Design as a tool to discover the site. Bologna. Ex Staveco.

Abstract

Carleton University in Ottawa offers students of the Master Program in Architecture the opportunity to spend a semester abroad, where they can attend courses on theory, history, technology and architectural design.
Claudio Sgarbi, as coordinator and teacher, chose Bologna as the best place in Italy for workshops in the last three years. In 2011, during the three months design period, the aim was to design the ExStaveco area. The theme, definitely urban, was very complex for architecture students educated in Canada and with little experience on European cities, whit the task to imagine an urban renovation for the entire area. But the imagination does not take account of cultural barriers so that some proposals, despite their shallowness, deserve to be deepened. Many students, after weeks of research, site visits, readings, discussions, started and then abandoned projects, white nights in Via del Pratello, have sketched little more than an intention or a confusion of ideas. Most skillful students, however, have figured out that this was a unique opportunity to succeed, through an architectural project, to re-imagine the entire city.

[In the menu on the right, ARTICLE TOOLS, in "Supplementary Files" link you can download the .pdf presentations of Carleton University students, related to the workshop on Staveco area (Bologna, 2011). As an alternative, student's presentations can be downloaded in the contribution of Claudio Sgarbi, in .pdf format, by clicking on the active links present on the names of students]