The prospect of the continuous multiplication of life styles, the obsolescence of the traditional typological diagrams, the usability of spaces on different territorial scales, imposes on contemporary architecture the search for new models of living. Limited densities in urban development have produced the erosion of territory, the increase of the harmful emissions and energy consumption. High density housing cannot refuse the social emergency to ensure high quality and low cost dwellings, to a new people target: students, temporary workers, key workers, foreign, young couples without children, large families and, in general, people who carry out public services. Social housing strategies have become particularly relevant in regenerating high density urban outskirts. The choice of this research topic derives from the desire to deal with the recent accommodation emergency, according to different perspectives, with a view to give a contribution to the current literature, by proposing some tools for a correct design of the social housing, by ensuring good quality, cost-effective, and eco-sustainable solutions, from the concept phase, through management and maintenance, until the end of the building life cycle. The purpose of the thesis is defining a framework of guidelines that become effective instruments to be used in designing the social housing. They should also integrate the existing regulations and are mainly thought for those who work in this sector. They would aim at supporting students who have to cope with this particular residential theme, and also the users themselves. The scientific evidence of either the recent specialized literature or the solutions adopted in some case studies within the selected metropolitan areas of Milan, London and São Paulo, it is possible to identify the principles of this new design approach, in which the connection between typology, morphology and technology pursues the goal of a high living standard.

La ricerca ha per oggetto il progetto del Foro Bonaparte a Milano redatto da Giovanni Antonio Antolini a seguito del decreto del 23 giugno 1800 che stabiliva l’abbattimento delle mura del Castello Sforzesco. Si affronta il tema dell’architettura avendo come obiettivo una lettura critica di tale progetto servendosi dell’analisi compositiva come strumento in grado di stabilire i rapporti che intercorrono tra la città, l’architettura e il tipo. Attraverso lo studio del progetto urbano la ricerca conferma l’ipotesi per la quale la grande forma totalizzante, perentoria e assoluta è capace di mutare la struttura urbana, offrendo un nuovo modello con cui rinnovare la città. L’ambizione di Antolini di veder realizzata l’opera è destinata a svanire nell’arco di pochi anni, ma il progetto per il Foro Bonaparte continuerà per lungo tempo ad evocare la sua idea innovativa fino ai giorni nostri. Sebbene l’opera sia destinata a rimanere un’architettura solo disegnata, le varie pubblicazioni continuano a circolare nelle accademie prima e nelle università successivamente, costituendo un importante patrimonio di studio e di ricerca per generazioni di architetti, fino alla riscoperta avvenuta con Aldo Rossi e Manfredo Tafuri negli anni sessanta del secolo scorso. Dalle lezioni formulate nelle architetture del passato è possibile avanzare nuove ipotesi e alimentare riflessioni e dibattiti sul ruolo dell’architettura nella città contemporanea. La ricerca si occupa del progetto d’architettura per offrire un ulteriore contributo al tema, attraverso una lettura di carattere compositivo, supportata da una serie di schemi e disegni di studio necessari per completare il testo e per verificare i concetti esposti. Dopo aver raccolto, catalogato ed analizzato il materiale iconografico relativo al progetto per il Foro Bonaparte si è scelto di basare il ridisegno sulla raccolta di disegni conservati presso la Biblioteca Nazionale di Francia. / The subject of this research is the Foro Bonaparte in Milan designed by Giovanni Antonio Antolini. This project follows the decree issued on 23 june 1800 establishing the demolition of the Sforzesco Castle walls and the rearrangement of the area. The thesis critically reads into the architecture using the composition analysis to define the connection between the city, the architecture and the type. Through the analysis of the urban project, our research confirms the hypothesis that the totalitarian form, peremptory and absolute, is able to change the urban structure. It also offers a new model to renew the city. Although Antolini’s project for the Foro Bonaparte was never realized, its design still keeps inspiring architects with its innovative ideas. Many publications on the subject in academia and universities have constituted an important research patrimony for generations of architects, until its rediscovery in Aldo Rossi's and Manfredo Tafuri's contributions during the sixties of the last century. From the lessons given in past architectures, it is possible to put forward new hypothesis and fuel debates on the role of architecture in the contemporary city. Moreover, this research focuses on the architectural design to give a compositive interpretation of the work, besides the numerous and important historiographical contributions that reconstruct the cultural, political and social background of the project. Based on the nature of the contribution, this research comes with a set of models and drawings that are necessary to integrate the text and to verify the presented concepts. After the collection, the classification and the analysis of the iconographic material of the Foro Bonaparte design, we chose to base the redrawing of the architecture on the drawings preserved in the French National Library.

