Architecture & Construction

The group, founded in 2006 by Marina Montuori, formerly a retired full professor and now coordinated by Barbara Angi, deals with Architectural Design through multidisciplinary research to investigate the close relationship between the type-morphological characteristics of buildings and the construction technologies used, as well as the relations of the architectural project with the cultural, social and environmental context of reference. The group’s studies hybridise the “knowledge” inherent to Architecture and Urban Design with that of Civil Engineering, to define design processes for redevelopment and/or new construction capable of intervening according to principles of multi-scalarity and interdependence between the specific disciplines involved. The ongoing activities, both educational and research, promote design reflections in peripheral and marginal territories (the result of hybrid settlement processes characterised by discontinuity, heterogeneity, and fragmentation) where Architecture, in its aptitude for perspective prefiguration, can make a decisive contribution. In these fields, Architectural Design is looking for combined architectural, urban planning, landscape, structural and energy mechanisms, intersecting pragmatic demands related, very often, to a constant state of emergency. For the research group, it is possible to identify architectural principles of a “re-compositional” nature in order to consider a “second lifetime” of the built environment, starting from those small fragments of space in which positive characteristics related to collective living exist.

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RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

By participating in national and international research projects and through an established network with public and private research institutions, the group directs its studies towards:

THE COMBINED ARCHITECTURAL AND URBAN REDEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIAL HABITAT

The studies pay specific attention to the themes of the combined architectural redevelopment of residential areas built in Italy in the second half of the last century. The investigations developed have identified intervention strategies of an "additive" and "adaptive" nature. During the design experimentation, the aim of the research is to analyse the relationship between building typology and construction technology by revisiting, when possible, also consolidated architectural tools, suitable for the preparation of living spaces with flexible layouts, capable of put on, again, within the contemporary urban metabolism the residential habitat with a social character built according to design hypotheses that are currently anachronistic.

Research programme: COmmoning practiceS and teMpOrary self-built architectural agencies. Guidelines and atoolkit towards the sustainability of the commons (COSMO) (PRIN PNRR 2023 - 2025, with Ioanni DelSante (UniPV). COSMO intends to investigate the contribution and impact of temporary architectures realised with self-construction practices aimed at the search for the 'sustainability' of Common Goods. In order to achieve this aim, COSMO envisages four main objectives: to define a taxonomy of contemporary architectural practices related to the project theme; to identify and analyse significant case studies; to define guidelines to support Public Administrations and/or Third Sector Agencies; to create a "kit" of design and implementation tools for innovative self-construction methodologies. COSMO aims to understand the processes of re-appropriation of architectural and urban space of a "bottom-up" nature, i.e. those practices led by the communities that inhabit urban areas that are very often in transformation. COSMO envisages the combination of study methods that take into account both quantitative and qualitative aspects, in order to understand spatial realities that are complex

Research programme: TECH PRO ABSO. Sustainable and environmentally friendly materials, structures, technologies for building and environmental design, renovation and redevelopment. The research emphasises the themes of urban infill design and architectural plug-in, declining the various meanings of the term from energy retrofit operations to those of cubage increase with a view to adaptability of the existing and, in particular, residential building. Renewing the relationship between building typology and construction technology by reinventing consolidated design devices for the provision of living spaces with variable layouts can be an effective strategy to ensure sustainable development of cities. Contemporary urban contexts are aimed at "recycling" the resources present - living spaces - which, like raw materials,

require continuous transformation so that they can be reused with a view to saving not only economic resources but above all environmental and social ones. The setting up of groundbreaking recycling plans seems to imply the staging of a constantly changing "journey of domestic landscapes" according to the changing functional needs of the people inhabiting the buildings. The last ones, in turn, must be able to adapt to the technological innovations of our century which, in fact, modify the "urgencies" of architectural design increasingly linked to performance issues of plant and structural systems.

«Multi-storey in-line houses in Casazza, Brescia. Combined architectural redevelopment». Thesis project. Stefano Abbatinali, Gianpiero Piccirilli . Supervisor: Marina Montuori. Co-Supervisor: Barbara Angi, Stefano Milani (Department of Architecture, Tu Delft).

«Strategies for the architectural redevelopment of the built environment with anti-seismic structural enclosure and for energy retrofitting. The case of the high houses in Ghedi, Brescia». Thesis project. Student: Marco Abate. Supervisors: Barbara Angi, Alessandra Marini.

