Program Overview

COASTAL DESIGN AND OTHERS EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS

The course "Offshore. Architecture Beyond Land" explores architecture in coastal and offshore contexts, focusing on design interventions that address environmental issues, adaptability, and climate change.

OVERVIEW

The ocean is no longer a vast void, but a spatial frontier shaped by environmental, economic, and political forces. This course questions how architecture can intervene in this context, not to colonize, but to reframe oceanic space as a site of design agency.

AIMS AND CONTENT

The course aims to develop in students a broad design ability to address coastal and port city topics, as well as environmental issues, in an integrated manner. Students will learn to think and work logically and sequentially, developing a hierarchical strategy for design proposals that can adapt to changing conditions.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Develop a decision-making design process based on forming options and making justifiable choices
• Develop design proposals that permit and encourage adaptation and transformation with contextual changes
• Build up an extensive body of literature and project references on the subject of coastal areas and port cities
• Learn new ways to work with modeling software and minimal rendering
• Communicate more effectively in spoken English

PREREQUISITES

Students are required to have:

• Basic knowledge of architecture in an urban environment
• Basic knowledge about the condition of coastal areas and port cities
• Good ability with modeling software (Sketchup)
• Strong ability in Autocad or VectorWorks
• Strong ability with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Indesign
• Skill and interest in the realization of physical models
• Previous understanding of design and environmental issues is useful
• Capacity to communicate and interest in improving presentation skills in spoken English

TEACHING METHODS

The course will be based on three exercises: "Drawing", "Series", and "Vision". Each student will select a specific offshore architecture in a sea or ocean context and analyze its spatial and volumetric configurations, technical dimensions, and particular technologies or devices integrated into the operative component.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The course will cover key topics, including:

• Architecture at the edge of land and sea: thresholds, transitions, and new forms of urbanization
• Offshore infrastructures as spaces of political, environmental, and spatial complexity
• Marine spatial planning and the territorialization of the ocean
• Architectural composition in post-terrestrial contexts
• Adaptive reuse and disassembly as strategies in floating, amphibious, or coastal systems
• New imaginaries of dwelling, repair, and non-extractive futures beyond land

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

A list of recommended books, essays, and websites will be provided, including works by authors such as Allen, Andriani, Banham, Brenner, and Couling.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

The course will be taught by Beatrice Moretti.

LESSONS

Lessons will start according to the academic calendar, and the timetable will be available on the Portale EasyAcademy.

EXAMS

The final examination will take place at the end of the semester, where students will present and discuss their design rationale and justification for the project based on the course objectives. The work presented will include a series of 3 A4-eights ("ottavinos") and a physical model on an architectural scale. Aspects to be emphasized in the final evaluation include research, references, case studies, use of information, and collaboration and communication.