RE-FORM Master course – spring 21

Reduce, recycle, reuse – mottos of our time. The shift towards environmentally friendly modes of production and consumption is gathering momentum. The practice of architecture and urban development – traditionally part and parcel of a culture of unleashed consumption and of production systems driven by «new» and «more» – needs to be rethought.

We want to explore how the structure of our cities can absorb, reflect, and participate in new lifestyles and production systems. How can our built environment react, adapt, and perform under these shifting conditions. What elements have high resistance to change? Which aspects can be easily transformed? What possibilities for change arise from the sharing economy and new patterns of living and working? How can different functions and programs be combined? What kind of strategies can be applied to achieve radical reduction, recycling and reuse?

Re-form will look at the theme of transformation and rehabilitation with the eyes of our time and explore this, beyond the practice of conserving heritage, as a key ingredient for an updated attitude towards the production and use of architectural/urban space.

Link to course website for presentation of projects

Front illustration: Giovanni Battista Piranesi