• Blended Learning & Flipped Classroom

The aim of the course is the formation of the student's critical awareness on the main topics addressed by contemporary architectural research, with particular attention to the deepening of theoretical and critical contributions, methodologies and techniques of the architectural project. The practice of the project, as a synthesis of multiple knowledge and knowledge, cannot disregard the complexity of theoretical and technical references that, from time to time, generate design paths in which knowledge and shared practices mix with original authorial contributions. The architectural project is then investigated through the analysis of the choices made, the explicit and implicit premises, influences and effects, placing the architect's work, both practical and theoretical, within the network of references, memories and experiments that inspire and support the results. Starting from the tradition of disciplinary knowledge, the course will address themes and forms of the theory of architecture, comparing the most significant contemporary theoretical positions, deepening concepts, paradigms, tools. In line with the objectives of the Master Program, the course aims to carry out an open and comprehensive action to provide the specific skills that, gathered within and at the margins of the disciplinary field, are necessary to provide theoretical and technical practice of architectural design.

According to the Dublin Descriptors (DdD), passing the exam certifies the acquisition of the following results:

DdD 1 knowledge and understanding

- knowledge and understanding of the extension of the problematic areas of contemporary architectural design.

DdD 2 ability to apply knowledge and understanding

-ability to analyze and interpret the contemporary architecture project in relation to the various problem areas.

DdD 3 (autonomy of judgment), 4 (communication skills) and 5 (learning ability)

- ability to communicate the issues of architectural design clearly and with independent judgment (DdD 3 and 4).

Potential Architecture

The work of the architect is conditioned by a number of factors that delimit and demarcate the designer's field of action. These factors may include the compliance with building codes and urban regulations, the characteristics of the site (its topography, its climate, its orientation), the materials and technologies available, construction cost and deadlines, etc.

All of these constraints are not only a fundamental part of the complex problems to be addressed by architects, but they can also be transformed into design opportunities. The course will examine how the recognition and willingness to work with given constraints has often led to unexpected solutions and innovation.

However, the real ambition of this course is to go beyond these given constraints and explore the notion of a Potential Architecture that works with systems of self-imposed constraints specifically elaborated for each project. The thesis that we would like to put forward is that designers can achieve a greater freedom in their work through an apparent limitation of that very freedom. We will ultimately reflect upon how designers make decisions in their practices.

The term "Potential Architecture" directly alludes to the work of the Oulipo (Workshop for Potential Literature), founded by a group of writers and mathematicians in 1960. The first sessions of the course will examine the work of this group and some of its members, including Raymond Queneau, Georges Perec and Italo Calvino. From literature, we will move on to investigate the use of self-imposed constraints in the arts, including painting, sculpture, photography, music, film, etc. The second part of the course will be centred on the use of given and self-imposed constraints in the discipline of architecture. 

Bibliografia

Mathews, Harry; Brotchie, Alastair (ed.), Oulipo Compendium, London, Atlas Press, 1998.

Motte, Warren (ed.), Oulipo. A Primer of Potential Literature, Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, 1986.

Muro, Carles, "Exercises in Style", in: Spellman, Catherine (ed.), Conversations and Allusions: Enric Miralles, Barcelona / New York, Actar, 2019.

OULIPO, Atlas de littérature potentielle, Paris, Gallimard, 1981

Rodari, Gianni, Grammatica della fantasia, Turín, Einaudi, 1973 [English edition: The Grammar of Fantasy, New York, The Teachers and Writers Collaborative, 1996].

Stravinsky, Igor, Poétique musicale sous forme de six leçons, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1942 [English edition: Poetics of Music in the Form of Six Lessons, New York, Vintage Books, 1947]

Truffaut, François, Le Cinéma selon Hitchcock, Paris, Robert Laffont, 1966 [English edition: Hitchcock, New York, Simon and Schuster, 1967].

The course will be assessed in three different ways. Each student will be asked to give a short public presentation on a topic realated to the course content at mid-semester. In principle, this presentation should be case-based and the approach can be discussed in anticipation with the course Professor. The course intends to generate discussion and debate at the end of each session. In that sense, class participation will be a part of the overall assessment. Finally, a paper of 1.500 words, discussing a specific aspect of the theoretical framework of the course should be delivered at the end of the year.

Each of these forms of evaluation will have a different weight on the final grade:

Class participation: 20%

Mid-term oral presentation: 30%

Final paper: 50%

Students who are not attending the course will be asked to write a paper of 3.000 words discussing both a case that exemplifies the issue discussed in the course and a specific aspect of the theoretical framework of the course.