Architecture

This course examines the relationship between the behavior of materials, its nature and the fabrication process. It covers the theoretical and practical knowledge of chemistry, physics, mechanical and technological properties of materials most used in construction. Topics include the knowledge of properties and characteristics of materials, the right way materials must be used, how to preserve these materials, and the constructions where they have been used, develop the right criteria in order to a proper selection of materials, and the technical legislation dealing with these materials.

In this course, students gain the knowledge and the abilities needed for solving more difficult constructive solutions. Topics include the constructive invariants needed for developing constructive solutions with a higher complexity level, the common singular sections for the different constructive techniques considered out from the basic construction, and constructive solutions by using the current building regulations. The course includes a strong design approach and at the conclusion of the course, students design a building from the construction point of view. The course requires background knowledge in basic constructive systems, constructive materials, and technology. 

This course examines the technological properties and behavior models of concrete, steel rebars and steel tendons, both individually and globally, to resist mechanical and chemical actions. Students learn to understand and apply the European standard (EUROCODE 2, EN-1992) for the design and construction of reinforced and prestressed concrete structures. Additional topics include the different structural analysis methods for concrete structures according to European standard, competence in the project, design construction and maintenance of reinforced concrete structures of moderate complexity, and the behavior and design of statically determinate prestressed concrete members with pre-tensioned tendons, and of the materials and construction systems involved. This course requires students to have prerequisites and background knowledge.

This course covers the overall product design process and context, addressing general concepts of design history and methodology and the fundamentals of user-centric design and sustainability. The class requires a basic design product as a final project. No prior knowledge of design is required. 

The course covers the following topics: 

• Products and their artificial environment: functional history of the industrial product; linking design project with small and medium-sized enterprises, crafts, artisanal communities, production lines, and their role in added value.
• Design Process: methods and their scope; User-Centered Design (UCD); sustainability
• The Language of Form: Form, function and manufacturing; form, function, and expression; 2D Idea Development
• Value Proposition and Validation
• Comprehensive Product Communication

Taught by numerous site visits to historic buildings alongside lectures and seminars, this course introduces students to the study of architecture by exploring buildings in the London area from the start of the 17th century to the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837. During the course, students witness London burn to the ground, be comprehensively rebuilt, and then expand from a small European capital into the largest city in the world. Along the way, students encounter a wide variety of buildings including cathedrals, palaces, churches, synagogues, breweries, shops, and hospitals. Students acquire skills in looking at, reading, and understanding buildings and become adept at using them as historical evidence. Students also learn how to relate architecture to its social, political, and intellectual context, and develop insights into the ways that buildings may carry and convey meaning, whether to an expert or to a more general audience. No prior knowledge of architecture or architectural history is required to undertake the module. When timetabling, allow yourself an hour's travel time either side of the class for site visits.

This course provides an introduction to and vocabulary for medieval architecture: from the paleochristian to the roman era. It covers Roman architecture; materials and techniques of construction; architectural orders, style and vocabulary; how to describe an ediface; religious architecture from Athens to Rome; civil architecture: Agora, Forum, and Spectacle; military architecture; and burial architecture. The course includes a visit to the archeological sites of the paleochristian basilica of Saint Laurent de Choulan.

As a discipline, history is a matter of selecting and shaping historical data. Theory is a meditation upon the discipline and its data. The course is a study of historians, theorists, and their texts. After an introduction considering the Period as the object of historical definition and as the tool of the historian, the course introduces theorists and theories of architecture from Vitruvius to Deconstruction. They are arranged chronologically so that the force of historical determinism and purposiveness of historical reflection may be gauged. The course concludes with a discussion of the proposition that cultural time moves in cycles.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. In this course, students acquire necessary knowledge to read and critically interpret architecture between the fourteenth and sixteenth Centuries as well as the methodological tools to understand the territory, the city, and its major buildings. In addition, the course deals with a number of theoretical and practical issues of Renaissance architecture that are still alive nowadays.

The course provides a historical overview of the major figures of Italian Renaissance architecture from 1400 to 1600—Brunelleschi, Alberti, Bramante, Raphael, Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, Michelangelo, Peruzzi, Giulio Romano, Sanmicheli, Sansovino, Palladio as well as an outlook on a selection of European Renaissance architects. They are analyzed within the cities or countries they operated and will be compared with the cultural, social, and political local context. The second part of the course is an overview on a selection of European courts and on the role of humanistic architecture at the dawn of colonialism. Issues such as local antiquities, revival and survival, rules and license, theory of architecture, drawings and graphic conventions are addressed throughout the course. 

This course introduces key movements and individuals as well as theoretical ideas in architectural history between the World War periods and the present time diachronically and synchronically. The course covers important architects, cases, and regional issues around the world.  

Scotland has a rich tradition of architecture, from the prehistoric settlements of Skara Brae and Kilmartin, through Gothic cathedrals and Renaissance castles and palaces, to the Victorian splendour of our city centres and beyond. This course offers case studies of ten significant structures in Scotland, including the contentious Scottish Parliament building. The course discusses the buildings themselves, the people who planned them, their historic and social contexts, the uses to which they were put, and the meanings they have had over the years.