40058 - THE MATERIALS AND DESIGN OF BUILDING ELEMENTS (GRPA)

The course will focus on the aspects of the design process of the construction elements through which the conception, control, and verification of transformative actions are made possible, in a way consistent with the natural and anthropic factors of the context.
The approach proposed in the course, of a systemic, performance-based and evidence-based type, intends to develop in students a design culture capable of predicting and governing the implications of technological choices. This educational path is defined to foresee and not chase the demand for ever-increasing quality that characterizes all phases of the construction of architectural space.
The proposed path will therefore tend to provide knowledge about the theoretical and operational principles necessary to control the technical and construction aspects of the construction element. The goal is to develop in students the ability to respond coherently to the needs of construction through the control of the relationships between form, executive techniques, and proper use of materials to achieve the performance required of the architectural artifact.
At the end of the course, the student must be able to carry out an analytical and responsible reading of the resources and building materials available for the living space that surrounds him, developing his own sensitivity to address the technical-constructive implications that will be at the centre of his design choices, in the educational field and subsequently in the professional one. In particular, the student must prove:

To know the building materials and their properties.
To know how to read the morphological-functional characteristics of a building element, through the interpretation of its geometries, materials, executive techniques, relationships with the requirements/environmental factors, technological-environmental performance, and connections with the building process.
To know how to distinguish the processes and functions that will characterize the life cycle of the building element.
To know how to read and frame the technological and environmental phenomena on the spatial and temporal scale.
To know how to decode the methods of use and transformation of resources and living space.
To know how to interpret the reasons and problems of the modification of the construction element in relation to the diversity of the habitat.
To know how to predict the methods of transformation of the resources, the requirements of the construction elements and the performance of the technical choices in view of their design resolution.