Course Description
The three critical steps in design education are first promoting awareness; then developing understanding; and finally exercising ability.
from Hardin and Laxton, design education theorists

The urban design studio is organized following the useful steps recommended by Hardin and Laxton and will focus on the design of public space using the city of Rome as a urban design laboratory.

First the students will broaden the awareness of urban design by immersing themselves in unique urban contexts offered by the city, dense of peculiar artifacts and urban fabrics built in different historical ages. Here they will encounter urban design problems and urban design solutions of all kinds, from brilliant to disappointing.

The awareness of these urban designs is only the first step because next they must come to understand each design in terms of the issues it addresses, how it strives to do so, and how well it succeeds. They must come to understand each design in relation to the different historical evolutions, urban contexts, spatial conditions and compositions, design scales, uses and activities, microclimates, materials etcetera . Through thoughtful observations and analyses of urban designs they will gain the insightful understanding necessary to transform the urban designs encountered into truly useful reference projects for their own future urban design efforts, thus expanding in a meaningful way their own urban design vocabulary and the mental storehouse of urban design ideas.

The extent of understanding will be tested in the final step, when they will exercise their urban design ability in a design project of a public space in a dense historical urban fabric. Here particular emphasize will be made to critical contemporary urban design issues such as sustainability, zero CO2 emissions, accessibility for all etcetera.


Course Method
The semester will be divided into 4 projects. Awareness and understanding will be the focus of weeks 1-8 during Project 1, 2 and part of Project 3.

The studio begins with Project 1, a workshop on Villa Adriana-Tivoli, a major roman archeological site. During the workshop the students will become aware of design issues related to particularly sensitive sites such as archeological areas and the dire needs of accessibility for all. Additionally the workshop will give the possibility to experience analysis and design in multidisciplinary groups of students such as students of archeology, architecture and landscape architecture both from the Italian and the American most prestigious Universities.

In Project 2 the students will explore some of the classic examples of great urban design offered by the historical city of Rome. The intent is to ground the urban design understanding in urban issues and brilliant design solutions from the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and neo-Classic eras that are highly revered to this day. But Rome “the Eternal City” has a future as well as a past; so in Project 3 the students will study how Rome can face challenging contemporary urban issues and seeks to address them through a master plan for the 21st century. By studying a great roman street the students will explore important urban challenges that Rome shares with contemporary cities worldwide that strive to enhance their livability, accessibility and environmental sustainability.

In all three of these projects students are required to additionally use historical cartography, readings, web searches, and personal travel to enrich their thinking about urban design in Rome and in general. The contemporary issues addressed in this half of the semester will not only entail observation and analysis, but will also challenge to posit some applicable strategies found through web, travel, and reading explorations. All of this will build a useful “mental storehouse” of urban design knowledge in preparation for personal urban design in the future and—more imminently—for the design project.
Ability to design addressing the urban design challenges explored in the preceding analysis will be the focus of weeks 9-16 during part of Project 3 and during the entire Project 4.

The aim of Project 4 will be to transform a major chaotic, congested, polluted roman street into a manifesto of sustainable “green” design and to transform an undefined public space into a unique place with an image strongly linked with the “genius loci” and the identity of the site.

Objectives
Based on the awareness/understanding/ability sequence, the objectives are as follows:
Expand awareness of characteristics and issues of urban design/s;
Enhance skills at analysis of urban conditions;
Expand mental storehouse of useful, inspirational urban design reference projects;
Practice ability to address complex urban conditions in a design project.

