Their rigorous academic program focused on the role of urban design and architecture in the re-configuration of historic sites and/or derelict areas. As a “Retrofit Studio,” its knowledge base was grounded on the production of incremental design, documentation drawings, site visits, walking tours, examination of the current urban culture and its typo-morphological parameters, and on the use of European Catastro maps, a kind of real estate and property register, as records of urban flux for the explanation of various redevelopment tactics.
The studio was composed of three interconnected phases:
1. RETROFIT OF THE EX-MATTATOIO: meant to convert the insular district currently occupying the former City of Rome Slaughterhouse, in Testaccio, into a contemporary neighborhood where housing and public services would complement each other towards the implementation of what has been called the “Citta del’altra Economia” (City of Alternative Economy).
2. RAGUSA PUBLIC SPACE DOCUMENTATION: a project to document, in collaboration with the University of Palermo, some of the most important public spaces in the area of the Val di Noto in Sicily. Studio participants documented the main spine of the baroque urban reconstruction in the City of Ragusa – from Piazza Duomo di San Giorgio to Piazza Pola.
3. PHENOMENOLOGICAL LESSONS: in-depth walking tours and visits to repositories of urban documentation in the historic areas of Rome, Assisi, Perugia, Modica, Scicli, Noto, Donnalucata, etc. complemented the design lessons and the urban experience of students rarely confronted with this kind of urban diversity. Lectures on representation, history, theory, urban form, and on the nature of the Val di Noto reconstruction, after the earthquake of 1693, were delivered by Professor Mercedes Bares at Palazzo la Rocca and by Professor Salvatore Santuccio in-situ.
Claire Morris, a student in the Master in Urban Design said, “The Rome/Sicily Program was a great opportunity and a very intense studio. In just 6 weeks, we learned and experience so much. It was certainly one of the most educational and enriching experiences of my life.”
The Rome/Sicily Program is offered every first summer session to graduate and undergraduate students in the School of Architecture.