Research programme: "AdESA. Energy, seismic and architectural adjustment of the built environment". Research project funded by Regione Lombardia. Partners: Marlegno (Lead Partner), Edilmatic, Harpaceas, Università degli Studi di Bergamo (scientific responsible: Alessandra Marini), Università degli Studi di Brescia (scientific responsible: Barbara Angi). Today's attention to peripheral territories - the result of hybrid settlement processes characterised by discontinuity, heterogeneity and fragmentation - requires, alongside the promoted and incentivised interventions aimed at the structural and energetic redevelopment of buildings and open spaces, a broader reflection where the contribution of architecture, in its attitude of perspective prefiguration, can be decisive. In these places, architectural and urban design - in its intangible aspects - clashes with pragmatic demands for intervention linked to a permanent state of emergency. These are areas where resources are scarce; where critical issues (structural and/or energy, housing and economic difficulties, environmental risks, ...) can make one forget any positive aspect of this important, if uncomfortable, heritage. Because the concept of heritage implies, in fact, the idea of handing down one's assets to posterity, the idea of a value that goes beyond mere income, but has to do with people's experience, with their affections. In short, with life and with the traces that, in its constant mutations, it also leaves on buildings and open spaces. The experience of the applied research project AdESA (Seismic, energy and architectural upgrading of existing buildings) - promoted by the Lombardy Region and which saw the collaboration of the academic world, entrepreneurial realities and public administrations - has made it possible to create an initial prototype of an integrated upgrading system through a strategic vision, compliance with a shared action plan, a multi-scalar approach, involvement of the population and listening to the context before the project.

AT HOME. FROM EMERGENCY SHELTERS TO TRANSITIONAL HOUSING

The multidisciplinary survey aims to build a spatial and social dimension capable of welcoming, and accompanying, people with heterogeneous degrees of marginalization and united by the need for a stable housing situation even if for a fixed period. In general, the contemporary domestic space takes on a flexible and multipurpose nature and is urged to constantly change according to the styles and life stages of the people who inhabit it. The SARS-CoV-2 health emergency is demonstrating how, once again, some categories of people, the weakest, require urgent and no longer delayed interventions. The right to housing is recognised as a primary right for the realisation of each person, as is the right to mobility, understood as the right to move to improve one’s living conditions. Ensuring the right to housing calls for ways to address the needs of frail persons from many perspectives. Today, in some places in the city there are areas characterised by spaces to house people with uncertain life plans, in precarious housing and working conditions due to a multiplicity of social and geopolitical factors. The housing principle recognised in these areas traces the one used for the management of sudden emergencies such as earthquakes and/or catastrophic climatic events. Many of these places are in a state of advanced obsolescence and have become “places of exclusion” which reinforce marginalisation towards the urban context. Starting from the comparison of some European experiences, reflections are proposed to structure the “reading priorities” related to housing rights of a transitory nature, to place them in relation to urban regeneration processes that succeed in responding to heterogeneous needs.

Research programme: «Cubo4 Project. Housing prototype for the management of emergency housing situations», with Braitec. The tiny Cubo4 buildings, designed to handle the housing crisis due to natural disasters o/e of contemporary migration flows, con accommodate extensions and modifications {a/so by their occupants), they can be explanted and relocated. Cubo4 is feasible for those scarred zones between historic city and urban sprawl, in liberated territories nestling amongst the ruins of urban conglomeration, giving form occasionally to built-up landscapes of variable density. Cubo4, starting from a minimum dimension module on loan from the international logistic system, uses a construction system consisting of a cage of aluminium elements onto which con be hooked insulated panelling of different colours. The base element con house a façade with variable structure, e.g. transformable into a balcony. Different housing modules are coupled together by pressure-sealed closures in aluminium. The modules may be freely added together horizontally: a telescopically opening block which allows the simultaneous assembly of several elements, thus expanding the possible spatial solutions. Vertical development requires the use of supporting structures to accommodate the various units.

Research programme: «Corridoni Stepping Stones», with Barbara Badiani and Brescia Municipality. "Corridoni Stepping Stones" is a prototype building for housing for autonomy and social inclusion and for housing for potential autonomy dedicated to all those people who are facing a period of economic and/or social difficulty with repercussions on their housing condition and who do not necessarily contemplate the possibility of settling indefinitely in the country in which they currently reside. The concept of the network of 'welcoming places' refers back to that of the ecological network, which in scientific literature is referred to as a multifunctional infrastructure, primarily designed for the conservation of flora and fauna through the creation of 'connected habitats', within which different species can move around safely and find ideal conditions to establish themselves and grow. The geometry of the network has a structure based on the recognition of core areas, protection strips (buffer zones), small 'habitats' with a strategic position for species in transit (stepping stones) and connecting strips (corridors). Analogies between the ecological network and the humanitarian network are also recalled in the idea behind the "Corridoni Stepping Stones" project, which can indeed be placed among what are defined as humanitarian activities with which safe entry routes are guaranteed (humanitarian corridors), places where people are protected in the first emergency phase (refugee camps) or during their transit to their destination in safer areas (first and second reception centres in the countries of arrival).

