Project BSc2-I: Housing - Atelier Juaçaba

In the essay by Lucilla Barchetta, "Walking with Plants," the author reflects on how “marginal urban areas can offer a mean to build a collaborative laboratory of environmental change, in that it represents a transformative practice of engaging with the elusiveness that characterizes the processes of ruination in urban settlements, that cause places to experience neglect or destruction.” 
The Atelier will work on waterscapes as borders between center and suburbs, urban and agricultural fields, formal and informal, in the peri-urban area of Turin, along the rivers that characterize the city, where the city meets the water and natural ecosystems, reflecting on how architecture for living can be integrated into the landscape, adapting to the environment. A fil rouge between the first semester and the second semester will be water, and we will explore the territories by walking and riding along the Po and its tributaries.

Declinate the reflection on domestic living, both individual and collective, with great attention to the context with which it relates.
Investigate the potential of undefined spaces for living, free to change and adapt to human needs, in a respectful coexistence with the context.
Work on transitional spaces and left over spaces, reflecting on the importance of leaving the space free and flexible for the users and for the entire community of interest.
Giving care to public and semipublic spaces in every step of the design process, for both semester.
 

In presence

Weekly reviews with professor and assistants. Group and individual research will alternate during the process. The atelier supports independent research through weekly feedbacks. Self-organisation, communication and agency are seen as important skills and the students are given autonomy and responsibility in coordinating their individual and collective participation in the atelier. 

Drawings and models hand-in. Constant presence during the semester. Final presentations and reviews.