La ricerca pone al suo centro lo studio dell'opera architettonica di Emil Steffann (1899-1968) la cui produzione realizzata consta, nel breve arco temporale che va dal 1950 al 1968, del ragguardevole numero di trentanove chiese, rappresentando un caso emblematico di progettazione e costruzione di edifici per il culto cristiano in grado di raffigurarne concretamente i principi fondativi liturgici, estetici e morfologici. L'architettura di Steffann, profondamente ispirata dallo spirito religioso, legata a figure primigenie che plasmano lo stare-insieme della comunità nella qualità corporea della materia, dove la presenza liturgica e monumentale si esprime nel silenzio e nella disponibilità di uno spazio circoscritto dai muri e direzionato dalla luce, concorre a definire nell'oggettivo amore per il vero la percezione estetico-teologica e la poetica formativa che connaturano, a nostro parere, progetto e segno della chiesa. Il testo concretizza il primo studio monografico completo di questo corpus architettonico e si basa sulla ricognizione diretta delle opere di Steffann; ne è derivata una narrazione non conseguente a un ordine cronologico o di presupposta importanza degli edifici, bensì che ricerca ed evidenzia corrispondenze tra nodi di una rete ideativa la quale, con diversi gradi di finitezza, in punti non sempre omogenei del tempo e dello spazio, denota un'esperienza autentica del comporre e del costruire. Il racconto individua gli oggetti architettonici, ne discute la consistenza aprendosi a riferimenti altri (in particolare il pensiero ecclesiologico-liturgico di Romano Guardini e quello estetico-teologico di Hans Urs von Balthasar) in grado di illuminarne la genesi e la manifestazione, li lega infine in sequenze analogiche. Una serie di tavole fotografiche originali, parte ineludibile e integrante della ricerca, testimonia dello stato attuale dei luoghi, connotando ulteriormente l'aspetto info-rappresentativo della loro composizione architettonica. In chiusura, la sintesi architetturale vuole essere uno strumento di verifica e progetto, quindi di trasposizione futura, correlato all'elaborazione documentaria. / The research puts at its heart the study of the architectural work of Emil Steffann (1899-1968) whose builded production consists, in the short time 1950-1968, in the very considerable number of thirty-nine churches, representing an emblematic case-study of design of buildings for Christian worship, able to show its liturgical, aesthetic and morphological founding principles. The architecture of Steffann - deeply inspired by the religious spirit, linked to primigenee figures that shape the stay-together of the community in the corporeal quality of the material, where the liturgical and monumental presence is expressed into the silence and availability of the space enclosed by walls and oriented by the light - helps to define, in the objective love for the true, the aesthetic-theological perception and the shaping poetic that ingrain, in our opinion, the project and the sign of the church. The text achieves the first comprehensive monograph of this architectural whole, based on the direct survey of the works of Steffann; it arise a story that does not depend on a chronological order or presumed prominence of the buildings, but that research and highlights the correspondences between nodes of a creative network which - with varying degrees of completeness, in not always homogeneous points of time and space - denotes an authentic experience of composing and building. The story identifies the architectural objects, discusses their consistency (to open itselt to other references, particularly the ecclesiological and liturgical thinking of Romano Guardini and the theological-aesthetic of Hans Urs von Balthasar, able to illuminate their genesis and manifestation), then binds them in analogical sequences. A series of original photographic plates, integrant and unavoidable part of the research, shows the current state of the places, further connoting the info-representative aspect of their architectural composition. The architectural synthesis aims to be a testing and design tool.

