Project BSc2-I: Housing

The annual theme of the design studio will be "The Craftsman”, who is the person who pursues for himself and for his own gratification the search for the perfect work done with art, wisdom and knowledge; we will also link the theme to the themes of matter manipulation, tradition and the vernacular. During both semesters we will work in the city of Porto and its surroundings, places where we will meet masters like Alvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura and their work. The first semester we will design a small house with a barrel room in the wine-growing landscape of the Douro, a place in which to explore the interstitial dimension between topography and typology. We will begin the semester with the usual exercise of Redesign and Reconstruction, which, to get closer to the theme and place, will focus on 10 houses by Eduardo Souto de Moura. During the first semester, as usual, we will visit one or more excellent houses in Ticino or Northern Italy.