G. STRAPPA
THE PROBLEM OF TEACHING URBAN MORPHOLOGY AND THE ISSUM EXPERIMENT
in Urban Morphology n.1, vol 27 , 2023
G. STRAPPA
THE PROBLEM OF TEACHING URBAN MORPHOLOGY AND THE ISSUM EXPERIMENT
in Urban Morphology n.1, vol 27 , 2023
FOR INFORMATION, mail gstrappa@yahoo.com
PROGRAM
The course in Urban Morphology, optional, in English, provides 4 credits and is open to all students, including Erasmus ones.
The purpose of the morphological studies proposed by the course is the knowledge of the characters of the built environment and the recognition of its formation and transformation, having as ultimate goal the architectural design open to multiple esthetic synthesis.
It aims to teach a method of reading the physical form of the city through the understanding of the forming process common to urban fabrics and buildings, The term “reading” not indicates the neutral recording of phenomena, but an awareness which requires the active and dynamic contribution of the reader.
The basic notions of urban organism and forming process will be provided.
CONDUCT OF THE COURSE
The course will consist of:
EVALUATION METHOD
Students will be evaluated through an oral test. They will choose one of the following forms of exam:
Documents required:
The students will be free to present their individual notebook and all the works they consider useful for evaluation.
ADOPTED TEXTS
BasIc text in online format (in English)
The main chapters translated into English (useful to take the exam) can be found on the teacher’s website (http://www.giuseppestrappa.it/) and are indicated below:
Basic text in paper format (in English)
A good translation in French (online) is: G. Caniggia, G.L. Maffei, Composition architectural et typologie du bati. 1 lecture du bati de base, traduit par p. larochelle, Université Laval, 2000 –http://www.giuseppestrappa.it/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/G.-Caniggia-Lecture-du-b%C3%A2ti-de-base-traduit-par-P.-Larochelle.pdf
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LECTURES CONTENT AND ACTIVITIES
Introduction. Meaning and utility of Urban Morphology for the contemporary architecture.
Course organization. Presentation of the program. Student registration.
Territory: notion, forming process and contemporary condition.
Matter Material: notion, transformation process, contemporary condition
Substrata and urban fabric: the physical form of the city: notion, forming process and contemporary condition.
Base building and substratum: base elements of the city: notion, forming process and relationship with urban pre-existence.
Field Survey: on base building topics.
Special building: forming process and contemporary examples.
Architectural knotting: historic notion and transition to modernity. – Classroom work presentation (only for students who intend to deepen the topics of the course with practical exercises – see Exam 1 in the program).
At the roots of architectural composition: the notions of assembly and aggregation in history and in the contemporary condition.
Field Survey on special building topics
Roman modern architecture
Conclusion. Short recap/summary of the course main topics (for the exam) and conclusions. Student opinions and suggestions.
Short pre-examination test (optional)
25.-27. Jan. 2023 – T.U.Berlin – Institute for Architecture
The Great Transformation
Typology and Morphology in the Anthropocene
“The Anthropocene is the epoch in which the dialectical tension between man’s well-meant »architecture of good
intentions” and its disruptive consequences for the Earth system comes to the fore.” (Jörg H. Gleiter)
The changing environmental conditions – climate, mega cities, overpopulation and shrinking
population, rising sea levels, digitalization, and AI – are forcing people to rethink the relationship
between humans and System Earth, and with it the concept of architecture and the city as a manmade
environment.
The conference/workshop The Great Transformation. Typology and Morphology in the Anthropocene
takes a critical look at the changing conditions of typologies and urban morphology as central
architectural concepts for the creation of a meaningful human environment. It examines how and
whether the changing concept of “environment” will lead to a typological transformation of existing
urban morphology. Changing demographics, new concepts of living and housing, public
transportation, biodiversity and human and animal conviviality are factors that have an immediate
effect on typology and urban morphology.
Already in 1944 Karl Polanyi addressed the destabilization of the political order by the industrial
revolution. Today we notice that it is the aftereffect of the third industrial revolution, i. e. AI,
digitalization and smart technologies that lead to a great transformation of the climate, the eco system,
the cohabitation of species, migration, over- and depopulation eventually effecting the everyday
culture, architecture, cities and the territory at large. Under the current challenges of the Great
Transformation can be rather understood as an integral endeavor to cope with the consequences of
irreversible phenomena and there effects on architecture and city.
