Labs and Courses
A.Y. 2024/25
CLASSES AND LABS ARE HELD IN PRESENCE ONLY
FIRST YEAR, FIRST SEMESTER
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ARCHITECTURE STRUCTURAL DESIGN LAB
Prof. Riccardo Renzi
Prof. Fabrizio Rossi Prodi
Prof. Mario De Stefano
Prof.ssa Elena Bellini
18 CFU - First Year, First Semester
Tuesday 8.50-12.50, room 15 Santa Verdiana
Thursday 8.50-12.50, room 17 Santa Verdiana
Friday 9.50-13.50, room 15 Santa Verdiana
The course includes an integrated multidisciplinary teaching in Architectural Design, Structural Design, and Construction Systems Design, focused on structural analysis. The specific educational purposes of a further discussion of the theoretical and operative basis behind structural design and dimensioning are integrated with the more general control of the design and composition and its constructive connotations, according to an educational plan aimed at providing, through the new Laboratories, an ever-increasing organic consultation between the various aspects involved in the design process.
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HISTORY OF CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM
Prof. Lorenzo Ciccarelli
6 CFU - First Year, First Semester
Monday 13.50-17.50, room 204 Santa Teresa
Teaching - and attending - a course on the History of Contemporary Architecture and Urbanism in Florence implies a deep investigation into, and a specific interest in, the origins of Western culture, its theories and fortunes. Issues of intellectual freedom and artistic creativity, colonialism and cultural predominance, cross-fertilization and globalization are essential to define our modern ideas on architecture, cultural heritage, preservation and marketing strategies of historic sites, urban centres, and man-made landscapes. Therefore, the role of style, technology and sustainability in contemporary design and urban planning is approached within a broader historical context. The course focuses on developing architectural languages and urban forms in Italy, emphasizing the role of significant monuments and centres, outstanding architects, and issues of cross-relations in Western European culture. A multidisciplinary approach emphasizes different interpretations of architecture and its development over the centuries, from the birth of the discipline to today. Special attention is dedicated to the role of Italian and Western models in 19th and 20th-century design and urban planning. The course includes lectures, guided readings, and on-site visits to Florence and other Italian centres.
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ARCHITECTURE AND ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY
Prof.ssa Giovanna Acampa
6 CFU - First Year, First Semester
Monday 8.50-12.50, room 204 Santa Teresa
The course mainly uses a methodological approach, and its specific teaching aim is to provide expertise in evaluation with a focus on economic feasibility from the very early stages of a project. Evaluation is not a constraint, a burden or a waste of time and money. The course's main objective is to integrate evaluation into the design process, which is always a complex process due to the required competencies and interdisciplinarity, as well as the large number of actors and objectives involved. According to a European view, the traditional roles of evaluation (legitimation, validation and control of choices) are to improve the quality of decision-making processes in architectural design. The class will have theoretical lectures, videos and practical work, and further discussion will integrate the understanding of theoretical and operational elements. Students will analyse the construction costs of buildings with a more comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge of project evaluation.
FIRST YEAR, SECOND SEMESTER
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RESTORATION LAB
Prof. Maurizio De Vita
Prof. Boostani Arash
Prof.ssa Valentina Bonora
18 CFU - First Year, Second Semester
The restoration laboratory complements the training experiences by providing information on conceptual stages, working tools, regulatory data, and the significance of and methods for preparing all the phases involved in a modern-day restoration project. Following the theoretical teaching and its application in the field, through visits to restoration sites, individual students prepare a project that is as comprehensive as possible in terms of both the definition of each of its stages, from survey to proposal, and the progression from the general concept to the detailed development of certain parts, elements and construction systems. Specific attention is given to contemporary additions to historical buildings and sites. Educational goals are to learn how to prepare a restoration project, from the survey to the potential restoration approaches, from structural consolidation to proposals for reusing disused complexes. To prepare for checking regulations and laws governing the technological upgrading of historic architecture in a manner compatible with the existing structures. It is important to be aware of the complexity and uniqueness of restoration issues, particularly the delicate balance between old and new architecture, old and new materials, and contemporary addition, while understanding a place’s identity and the conservation requirements versus free expression.