Questa ricerca indaga la prospettiva investigativa di Carlos Martí Arís. È stato assunto il campo d’azione da lui prediletto, ovvero l’articolato rapporto che in architettura si instaura tra teoria e pratica, comprensivo delle svariate ricadute nel mondo dell’arte e della produzione umana in genere, che fanno del progetto architettonico un campo disciplinare complesso. La sua figura è però assunta in modo strumentale, come grimaldello per addentrarsi in un articolato ambito culturale, che se da un lato coincide con la sua città, Barcellona, dall’altro la trascende grazie a quei “ponti della conoscenza” che CMA interrottamente ha teso al suo intorno. Ci riferiamo alla sua costruzione teorica destinata a consolidare la storica reciprocità tra Italia e Spagna, le cui tematiche urbane e tipologiche ne sono la base, Milano e Barcellona ne sono gli estremi. Ci riferiamo al suo sguardo sull’esperienza del Movimento Moderno e il relativo tema della residenza. Ci riferiamo alla sua naturale vocazione al silenzio, che si oppone al fragoroso rumore della contemporaneità e affianca la discreta parola del mestiere: un modo per porsi all’ascolto. All’ascolto dell’altro e del mondo. Ci riferiamo, insomma, alla sua idea di architettura intesa come «territorio dissodato da tempi remoti»; come trama di corrispondenze sincroniche tra terre, tempi, fatti, uomini, vicini e lontani: condizione ideale per chi voglia disciogliere il proprio lavoro nei labirintici sentieri del mondo, indifferente al rischio di perdersi nell’oblio. Oggi, in cui il progetto architettonico risulta sempre più spesso veicolo di soggettive e arbitrarie sperimentazioni formali, la lezione di CMA indica una via d’uscita: un mo(n)do condiviso che all’arroganza opponga la discrezione, che persuada a celarsi nella tradizione e a porsi umilmente all’ombra dei maestri. Tradizione e Maestri, Eteronimi e Nomi, complementarità a cui CMA affida il suo progetto di anonimato, sovrapersonale e ostinatamente teso a rilevarne le relazioni inedite. / This research enquires into the investigating perspective of Carlos Marti Arias. To this effect his privileged field of action is framed, more concretely the articulated link that is established in architecture between theory and practice, covering also the various incursions in the world of art and human production in general, all of which turns architectonic project into a complex disciplinary field. The approach to his figure is instrumental, this is, it is considered as the key which allows the entrance into an articulated cultural environment which, if on one side it coincides with his town Barcelona, on the other side it transcends it thanks to those “ bridges of knowledge” that occasionally CMA constructed towards the world around him. We are here referring to his theoretical construction meant to consolidate such reciprocity as exists between Italy and Spain, its base being their urban and typological thematic, the extremes being Milan and Barcelona. We are speaking of his natural vocation for silence that he opposes to the deafening noise of the contemporary and that he couples with the discreet word of craft. All things considered, we do refer to his idea of architecture as “ labored world of times past”, as a net of correspondence among the land, times, events, human beings, be they nearby or far away; these being the ideal conditions for those who wish to insert their own work in the maze of the world’s paths, notwithstanding the risk of being lost in oblivion. Tradition and Masters, Heteronomy and Names, complementary worlds to which CMA entrusts his Project for anonymity, a supra personal Project decidedly tending to outline the inedited links it contains. / Este trabajo indaga en la perspectiva investigadora de Carlos Martí Arias. A tal efecto, se delimita su campo de acción predilecto, más concretamente el nexo articulado que en arquitectura se instaura entre la teoría y la práctica. Su figura se enfoca de modo instrumental, esto es, como clave para adentrarse en un ámbito cultural articulado, que, si bien por un lado coincide con su ciudad, Barcelona, por el otro la trasciende gracias a aquellos “puentes del conocimiento” que ocasionalmente CMA tendía en su entorno. Nos referimos aquí a su construcción teórica destinada a consolidar aquella reciprocidad existente entre Italia y España, cuya base la constituyen sus temáticas urbanas y tipológicas, siendo Milán y Barcelona los extremos. Nos referimos a su visión sobre la experiencia del Movimiento Moderno y al tema relativo de la residencia, para él prioritario. Nos referimos a su natural vocación al silencio que opone al fragoroso ruido de la contemporaneidad y pone a la par la discreta palabra del oficio. Nos referimos en resumen a su idea de la arquitectura entendida como “territorio roturado de los tiempos remotos”, como trama de correspondencia entre tierra, tiempo, hechos, hombres, cercanos o lejanos; condiciones ideales para quienes desean disolver su propio trabajo en el sendero laberíntico del mundo, indiferentes al riesgo de perderse en el olvido. Hoy las lecciones de CMA indican una vía de salida: un mundo, un modo, compartido en que a la arrogancia se opone la discreción, que incita a acercarse a la tradición y a abrigarse humildemente en la sombra de los maestros. Tradición y Maestros, Heteronimia y Nombres, complementariedades a las cuales CMA confía su proyecto de anonimato, supra personal y obstinadamente tendente a poner en él de relieve las relaciones inéditas.

The research project concerns the restoration of military real estate, starting from the procedures in progress in Italy related to dismission, with particular emphasis for Piacenza and the case study of Caserme Bixio and Nicolai (Comparto Nord/San Sisto-Cittadella). The work is aimed at defining the relationship between urban planning and rehabilitation of dismissed military areas, in order to create a synergic effort capable to face the transformation of these sites and their integration into the urban tissue. The results obtained from the various recordings performed in Italy and in USA during the preparation of this thesis may help to find a new possible scenario for the Comparto Nord and its historic buildings.