As the new epoch shakes the hitherto firm foundation of our understanding of the relationship between
man and earth, the question arises of what this means to urban identity and how the narratives of the
city adapt to it. Unlike previous epochs, the “becoming” of architecture, i. e. the morphological
transformations of types and models will receive important impulses from these new environmental
conditions.
What are the implications of current “environmental forces” on the spatial, morphological and
typological constitution of architecture? What are the changing and what are the stable components of
the vocabulary for architectural typology and urban morphology? The Great Transformation. Typology
and Morphology in the Anthropocene conference/workshop explores alternative narratives, concepts
and practices for the changing environment in the Anthropocene. With the themes of atmosphere,
urban form, kinship, and commonality the conference encourages a critical look at both the history and
current practice of morphological and typological studies, their interconnectedness and crossfertilization,
their historical legacy and their potential to reshape architecture and the built environment.
It critically examines design strategies for an analytical and speculative journey into a forward-looking
new spatial, urban, and territorial vocabulary for the morphological and typological transformation of
architecture in the era of the Anthropocene.
The Chair of Architectural Transformation and the Chair of Architectural Theory will invite experts from
the field of urban morphology, typology and Anthropocene studies to discuss the above issues. Next
to lectures and discussions a student workshop and the presentation of students’ work are an integral
part the conference.
Iniziare il nuovo per studiare le radici
di Mazyar Abee (da U+D 17-18)
English text Notizia – Abaee (1)
Nel corso dell’ISUF 2019 a Nicosia, in alcune conversazioni con Vítor Oliveira, è nata l’idea di una rete iraniana di morfologia urbana. Con il suo incoraggiamento, è stato deciso di proporre il progetto di un’indagine sugli studi della forma urbana in Iran con lo scopo di prendere in rassegna i principali studiosi di morfologia urbana in questo paese. Il progetto si è concluso con un articolo pubblicato sul Journal of Urban Morphology nell’aprile 2022 (Abaee, 2022). Parte degli studiosi che hanno affrontato il problema della forma urbana in Iran con un chiaro approccio disciplinare, si sono riconosciuti nella costituzione di un network iraniano. Va detto, tuttavia, che lo studio della forma urbana in Iran soffre di alcuni problemi linguistici, terminologici e disciplinari. Considero un grande onore, per me, aver presentato quest’anno il lavoro di costruzione di una rete iraniana al consiglio dell’ISUF durante la conferenza di Lodz e Cracovia. Negli ultimi mesi, il network iraniano di morfologia urbana ha beneficiato del generoso sostegno di Giuseppe Strappa e Vítor Oliveira. Siamo ora ai primi passi della sua costituzione. Mi fa quindi piacere annunciare la collaborazione dei colleghi che lavoreranno alla rete iraniana (in ordine alfabetico): Mazyar Abaee (Direttore di ricerca e formazione, Urban Planning and Architecture Research Centre of Iran), Zahra Ahari (professoressa, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran), Pantea Alipour (docente, University of Art, Teheran), Eisa Esfanjari (professore assistente, Art University of Isfahan, Isfahan), Toofan Haghani (assistente professore, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch, Tehran), Nasim Iranmanesh (instructor, Islamic Azad University, West Tehran Branch, Tehran), Mahta Mirmoghta Daee (Direttore del Dipartimento di Planning and Urban Design; Road, Housing, and Urban Development Research Centre),Azadeh Mohajer Milani (University of Tehran, Tehran), Maryam Mohammadi (Professore associato, Islamic Azad University, West Tehran Branch, Teheran), Mohammadreza Noghsanmohammadi (professore associato, Yazd University, Yazd,) e Homeira Shayesteh (Senior Lecturer, Middlesex University, Londra.) La rete iraniana si rammarica di non beneficiare, in questa prima fase, della collaborazione di un importante studioso internazionale del settore come Kayvan Karimi (Senior Lecturer, The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, London e Direttore della Space Syntax Ltd.). Siamo comunque grati di ricevere il suo generoso sostegno. Se la nuova rete iraniana di morfologia urbana sta ora muovendo i primi passi, hanno invece radici antiche gli studi sulla forma urbana in Iran che si occupano delle trasformazioni storiche, delle innovazioni contemporanee e della complessità della città attuale. Stiamo iniziando a costruire la rete come un “ nuovo arrivato” che si propone l’obiettivo d’indagare, studiare, comprendere, analizzare, valutare incontrando quanto è già consolidato.