Project BSc2-II: Housing - Atelier Angonese

After the first semester's project of a small house, the second involves the design of a building for collective dwelling. The first step in this exploration is the redrawing of significant architecture and housing references, usually around thirty, which are added to a catalogue of now more than 260 drawings, an archive that is always available to students who wish to study or explore the themes in greater depth. This well-established practice makes it possible to acquire in a short time the first design tools related to this new theme, such as distributional and structural characteristics, the spatial qualities of flats and vertical connections.
 
As usual, a one-day visit to Milan will be organised, each time leading us to the discovery of extremely close references of Italian housing realised by great architects such as Vico Magistretti, Angelo Mangiarotti, Aldo Rossi, Bruno Morassutti, Asnago&Vender, Luigi Caccia Dominioni, BBPR or Giovanni Muzio, coming into direct contact with the themes of tectonics, façade, ground floor and the urban character of architecture.
 
The project site will be, in contrast to the first semester, in a city. Urban sites will be identified within the built fabric, which will have specific relationships to the conditions of the housing project. The survey of the project site and adjacent buildings will be a fundamental part of the process.
 
The study trip in the second semester will be a deepening of the annual theme. We will tour Great Britain to rediscover architecture and masters, such as James Stirling, in whom the theme of construction, space and light play a key role in defining the character of buildings.
 
The semester is accompanied by lectures exploring topics related to the semester, the site and the type of project in greater depth from time to time.

The objective of the course is to broaden and consolidate architectural knowledge related to the theme of domestic space and to provide the necessary design tools to prepare the student to continue in his or her studies and future professional practice, proposing the methodology of "idea construction" and the tools of "curiosity, passion and self-criticism".

• Sustainable cities and communities
• Responsible consumption and production

The working method of the atelier is based on the "construction of the idea", which means to formulate an idea after a careful process that starts from one's own personal "intuition" and then goes through various moments of cultural, tectonic and interdisciplinary reflection until reaching what can to all intents and purposes be called a true "architectural idea".

From a methodological point of view, the construction of an idea cannot be defined precisely and pragmatically, as it is strongly influenced by subjectivity and by processes that make a systematic or dogmatic approach almost impossible to apply.

Starting from the intuition and through a process of research into the origin and motives of the idea, cultural values must be transmitted, values that are also the object of our teaching.

The tools needed to approach this methodology and that the atelier seeks to transmit to students are 'curiosity, passion and a certain degree of self-criticism'.

Intermediate and final critic with guests.

• Great Britain (London, Aberdeen), 02.03.23 - 06.03.23 (Compulsory)
• Great Britain (London, Aberdeen), 02.03.23 - 06.03.23 (Compulsory)