Nel XIX secolo in Lombardia si completava la sistematica distruzione del patrimonio di polittici in terracotta già iniziata con la Controriforma; con la perdita dell’integrità delle ancone è venuta meno la memoria della loro stessa esistenza e della loro struttura. Analogo destino fu riservato alle ornamentazioni fittili degli edifici rinascimentali delle città lombarde, spesso riconducibili alle medesime maestranze responsabili della realizzazione dei polittici. Negli anni Sessanta dell’Ottocento, si manifesta però la volontà da parte delle costituende raccolte civiche lombarde di tutelare questo ricco patrimonio, con la creazione di fondi museali di terrecotte figurative e ornamentali. Oltre allo studio dei polittici fittili di cui esistono testimonianze materiali e documentali, l’attività di ricerca svolta nel contesto del Dottorato si è basata sull’esame di quanto conservato presso le raccolte dei Musei milanesi e cremaschi, con il recupero di lacerti di opere provenienti da edifici civili e religiosi di Milano, Crema, Cremona e Lodi. La ricerca è stata estesa ai frammenti di polittici presenti sul territorio bresciano e monzese e ai reperti archeologici riconducibili a modelli fittili per la statuaria lapidea del Duomo di Milano, risalenti al primo quarto del XVI secolo, epoca a partire dalla quale in Lombardia sembra declinare irreversibilmente l’utilizzo della terracotta sia per la decorazione architettonica che per la realizzazione delle ancone. / The methodical destruction of the heritage of terracotta altarpieces already begun with the Counter-Reformation was accomplished in Lombardy during the nineteenth century. With the loss of integrity of these altarpieces, we have also lost track of their existence and structure. A similar doom was reserved to the fictile ornamentation of Renaissance buildings in Lombardy, often created by the same workshops responsible for the polyptychs. Following the Italian unification, however, the forthcoming civic art collections decided to preserve this legacy with the creation of extensive figurative and ornamental terracotta funds. Besides the study of terracotta polyptychs for which physical or documentary evidence still exists, the PhD research focused on the analysis of the clay material retained in the civic museums of Milan and Crema, with the identification of remains mainly from civil and religious buildings in Milan, Crema, Cremona and Lodi. The research was also extended to include fictile fragments originally belonging to altarpieces in the area of Brescia and Monza, and clay models from archeological finds, used for the production of stone statues still existing today in the milanese cathedral and dating from the first quarter of the XVI century, in a period of time in which the utilization of terracotta for altarpieces and architectural decorations started irreversibly to decline in Lombardy.

Architecture of/in marginal spaces propose a reflection on “invisible†spaces, often not well known, that currently occupy a great proportion of territory. One generally attributes to the margin/marginality a negative connotation (what “is placed at the margin of something†or has “emigrated†there, a space of secondary importance which is not essential to the system, seeing as it has no role, a place of poor quality where waste is accumulated, the residual space in a state of abandonment, etc). This research proposes a new way of seeing certain aspects, in which the conceptual space of the margin is thought of in a positive way, from a methodological point of view within an operative design category. The evidence of the margin/marginality for a new contemporary project, is the theory that supports the research, a necessary approach given its consistency, production, accumulation of marginal space both in urban and in suburban territory. The many views, the definitions, the interpretations and the recognition of marginal spaces as a problem for the project are the “background noise†of an investigation that touches upon various disciplinary fields that, before architecture, have investigated the issue of marginality from art to literature, from music to architecture, from sociology to geography. The depth of study on the theme is in proportion to the built context of the territories in the low and medium areas of the mountains, in which, also in terms of the orographic complexity, the marginal spaces are related to the loss of the forests productive role, pastures and agricultural areas, the sites not considered by tourism for the disadvantaged low elevation or in which tourism produces settlements of poor quality such as second houses in fragile places, the areas to the exclusive use of the extraction activities. This research proposes formal strategic and tactic actions for the possible design consolidation/transformation of the coexisting marginal spaces within a geomorphological valley unit. The investigation in the Trentino case study of the Cembra valley unit, makes it possible to finalize the research to support strategic directives (future Community Plans) for the revaluation of marginal spaces, (now difficult to detect through the sectorial approaches), and the used methodological approach - in which the marginal spaces quality of emptiness became an instrument to building architectures and places of/on the transforming landscape - can then be extended to other similar cases.

