Campopisano Craft Campus

Stage Five Thesis Project

How can architecture reveal the process of its conception and construction; and thus provide an apt environment for ‘making’?

urban form + architectural response

Firstly, how will this programme reveal itself within the urban realm and relate to the public domain of Genoa?

Secondly, how will this be conveyed to the occupants through the fabric of the architecture?

‘It abounds in the strangest contrasts; things that are picturesque, ugly, mean, magnificent, delightful, and offensive, break upon the view at every turn.’ 

Charles Dickens - Pictures from Italy, Chapter IV: Genoa and its Neighbourhood

In Genoa the perplexing and unpredictable layout of streets creates a stimulating and varied experience. Therefore in analysing and manipulating this experience, the circulation environment is a key element where the architectural intentions of the thesis shall be posited, providing opportunities for the cross-over between the craft disciplines, and mediating the relationship between the public realm and the private realms of the workshops.

‘If learning is the creating of paths in the brain, we should regard the brain as a network of links rather than a mass. . . it is most of all opening up what was closed.’

Space and Learning, Herman Hertzberger