From the 24th of June to the 7th of July, in the Faculty of Architecture “Valle Giulia” “Sapienza”, University of Rome, twenty students from Italy, South Korea and Poland have been involved in the “HOPUS-HOusing Praxis for Urban Sustainability” design workshop. This workshop, promoted by the URBACT II Working Group led by the Faculty of Architecture “Valle Giulia”, meant to introduce architecture and planning students to the main issues of urban and architectural quality through a “process” approach: starting from a general “quality code for architectural and urban design” up to the definition of a specifically site-based functional programme and layout. The site chosen has an emblematic meaning: it had been subjected to an international design competition whose winning project was harshly criticized by citizens and other stakeholders, since it was considered not to be sustainable and with too high a density for an area of Rome already suffering from congestion.
The students, divided into five working groups, had to refurbish this central and historical area following some specific steps. First of all they had to study the surroundings to understand the real needs of the district; then, moving from a given “quality code for architectural and urban design”, they had to define a functional programme, essential to go on to the design of a masterplan and, finally, to the definition of a draft of “design code”. The aim was ambitious, but the workshop has been a success: some projects turned out better than others, but every group has achieved a good level of awareness about the importance of a design code in urban and architectural design.
For photos and drawings here you are a link to our Faculty on line magazine “hortus”, were I’ve written an article on the same workshop (in Italian), and a link to our Faculty site, where we put the news, the leaflet and the programme (in Italian and in English): “hortus” online magazine
Manuela Pattarini