This doctoral thesis presents technical strategies for the rational maintenance of the building heritage directed at the integrated retrofit of social housing stocks. The study comprised the analysis of recovered residential buildings in order to develop new sceneries to adopt in critical situations, leading to the definition of a new experimental practice called “adaptive exoskeleton”. This strategy involves the wrapping of the entire original building with a three-dimensional structural envelope, the exoskeleton, using a construction process able to limit interferences on the use of the building and on the life of its inhabitants. The exoskeleton is an independent frame, carefully designed at the joint-scale to achieve awareness of the constructive sequence and of the optimization of the resources. Dry construction technologies resulted to be the most effective, because based on the principles of lightness and reversibility, and because they allow to realize a structural grid able to satisfy different standards in relation to the changing user conditions. The strategy of the adaptive exoskeleton, which exploits optimized and industrialized components, appears convenient in relation to large-scale interventions on the built heritage and, at the same time, it is architectonically versatile, with many possible options adaptable to different cultural contexts. The structural frame can be adjusted to different dimensions, extensions, typologies and technologies, maintaining the same basic characteristics. Passive dissipative devices realized with shape memory alloys, strategically located as connectors with the existing building, are used in order to reduce the lateral displacements during earthquakes. A key idea is the separation between the long lasting elements of the construction, such as the structural systems, and the parts that can be updated progressively in relation to the requirements of the user or to the technological innovations. This principle is convenient in large-scale campaigns, where it is necessary to create a solid base structure without renouncing to the individualization and the variety of the demand, which stimulates the introduction of architectural components with a shorter use-life. The structural characteristics of this construction and its ability to dissipate the seismic input, were analysed during a research period of twelve months undertaken at the Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands) at the unit of Innovative Structural Design of the Built environment department. The verification phase considered two building typologies, due to their high diffusion in Europe: the use of the finite element software SAP2000 required the application of a “frame model” for masonry buildings and of a “strut model” for the concrete frame with masonry infill. The seismic behaviour of the buildings was analysed before any intervention and after the introduction of the adaptive exoskeleton implemented with shape memory alloys-based devices. The experimental phase was also undertaken with reference to San Bartolomeo estate in Brescia, Italy. Summarizing, the research underlined the convenience of applying retrofit processes in opposition with demolitions and reconstructions, above all in terms of social and environmental costs. The adaptive exoskeleton, in particular, provides an integrated and synergic solution because while improving the seismic behaviour of the structure, offers additional space for services and functions, increasing the economic value of the building and improving its energy performances and its architectural characteristics.

“...‘Landscape’ means an area, as perceived by people, whose character is theresult of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors; ... Acknowledging that the landscape is an important part of the quality of life for people everywhere: in urban areas and in the countryside, in degraded areas as well as in areas of high quality, in areas recognised as being of outstanding beauty as well as everyday areas ...”. The starting point for this research is the new landscape definition given by the “European Landscape Convention”. Landscape is - as per this definition - the degraded territory and the excavated sites created by the mining activity. This research is focused on the analysis and interpretation of the porphyry territory in Trentino in order to achieve a sustainable transformation. The natural scenery and the cultural features of the territory are deformed by the signs and over development that have unshaped the natural profile and morphology compromising the continuity and identity of the sites. The aim of this research is to find strategies to propose a new methodology for the quarry planning capable to develop at the same time both the excavation typology and the future reuse of the sites. In this perspective, negative topics as “refuse”, “recycling”, “scrap”, “wound” become occasion for rethinking and create landscapes. The general aim is to rethink the extraction landscapes in Trentino in order to obtain their sustainable development based on a balanced relation between social need, economy and environment. This study aims to find the linkage between the quarry activities and the tourist, cultural and social features, so that the degraded territory can be transformed in new “created landscapes”. This would appropriately fits the goals of the “European Landscape Convention”: “‘Landscape planning’ means strong forward-looking action to enhance, restore or create landscapes”.

Over the past three decades, the digital and information revolution has reshaped design methodologies, offering dynamic and multi-level modelling approaches. Urban Digital Twins have emerged as a powerful tool for Smart Cities, facilitating scenario assessments and citizen engagement. However, rural and mountainous areas face challenges due to poor connectivity and digital infrastructure, hindering technological advancements in design processes. This doctoral thesis aims to develop sustainable workflows for virtual landscape reconstructions, integrating diverse data sources and tools to support landscape and urban design in mountainous regions. The concept of a ready-made model is introduced, assembling digital procedures to address specific contextual challenges. The research employs qualitative and quantitative methodologies across different landscape scales and case studies in the Autonomous Province of Trento, Italy. Experimental-instrumental findings contribute to theoretical-methodological insights, enhancing understanding of complex territorial transformations. The thesis focuses on landscape topography, built environment, and green infrastructure, providing a holistic perspective for digital reconstruction and management. The ultimate goal is to create a Territorial Digital Twin, a three-dimensional repository of knowledge and simulator for resilient futures, bridging gaps in strategic planning and process management at the landscape scale.