Architectural Design Studio 1 

The studio is oriented towards architectural design at different intervention scales and it is focused on the spatial, typological and infrastructural aspects of urban phenomena. The architectural design is developed in different phases related to the description, interpretation and transformation of contemporary contexts, proposing design as a dynamic process aimed at providing appropriate solutions to complex problems, especially in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). On the one hand, it divides theoretical and methodological aspects, concerning the problems and techniques of contemporary design and the transformation of the environment, on the other hand into application and experimental aspects, aimed at controlling typological and spatial characteristics, as well as structural and constructive problems. The aim of the teaching is the elaboration of tool for the design practice, defining principles, criteria and strategies for the modification the contemporary settlements in their relationships with the land, the environment and the landscape. The complexity of this kind of decisions calls for an evaluation framework able to integrate information on effects and impacts of the design alternatives under investigation, with values and preferences of stakeholders. Multicriteria analysis (MCA) offers such a framework and it is increasingly used in combination with several evaluation techniques. Given these premises, the goal of the course Multicriteria Analysis and Project Appraisal is to provide students with theoretical principles and methodologies for projects sustainability (economic, social and environmental) evaluation. 

Urban and Environmental Design Studio 

Today, planning for climate-change related events and social transitions is a pressing action. As such, major environmental and economic challenges require new models for the built environment that are adaptable and responsive to change. Given the need for cities to both accommodate anthropic needs and non-human life, while reducing our impact on the planet; an integrative and systemic approach to planning and delivering new, greener urban environments is required. Current understanding of cities as significant loci for the integration of ecological and socio-cultural systems points to the importance of urban form in supporting or hindering such relationship. In order to avoid potential risk of misunderstanding and underestimating the role of farming practices in peri-urban and rural landscapes dynamics, which could lead to ineffective management decisions regarding these landscapes, the Design studio offers an effective interdisciplinary approach that includes agronomic and environmental knowledge and tools. The Studio proposes an approach to planning peri-urban areas, endorsing the reason of the open and agricultural spaces, taking into account the relevance of the multifunctional agriculture in peri-urban areas, due to the societal and lifestyle transitions in these areas. Design studio offers also a different view of agricultural landscapes planning.  Grappling with the urban and rural in non-dualistic ways, the Design studio offers analytical and design tools to dealing with hybrid forms of landscapes characterizing the peri-urban fringes, re-defining the peri-urban agriculture and its functions as a producer of goods and services for the citizens. 

Urban and Landscape Regeneration Studio 

The studio promotes environmental awareness, analytical capability and design skills for regeneration projects, where heritage and landscape protection values are predominant, within the general assumption that making the best possible use of existing resources represents a fundamental strategy for sustainability in all building activities. The Studio assumes the built environment as the specific ecological system of the human species. It offers a robust approach to sustainable design and construction in architecture, at different scales (peri-urban environment and building) focusing on the comfort, safety and well-being of people in open spaces, the reduction of energy consumption, the provision and improvement of urban blue and green infrastructures. The integrated teaching modules of Environmental Technology, General Ecology and Landscape as Heritage will jointly develop crucial issues in conservation and sustainability, focusing on their mutual relation in approaching historical sites and offering specific tools for environmental design. 

The Studio offers a robust sustainability approach to design and construction, promoting a vision away from a carbon-based globalized economy, which damages our ecosystem (desertification, forest depletion, water and air pollution, destruction of agricultural land and cultural and material heritage). The proposed approach favours a circular, locally rooted economy based on renewable energy and sensible use of social, cultural and material resources.The educational program is closely linked to several of the UN SDGs. The primary reference is Goal 11 – Sustainable cities and communities, with specific foci on inclusive and sustainable green public spaces, protection and safeguard of cultural and natural heritage, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, public transport and pedestrian safety for all, run-off water control. It also explores the urban design implications of G 9 – Infrastructure, industrialization, G12 – Sustainable consumption and production, and G 13 – Climate Action.  

Landscape Design Studio  

The studio aims at building an understanding of landscapes as both physical spaces and as cultural media and constructions that sit at the nexus between art and science and that contribute knowledge about humankind’s relationship with non-human nature. The Landscape Design studio takes on design problems where soil, terrain, geology, mineral resources, climate, water, plants, wildlife, and living systems interactions are major drivers. Studio projects explore one or more of these dimensions in depth to reach high levels of design exploration, strategic thinking, technical resolution and physical expression. The studio’s topics intersect with a broader universe of practical concerns, including land use, local and regional economies, real estate development and public policy, as well as theoretical and artistic questions about nature and ecology. The intent is that designed make new connections between the material of landscape and the economic, infrastructural, scientific, social, cultural and creative attributes of a site. The studio explores also relevant topics in ecological design and new technologies as they relate to contemporary landscape architecture: ecology, sustainability, habitat restoration, hydrology, green roof and green architecture technology, soil technology, and other techniques pertinent to the construction of ecologically dynamic, functioning landscapes. 

Architectural Design Studio 2 

In the Studio, in which Architectural Design is integrated with Landscape Aesthetic, the students are asked to prepare a complex and innovative project through the tools of architecture and urban design, having mastered the feasibility of the project. In the Studio the student experiments in-depth study of topics related to innovative and advanced research issues in the specific disciplinary area of reference, reflecting about paradigms, problems and techniques of advanced design in relationship with the environmental transformation. Special attention will be given to the formal structure of the landscape and the elements that compose it, recognizing in geographical conditions and topographical, in environmental diversity and in historical pre-existences, the characters that guarantee the sustainability of transformations. Particular attention is given to infrastructures, public spaces, and disused areas degraded and to the design of open spaces in general. The landscape aesthetics course aims to investigate the problematic relationship between the use of the natural landscape and human activity. The course is divided into three parts. In the first part a series of basic tools of modern aesthetics are provided, such as the discussion on the concept of beauty and the relationship between beauty and nature. In the second part, these tools are made to interact with the problems of the twentieth century related to the human exploitation of nature. In the third part, students will be encouraged to propose personal solutions for the aesthetic use of nature. The main issues that will be addressed are the aesthetics of nature, landart and landscape modification. The exam consists of the presentation of a project developed in groups, which combines images and text, presenting a path of landscape aesthetics. 

Program of courses