombra, Bompiani, Milano 2000;
4. Mazzucchelli D., Asterios Polyp, Coconino press, Bologna 2009;

To deepen

1. Celeschi I., Sull’architettura spontanea nell’hinterland etneo, LetteredaQALAT, Caltagirone 2017.
2. D’Urso S., Miccione D. (a cura di), Singolarità e formularità. Saggi per una teoria generale dello stile, Ipocpress, Milano 2011;
3. Piñón H., Teoria del progetto, Maggioli, Rimini 2009;
4. Zanini P., Significati del confine. I limiti naturali, storici, mentali, Mondadori, Milano 1997;
5. Clément G., Il giardiniere planetario, 22 publishing, Milano 2008;
6. Clément G., Manifesto del Terzo paesaggio, Quodlibet, Macerata 2005;
7. Dell’Osso R., Spazi pubblici contemporanei, Maggioli, Rimini 2015;
8. Forzese E., Architettura terza. Forme e visioni del paesaggio tecnologico, Malcor D’, Catania 2014.

To avoid making mistakes

1. La Cecla F., Contro l’architettura, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino 2008;
2. Wolfe T., Maledetti architetti. Dal Bauhaus a casa nostra, Bompiani, Milano 1988;
3. Clemente M., Gli architetti ... Dovrebbero ammazzarli da piccoli! Guida pratica alla ristrutturazione della casa senza prendersi l’ulcera, Robin, Roma 2006;
4. Silber J., Architetture dell’assurdo. Come il «genio» ha tradito un’arte al servizio della comunità, Lindau, Torino 2009;
5. Ross A., Celebration. La città perfetta. L’utopia urbanistica finanziata dalla Disney, Arcana, Roma 2001;
6. Chamoiseau P., Texaco, Einaudi, Torino 1994.

To refer

1. Koolhaas R., Mau B., S,M,L,XL, The Monacelli Press, New York 1995;
2. Holl S., Parallax. Architettura e percezione, Postmedia, Milano 2004;
3. Piano R., La responsabilità dell’architetto, Passigli, Firenze 2007;
4. Tschumi B., Red is not a color. Architecture concepts, Rizzoli, New York 2012;
5. Zumthor P., Pensare architettura, Mondadori Electa, Milano 2003;
6. Zumthor P., Atmosfere. Ambienti architettonici. Le cose che ci circondano, Mondadori Electa, Milano 2007;
7. Ingels B., Yes is more. Un archifumetto sull’evoluzione dell’architettura, Taschen, Köln 2011.