Spatial investigations: the limits of design

The course’s object is the research on the procedure of architectural design and the investigation of its origins and its limits.

The course will attempt to connect architectural design, as a deep, creative procedure with the broad fields of innovation, the study of structures (biological, technological, etc.), the scientific observation (microscopic, molecular, macroscopic, etc.), as well as other scientific and creative fields, using advanced technologies for digital design and spatial representation.

The aim of this course is to understand the dynamics of space and its qualities, the challenging of established building schemes, the experimental process of complex and sometimes unexpected alternative functional programs. The purpose is the final proposal of innovative spatial situations, through comprehensive, synthetic architectural narratives.

Particular emphasis is placed on encouraging the development of personal design vocabularies, portraying flexibility and resourcefulness in responding to complex spatial requirements. Students will be challenged to a continuous processing of their design proposal through the use of three-dimensional spatial representational tools, digital or physical (model), which may be conceptual, diagrammatic and not necessarily representational.

As part of the course, a workshop on experimental architectural design will be potentially organized.