Venice Studio (ABPL30070)

This 2-week July intensive studio subject introduces students to the complexities of the historic city and its architecture in the contemporary age of cultural tourism through empirical and archival research, and the completion of a design project.
The subject utilises the significant expertise and resources of the European Cultural Academy (ECA); an arm of the largest architecture programming body in Venice after the Venice Biennale, and the IUAV Archivio Progetti; one of the premier archives in Europe which houses important collections of Italian design and architecture.
This subject asks students to consider the acute convergence of heritage, environment, mass tourism, aesthetics, and contemporary design culture to develop design responses which critically re-evaluate the adjacency of historical buildings and contemporary design techniques within the historic city. Observation and documentation of the city, its architecture, and its present-day rhythms are combined with archival research of more recent Italian design histories at the IUAV Archive to provide students with the critical tools for generating a speculative design project. Design projects will investigate the confluence of tradition and contemporaneity but also explore the active role the archive (and its contained design histories) plays in these constructions.
Venetian architects and scholars will work with students in the studio to develop their projects and aid in the development of student’s knowledge of the city and its architecture. Various other local guests will provide lectures and hold discussions with students on the present-day cultural, socio-political, and environmental aspects of the city.

Subject Notes: In 2021 this subject will be delivered via a blended model in Melbourne and online with Venice.