Project I: Atelier Sergison

This semester, for the first time, we will be working on housing projects in Kyoto, Japan, within the framework of an exchange between the KYOTO Design Lab/Kyoto Institute of Technology and the Academy of Architecture, Mendrisio. Students from each architecture school will work in pair with students from the other. We will spend the first four weeks of the semester in Kyoto and the remainder in Mendrisio. 
The focus of our work will be housing and we will endeavour to find solutions to the needs of contemporary Japanese society. Specifically, we have selected 12 neighbourhoods that we will study in detail and we hope that realistic proposals will emerge from an extensive process of survey. 
While in Japan, we will visit exemplars of Japanese housing, and our work will be supported experts who will offer their insight into the issues we will be addressing. 

Working in pairs students are invited to develop comprehensive design proposals for one of several sites in Kyoto, creating a coherent urban strategy which will then be tested and refined at a larger scale. A study trip to Japan is planned in the first weeks of the semester and students are asked to survey a neighbourhood in Kyoto. This will take the form of a short film. They will then photograph the site and draw it precisely at an appropriate scale. Most of the semester will be devoted to developing proposals for a housing project for a site in Kyoto. 

In presence

Surveys will be one of the key tools for developing projects using references as a conceptual basis for proposals, as part of a working method that emphasises learning from existing buildings and relies on interpretation and adjustment to produce a convincing project. 

Throughout the semester lectures will be offered on relevant topics and themes to inform your work. 

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• Kyoto and Karuizawa, 06.10.23 - 10.10.23 (Compulsory)