Programme

The form of collective life

Being one of the most significant elements of the city, housing plays a fundamental role as the backbone of the city. Housing is a system of elements that decisively contributes to the definition of the urban quality and to the organization of the public spaces. By carefully observing the character of this urban structure we can identify the very nature of the city: the political, economic and social aspects that shaped it throughout time.

The aim of the course is to investigate and evaluate the ways in which today architecture allows us to live together. How can we be together within a residential building? How can we give form to our intimacy and at the same time share moments of our everyday life? To answer these questions one has to interrogate the relationships that these buildings produce between the city and its inhabitants, or more generally, with the surrounding urban space.

Recent cultural, social, economic and technological transformations are modifying the very structure of our everyday life, our rituals, and consequently the way in which we inhabit the public and private space. This changes demand a profound rethinking of the domestic space

The form and the organization of housing can be read as a device that relates with:

- the public sphere, by intervening directly on the form of the city and participating to the construction its ‘image’.
- the private sphere, by defining the nature of the domestic space, of the life taking place in the interior.

The building is thus understood as a device that can create a relationship between the city and the room, between the public and private spheres of our everyday life.

Core Documentation

- Modernità debole e diffusa. Il mondo progetto all'inizio del XXI secolo, Andrea Branzi, (Skira: Milan) 2006.
- Graphic Anatomy Atelier Bow-Wow, Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, Momoyo Kaijima (Eds.), (TOTO Shuppan: Tokyo) 2007.
- Real Estate Architecture#1. The Apartment Building, Benoît Burquel, Thaïs de Roquemaurel, Martin Dumont, Guillaume Joachim (Eds.), (REA ASBL/VZW: Brussels) 2018.
- Typology. Hong Kong, Rome, New York, Buenos Aires, Emanuel Christ, Victoria Easton, Christoph Gantenbein (Eds.), (ETH Zurich/Park Books: Zurich) 2012.
- Lacaton&Vassal, Anne Lacaton, Jean-Philippe Vassal (Eds.), (Cité de l'architecture&du patrimoine/Hyx publisher: Paris) 2009.
- Housing Differentiation, Lotus 132, Milan 2008.
- Jean Nouvel. Elementi di architettura, Conway Lloyd Morgan, (Rizzoli International Publications: Milan) 1998.
- Jean Nouvel. Una lezione in Italia. Architettura e design 1976-1995, Giampiero Bosoni, Simonetta Venosta (Eds.), (Skira: Milan) 1996.
- Model Apartments. Experimental domestic cells, Gustau Gili Galfetti, (Editorial Gustavo Gili: Barcelona) 1997.
- Urban Transformation, Ilka & Andreas Ruby (Eds.), (Ruby Press: Berlin) 2008.
- Re-cycle. Strategie per l'architettura, la citta e il pianeta, Pippo Ciorra, Sara Marini (Eds.), (Electa: Milan) 2011.
- Osservatorio Nomade. Immaginare Corviale. Pratiche ed estetiche per la città contemporanea, Flaminia Gennari Santori , Bartolomeo Pietromarchi (Eds.), (Bruno Mondadori: Milan) 2006.
- Density projects. 36 new concepts on collective housing, Fernàndez Per, Javier Arpa, (a+t Density series: Vitoria-Gasteiz) 2007.
- Plus. Large scale housing developments. An exceptional case, Fréderic Druot, Anne Lacaton & Jean-Philippe Vassal (Eds.), (Editorial Gustavo Gili: Barcelona) 2007.
- Dogma + Realism Working Group Communal Villa. Production and Reproduction in Artists' Housing, Dogma, Martin Hager, Christian Hiller, Nikolaus Hirsch, Realism Working Group (Eds.), (Spector Books: Leipzig) 2015.
- Hannes Meyer. Co-op Interieur, Artistide Antonas, Pier Vittorio Aureli, Raquel Franklin (Eds.), (Spector Books: Leipzig) 2015.
- La Casa Calda. Esperienze del Nuovo Design Italiano, Andrea Branzi, (Idea Books: Milan) 1984.
- The Co-op Principle. Hannes Meyer and the Concept of Collective Design, Raquel Franklin, Werner Moller, Tim Leik (Eds.), (Spector Books: Dessau) 2015.
- Interior Tales, Francisco Sanin, Davide Sacconi (Eds.), (Black Square: Milan) 2015.
- Bow-Wow from Post Bubble City, Atelier Bow-Wow (Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, Momoyo Kaijima), (INAX Publishing: Japan) 2006.
- Made in Tokyo, Momoyo Kaijima, Junzo Kuroda, Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, (Kajima Institute Publishing Co.: Japan) 2008.
- L'Italia cerca casa, Francesco Garofalo (Ed.), (Electa: Milan) 2008.
- Reduce Reuse Recycle. Ressource Architektur, Muck Petzet, Florian Heilmeyer, (Hatje Cantz Verlag: Ostfildern) 2012.
- Home Economics. Five new models for domestic life, Shumi Bose, Jack Self, Finn Williams (Eds.), (The Spaces: Venice) 2016.
- Topologies. The Urban Utopia in France, 1960-1970, Larry Busbea, (The Mit Press: Cambridge) 2007.
- Housing Design. A Manual, Bernars Leupen, Harald Mooij, (Nai Publishers: Rotterdam) 2011.
- Floor Plan Manual. Housing, Friederike Schneider (Ed.), (Birkhäuser: Basel) 2004.
- Typology+. Innovative Residential Architecture, Peter Ebner, Eva Herrmann, Roman Holbacher, Markus Kuntscher, Urlike Wietzorre, (Birkhäuser: Basel) 2010.