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SOCIOLOGY OF ARCHITECTURE
Prof. Leonardo Chiesi
6 CFU - First Year, Second Semester
The course on Urban Sociology presents a sociological approach to architecture, planning and design. It aims to develop architects' sensitivity towards the multifaceted relationship between their intentions and the interpretations of those intentions by the final users/inhabitants of what they design. The course has both a theoretical and a methodological approach. Students are first introduced to sociology and other social sciences concepts and a theoretical framework concerning the relationship between people, space, and the city. The course presents various research tools to study what people do to and with architecture: interviews, direct observation, video and photography, shadowing, mental maps, etc. The course promotes the active involvement of students through class discussions, group work and fieldwork to practice empirical research methods.
SECOND YEAR, FIRST SEMESTER
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ARCHITECTURE AND TOWN LAB
Prof. Michelangelo Pivetta
Prof. Carlo Pisano
Prof.ssa Ludovica Marinaro
18 CFU - Second Year, First Semester
Tuesday 8.50-12.50, room 401 Santa Teresa
Thursday 8.50-12.50, room 401 Santa Teresa
Thursday 13.50-17.50, room 401 Santa Teresa
The course includes an integrated multidisciplinary teaching in Architectural Design II, Urban Design, and Urban Landscape Design. The workshop aims to provide students with a design methodology for urban, landscaping, and architectural planning at different scales in the critical spaces of the contemporary city. To achieve this objective, the Laboratory experiments with theories and integrated methods of interpretation, planning and design of urban places in decline or severely degraded to redevelop and reinvent the quality of urban space, its system of relations and functions and the 'attractiveness' of the urban landscape. The laboratory is structured in phases of experimentation and elaboration of design concepts to simulate the students' undertaking of an actual professional project.
SECOND YEAR, SECOND SEMESTER
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ARCHITECTURE AND ENVIRONMENT LAB
Prof. Laura Andreini
Prof. Giuseppe Ridolfi
Prof. Lorenzo Giorgi
18 CFU - Second Year, Second Semester
The course includes an integrated multidisciplinary education (architectural design, environmental design, techniques for ecological control) focused on the relationship between natural and built environments. The general objective of the course is to provide students with the necessary tools for generating an environmental approach to architectural design. Tools and methods for the ecological design of buildings; identifying problems that emphasize the conceptual strategies of form and space, the relationships of the site and the social, technological and environmental determinants. The workshop aims to provide expertise on design development, the choice of materials, energy assessments and assessment tools.
OPTIONAL SUBJECT EXAMS - SEMINARS
(each student needs 12 CFU of Free Choice)
Italian architecture of the XXth century: Interiors
Prof. Riccardo Renzi
Seminars B029111, 6 CFU, Second year, Second semester
Friday 8.50-12.50, room 202 Santa Teresa
for information, write to riccardo.renzi@unifi.it
Other Free Courses can be picked from the School of Architecture / Seminars web page: link
Urban and Regional Planning English courses that can be picked as 6Cfu Free Courses https://www.clurpd.unifi.it/vp-159-programs-of-the-courses.html
Other Courses in English at the University of Florence https://www.unifi.it/en/study-us/degree-programmes/international-courses
The 12 CFU free-choice Exams need to be approved in the STUDY PLAN before the end of class link to the study plan webpage;
For information on the Study Plan, write to architettura.pianistudio@unifi.it (School of Architecture)
Erasmus students and International Agreement students, for information on the Study Plan, write to archint@unifi.it (Erasmus office)
PLEASE NOTE THAT Exam reservation (prenotazione esami) ends 5 days before the exam day, it is a mandatory requirement to be enrolled in the exam