Università Roma Tre

Course goal is to initiate students into a first complete design experience focusing on individual dwelling in an isolated context. The theme of the house, next to the direct experience of each individual, is considered the most suitable to enable the student of the first year to get closer to the world as an actor, managing to capture the essence and deeper meanings that substantiate the 'act of building a space of life and interpersonal relationships. A theme apparently simple, if only for the size and the articulation of the spaces, in which, however, manifests itself, without any type of reduction, the entire conceptual complexity, typical technical and methodological of any architectural project. Familiarity with the theme will help the development of a proper sensitivity to the central and foundational issues of the discipline: the size of the rooms in relation to man and his needs, the relationship that develops between the parts and the whole, the relationship between form and structure of form and material, space and light, the dialectic between inside and outside and the body's dialogue with the natural and cultural environment in which it is dropped.
PREREQUISITES
The placement in the first year requires no special requirements.
CONTENTS
The Laboratory of Architectural Design I is the first step of a long and complex training needs of the times and the right gradually righteous; this is ensured by the annual development of the course and its distinction in two distinct parts. The first half, through targeted exercises and theoretical lessons, will be aimed, on the one hand, the acquisition by the student part of the critical tools to understand the complexity of the product architecture and articulation of the thought behind any artifact, from ' other, the development of operational methodologies needed to address the theme of the year and to translate the architectural idea into a completed product and communicable. The second semester will be devoted to the conduct of the project and, of course, to the enrichment of the reference cultural background on the issues consistent with the exercise required.
TEACHING METHOD
In the belief that there is no single path towards the architectural project, it will attempt to provide more points of view, urging the students to experiment with different approaches. The teaching method is "Socratic", pointing through doing and thinking, to bring out the student's own identity as an architect.

The texts will be provided during the course

In the second semester, the engagement is 100 hours and addresses the design theme of a residence for five artists, which proposes a specific dwelling for this small temporary community, the period in the residence is six months. The project area is an agricultural land in the upper Lazio, near the small village of Chia in the province of Viterbo, near some important historic and natural presences. The aim is to create a storytelling and references around the project theme so that the student can elaborate a specific proposal as a result of his suggestions rather than a neutral and impersonal solution. This is in the belief that learning is greater if accompanied by a personal and interpretative working idea.

The contents of the course are proposed and verified through frontal lessons, exercises, educational visits, individual and collective reviews. The final exam evaluation takes into account all the activities of the student during the year, the quality of the final project is obviously crucial in the award of the vote itself. All work is done by hand, it is not allowed to use C.a.d.

The educational sequence is based on a method of teaching the architectural composition based on the following steps:

- Elaboration of an "architectural concept" using a model, inspired by a relative lesson in which architectural concepts at the base of illustrious works in the field of architecture and contemporary art are showed and explained.

- Proposing a "way of living" through an image, an author's photograph or a work of art that clearly expresses this content.

- Elaboration of a "settlement principle" that is aware of typological choices related to the residential theme, in strong symbiosis with the context in which the project is elaborated, thus making clear choices in relation to the soil and to the other natural elements of the place.

- A conscious choice of a "constructive system" in relation to the previous elaborations, with particular attention to the role of the structural system to be adopted: masonry or system of linear elements, and its relation to non-bearing elements, such as internal infill panels and partitions. This passage also defines the materials the project is equipped with and with which the language of architecture is defined.

- Elaboration of a "correct representation" of the project in orthogonal projections, consistent with canonical graphic codes but also with the design choices adopted.

Bibliografia generale

G. Fanelli, R. Gargiani, Il principio del rivestimento, Bari, 1994
L. Mies Van Der Rohe, Gli scritti e le parole, Milano 2010
F. Venezia, Che cos’è l’architettura, Milano, 2011
J. Utzon, Idee di architettura. Scritti e conversazioni, Milano 2011
P. Zumthor, Pensare Architettura, Milano 2003
P. Zumthor, Atmosfere. Ambienti architettonici. Le cose che ci circondano, Milano, 2007
K. Frampton, Tettonica e architettura. Milano, 2000
B. Rudofsky, Architecture without architects, a short introduction to non-pedigreed architecture, New York, 1964,
H. Hertzberger, Lessons for students in architecture, Rotterdam, 1991
L. Quaroni, Progettare un edificio, otto lezioni di architettura, Roma 1977
Le Corbusier, Verso un architettura, Milano 1973

Manuali

A. Desplazes, Constructing architecture, materials processes structures, a handbook, Basel, 2005
E. Neufert, Enciclopedia pratica per progettare e costruire,
F. Cellini, Manualetto, Norme tecniche, costruttive e grafiche per lo svolgimento di una esercitazione progettuale sul tema della casa unifamiliare, Palermo, 1991
A.Zimmermann, Constructing landscape : materials, techniques, structural components Basel, 2011

The second semester is devoted to the development of the design theme, a small single-family house in a unbuilt lot.
The design theme will be developed from an idea that possibly includes, from the outset, a thought – although embryonic - on the constructive, spatial and figurative aspects. In fact, all design issues will be dealt simultaneously and not in separate phases, so as to arrive at an organic unit of the components of architecture (synthesized by the vitruvian triad firmitas, utilitas and venustas).

Francesco Cellini, Manualetto. Norme tecniche, costruttive e grafiche per lo svolgimento di una esercitazione progettuale sul tema della casa unifamiliare, Cittàstudi, Milano 1998