2024.10
“Void and Matter – Form of a Circumstance”
Exhibition
Milan/Cagliari, IT
Since September 2021, we have been in charge of the Architectural Design Workshop in the undergraduate Architecture Course at Politecnico di Milano, a highly operational workshop that engages future architects and planners for the entire duration of their first academic year. Through their eyes, hands and words*, we relived the excitement of the first experiences in designing space and its form - and got to know the city a little better. We were able to ask ourselves, again: Where do we start? From the full or the from the empty? Does spaces always contain value? Do we benefit from walking with our eyes wide open? And does the hand still hold importance?
The outcome of the workshop was first displayed publicly in an exhibition held in the atrium of Vittorio Viganò's 'Building 11' (Politecnico di Milano) from October 18th to November 16th 2023, curated by Tommaso Brighenti, Claudio Comi, Andrea di Franco and Martina Landsberger. The coursework was presented a second time in the context of the fourth international meeting of INCIPIT LAB, held at the Santa Croce complex in Cagliari, Sardinia, in February 2024, under coordination of the Universities of Palermo and Cagliari (Andrea Sascia and Giovanni Battista Cocco respectively).
We express gratitude to our pupils, peers and collaborators whose time, ingenuity and dedication formed this solid and exciting experience.
A special thank you goes out to Simona Orsina Pierini and Massimo Fortis who believed in us.
Lecturers and Collaborators:
Umberto Maj
Chiara Stanga
Claudio Umberto Comi
Claudio Sangiorgi
Ylenia Rose Testore
Tomas Enrique Davis De Luca
Benedetta Badiali
Mayya Sargsyan
Bianca Magi
Claudio Natalini
Giacomo Gola
Alessandra Brignani
Jacopo Ferrero Granfagna
Roberto Guglielmo Majerna
Silvia Bergamini
Elena Verrico
Philip Kolevsohn
Fabio Figaroli
*"One of Mayya's comments during the presentation of the concept reminded me of this written passage: 'In designing our building we worked more with 'solids' and had little regard for the importance of 'voids'',(Silenzi Eloquenti, C.M. Aria). This hands-on experience allowed me to understand how important the balance between these two elements is, and how difficult it is to achieve."
- Filippo Barbieri, AY 2022/23
Exercise I - From Hat to Hut
The initial part of the workshop included a series of exercises to interpret the formal organisation of space. The starting point was formed by a research series centred around the relationship between man and environment: 'From Hat to Hut'.
(The exercise was inspired by the work of Annette Spiro at ETH Zurich.)
Exercise II - Exempla
The 'Exempla' to be measured, re-designed, interpreted and narrated are chosen from prime architectural works of the contemporary international scene, based on the richness of the spatial relations they establish with their respective context and their ability to form valuable collective spaces.
These 'readings' hold, at their core, interest in the forms and proportions of the composite elements of space. The projects are reinterpreted through typological redesign, graphically emphasising the relationship between the full and the empty, and through physical reproduction in shape of in-scale maquettes.
Excursion: Walking Matters
With a series of excursions titled 'Walking Matters', students were given the opportunity to experience some of the studied architectural works first hand.
Student Housing in NoLo
Throughout the second part of the workshop, the students dedicated themselves to their first experience of designing a complex architecture, addressing the topic of housing with particular reference to its urban and collective forms and organisation. Following the conviction that the project is an instrument of knowledge first, and a tool for the transformation of a reality second, the exercise was placed within the urban context as it was closest and most familiar to the pupils, and could therefore be most easily experienced.
* "And finally, the crypt. A place that, in its simplicity, moved me deeply. Here, the light, delicate and discreet, seems to suspend time. From the images, I perceive an invitation to pause on the wooden bench and ravel in the last moments before the farewell"
- Elisa Artina, AY 2022/23