Type of delivery of the course

Course structure During the semester, students will be asked to analise and discuss a series of examples of collective housing, among the most interesting and innovative proposals offered by the international architectural panorama. The time span of the selection is comprised between the 1980s and today, in a sort of compilation of post-modern living. This very heterogeneous list of case studies allows comparing different cultures and their relationship with the idea of domestic life and city development. The course is organised in three main parts, which correspond to the production of three different drawings. The drawing is not just an instrument of representation but rather a tool for analysis and in-depth study, through which the students have to produce a series of reflections and investigations. The list of selected examples taken will be thoroughly unpacked through a series of analytical drawings, in order to unveil the fundamental intentions of the project, its ambitions and the outcomes, its successes and failures. These drawings will also be used as a tool to compare the various examples, allowing in-depth discussion of each case study in relationships with between the other design strategies. These discussions aim to understand how these architectures relate to the city and how they define the domestic space. Exercises The course is organised in three exercises each focusing a theme: the urban context, the interior space, the home. - In the first exercise the students will draw an axonometric projection of the project in its urban or natural context. - In the second exercise the students will draw a perspective section of the building as a description of its interior life. - In the third exercise the students will draw a perspective plan-section of a specific part of the building related with the housing typology. The drawings will be produced following specific graphic guidelines and formats common to all the students, in order to build a common language of the course that would facilitate the comparison between the various case studies during the various discussions and presentations. Each case study will be assigned to a student, or group of students, in order to be analysed and studied through the three exercises. By the end of the course each student will collect the set of drawings in a booklet, a sort of archive where the work produced during the course will be curated and organised. To facilitate the production of the booklet/archive, each drawing will be elaborated following the standard module of an A4 size sheet. Seminars Three seminars, corresponding to the presentation of the three exercises produced in the course, will take place during the semester. In the seminars the students will present one printed drawing as the final result of the exercise. The seminar is an important moment of discussion between the students, where the drawings will be compared and the themes further debated. The three seminars are organized as follows: - The city: the street and the building - The structure: the interior space and the everyday life - The house: the corridor and the room In the case of an extension of the health emergency from COVID-19, all the provisions that regulate the methods of carrying out the teaching activities and student assessment will be implemented.

Attendance

compulsory attendance for 75% of the course

Type of evaluation

Evaluation criteria The student will be evaluated on the basis of the work elaborated for the 3 exercises, with particular focus on the capability to analyse and discuss the themes proposed by the course and on the quality of the drawings. The three presentations during the seminars are the crucial moments in which the students will be asked to show their work and discuss their ideas. The evaluation criteria are: - active participation in the course and in the collective discussions - depth and quality of the building analysis in relationships with the course themes - accuracy and precision of the drawings Info COVID-19 In the case of an extension of the COVID-19 health emergency, all provisions governing the teaching activities and the student evaluation will be implemented. In particular, the following modes will be applied: the tutorials, the presentation seminars will be organized on web platforms.