Project R-12171

PEDAGOGICAL TOOLS AND DESIGN STRATEGIES FOR URBAN REGENERATION International Laboratory for Architecture & Urban Design (1976- 2015) (Research)

This research project addresses a myopia in current historiographical works on architectural education by shifting focus from canonical works and institutional histories to understanding how knowledge was produced by means of pedagogical tools and design strategies and how these wired interdisciplinary knowledge structures. The lens through which this will be studied is the International Laboratory of Architecture and Urban Design (ILAUD, 1976 till 2005), an educational platform established by the architect Giancarlo de Carlo that uniquely operated in the interstices of the disciplines of architecture, conservation, urban design and planning. ILAUD constitutes a particularly relevant example of the growing awareness of urban form, local identity, cultural heritage and socio-economic values of the built environment in the discursive context of education from the mid-70s onwards. By means of fundamental archival research and oral history, this research aims to identify pedagogical strategies and tools in the ILAUD summer courses and distinguish underlying programmatic claims, material and epistemic conditions. As such, it aims to contribute to the necessary intellectual and conceptual scaffolding of design strategies and tools for adaptive reuse of urban structures and participative strategies for urban and regional economic and sustainable growth in today's studio-based architecture education.

01 October 2021 - 01 December 2023