Project Calendar
Project 1, weeks 1-3: Historical Issues: Premio Piranesi Workshop in Villa Adriana, Tivoli
Project 2, weeks 4-6: Historical Issues: Piazza Studies in Rome
Project 3, weeks 7: Contemporary Issues: Movement Systems in the City (Urban analysis)
Field trip, week 8: “Urban Field Trip” to Paris, Berlin, Barcelona
Project 3, weeks 9-10: Contemporary Issues: Movement Systems in the City (Urban design)
Project 4, weeks 11-13: Contemporary Issues: Design of public space in Rome (design concept)
Fall break, week 14: Independent traveling
Project 4, weeks 15-16: Contemporary Issues: Design of public space in Rome (design refinement)

Evaluation
The grade for LArch 499B will be assessed based on the following percentages: 15% Project 1, 25% Project 2, 25% Project 3, 35% Project 4.

Attendance
Every class meeting is important. Students are expected to work actively in studio during all scheduled class hours. Attendance at lectures, discussions, field trips, and project presentations is also mandatory. In the event that the student is unable to attend studio due to extenuating circumstances, he is required to provide studio professors with advance notification. Unauthorized absence will negatively impact the final grade.

Submission Deadlines
All studio projects, including interim materials, must be submitted on the due dates indicated. Products that are not complete at the deadline must still be submitted and will be graded as is. Exceptions to this policy will be granted only in cases of extenuating circumstances where appropriate documentation is provided and deemed acceptable by the course professor.

Book References
All listed books and CDs will be available in the Pantheon Institute Studio library (under request and for use in the studio only).

Theory:
- The Image of the City - Kevin Lynch, MIT Press1960.
- Design of Cities - Edmond N. Bacon, MIT Press 1969
- Design with Nature – Ian L. McHarg, Wiley 1969
- Genius Loci – Christian Norberg-Schulz, Electa 1979
- The idea of Town. The Anthropology of Urban Form in Rome – J. Rykwert, MIT Press 1988
- The City Shaped: Urban Patterns and Meanings through history – S. Kostof, Bulfinch 1991;
- Great Streets – Allan B. Jacobs, MIT Press 1995

Contemporary Urban Design:
- Making the modern garden – Christopher Bradley-Hole, The Monacelli Press 2007
- Landscape design promenades – Jacobo Krauel, Linksbooks 2008
- Small Urban Gardens – Evergreen, Taschen 2006
- Urban Landscape Architecture – Rockport 2006
- Contemporary Public Space. Un-volumetric Architecture - Aymonino-Mosco, Skira 2006

Design Details
- DETAIL – Urban Planning Details, Stadtbaudetails 2004
- Landscape Architecture Graphic Standards – Leonard J.Hopper, Wiley 2007
- Detail in contemporary landscape architecture - Virginia McLeod, Laurence King 2008
- Selciato Romano, il sanpietrino – Ludovica Cibin, Gangemi editore 1999

About Rome:
- Piante di Roma - Amato Frutaz, Istituto Nazionale di studi Romani 1962
- Atlante di Roma, La forma del centro storico in scala 1:1000 – Marsilio 1997
- Views of Rome across the centuries – Lombardo Alberto 2005
- The seven hills of Rome. A geological tour of the eternal city – Heiken, Funiciello, De Rita
- Rome. The Biography of a city – Christopher Hibbert, Penguin 1985
- Piranesi. The Etchings – Luigi Ficacci, Taschen 2000
- The Penguin fistorical Atlas of Ancient Rome – Chris Scarre, Penguin 1995
- The Roman Forum – Paola Guidobaldi, Electa 1998
- The Valley of the Colosseum – Letizia Abbondanza, Electa 1997
- The Capitoline Museums – Electa 2000
- Roma Sparita - Ettore Roesler Franz (1845-1907), watercolors
- Piazze e Nuovi Luoghi di Roma - Pannela and Terranova, Palombi 1997

Cartography in digital version:
- Leonardo Buffalini, Pianta di Roma, 1551
- Gian Battista Nolli, Pianta Grande di Roma, 1748
- Rodolfo Lanciani, Forma Urbis Romae, 1901
- Atlante di Roma, aerial photo of Rome, 1997
- The master plan of Rome, Piano Regolatore 2003;
- Rome on AutoCAD