Research programme: «Corridoni Stepping Stones», with Barbara Badiani and Brescia Municipality. "Corridoni Stepping Stones" provides stepping stones, "support places" in which to reside for a fixed period of time in suitable domestic spaces and, at the same time, to become aware of personal work and relationship skills thanks to the support of a stable social network in order to then be able to continue their journey with awareness and self-determination skills. The first prototype was studied for the reconversion of the Brescia Extraordinary Reception Centre (CAS) in collaboration with the Municipality's Social Policies Department.

«Human Stepping Stones 2.0: A Case Study in Castelvetrano (Trapani)”». Thesis project. Student: Linda Tanghetti. Supervisors: Barbara Angi. Co-Supervisor: Barbara Badiani. The housing complex is designed for seventy people. Specifically, the project envisages within the downstream lot the realisation of a system of double-comb constructions allowing the formation of courtyard spaces to be used as common areas.

THE STUDY OF INDUSTRIAL WASTELAND OR BROWNFIELD REDEVELOPMENT EXPERIMENTAL SCENARIOS

The studies have the purpose of establishing a point of the multi-scalar architectural mechanisms suitable for the reconversion of industrial areas in decommissioning and the ability to hold together the “life phases” (design, construction, maintenance and reuse) of the buildings and areas involved interventions. The research also aims to define strategies for the recovery of industrial relics through the grafting of flexible building systems designed to design alternative development scenarios thanks the use of off-site construction technologies and evolutive functional programs.

«Regenerative synergies. Reactivating abandoned landscapes». Research program with local government funds. Architecture & Construction Research Group with CGIL (Italian General Confederation of Labor).

«Redesign urban landscapes to build opportunities for development. The Maf Logistics case in Brescia”». Thesis project. Students: Francesco Lombardi, Ottavia Zuccotti. Supervisor: Barbara Angi. Co-Supervisors: Marina Montuori, Juan Manuel Palerm Salazar.

Researches conducted by the research group coordinated by Barbara Angi bind not only to the belief that research should intertwine and, when possible, overlap teaching in order to integrate the two main missions of those who work within university but also stress the need to investigate the real problems of the city and the territory by developing experimental projects in the educational field.

The group researches fit mainly in the ERC sectors (European Research Council) 2024:

PE8 - Products and Processes Engineering:

PE8_3 Civil engineering, architecture, maritime/hydraulic engineering, geotechnics, waste treatment

PE8_11 Sustainable design (for recycling, for environment, eco-design)

SH3 - The Social World and Its Interactions

SH3_1 Social structure, social mobility, social innovation

SH3_2 Inequalities, discrimination, prejudice

SH3_7 Social policies, welfare, work and employment

SH7 - Human Mobility, Environment, and Space

SH7_2 Migration

SH7_7 Cities; urban, regional and rural studies

SH7_8 Land use and planning

SH8 - Studies of Cultures and Arts

SH8_3 Cultural studies and theory, cultural identities and memories, cultural heritage

SH8_6 Architecture, design, craft, creative industries

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SDG - Sustainable Development Goals

The Architecture & Construction Group wants to contribute to the achievement of the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Global Sustainable Development and, in particular, the actions in place adhere to Goal No. 11 "Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable", Sub-goal No. 1 "By 2030, ensure access to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services for all and regenerate slums" and sub-goal: No. 11.1 "By 2030, ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums"; No. 11.3 "By 2030, enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries"; No. 11.6 "By 2030, reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air quality and municipal and other waste management"; No. 11.7 "By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities"; No. 11.A "Support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, peri-urban and rural areas by strengthening national and regional development planning".

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Keywords

Architecture and Urban Design

Eutopia urbanscape

Industrial wasteland and brownfield

Multidisciplinary approach

Multi-scalar design practices

Peripheral and marginal contexts

Public housing

Self-construction and participatory processes

Sustainable architecture

Transitional living

Urban Commons