Abstract:

The work reports a didactic experience held as part of the “Preservation Reuse Design of Historical Architecture” (PRD) course concerning an educational path granted by the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department (DICA) at Politecnico di Milano University (Italy). The main theme regards the relationship between space, construction and light throughout the architectural project phases (Conceptual, Preliminary and Executive Design, On site Construction, Life Cycle).

The educational activity has been planned starting from the identification of the specific skills required by the lighting design. The critical reading of case studies was one of the main steps performed to retrace the design process underlying the technical solutions. A continuous relation with reality (through on-site visits, lectures by on field professionals etc.) permitted development of constantly renewing prototypes (Learning by doing) to reach an optimal configuration of the design product.

The paper reviews/retraces the undertaken didactical activities and it is structured starting from three thematic areas that are articulated around a continuous relationship between theory and practice.

FIRST PART: “COMPARISON OF THREE CASE STUDIES”
The academic activities have been planned starting from “on field” experiences. The focus has been on Preservation Reuse Design interventions realized in Milan and Varese (MI) during the last century. They were visited by the participants of the course, since they all represent paradigmatic case studies on which to build discussions on the different approaches used.
The paper synthetically presents the methodological and didactical process involved, characterised by:
- a general profile of the author and case study and their historical-geographical-cultural context;
- drawings and original documentation on the project and analysis of the meta-design concept;
- re-elaborated version of the experiences through a design focus/interpretation.

SECOND PART: “ARCHITECTURE BETWEEN SPACE AND LIGHT”
The second part presents a theoretical and disciplinary consideration on the role of the architecture project. The dialogue with the matter composing the buildings is particularly important to understand the connections between the debated aspects. A philosophical and scientific approach to the theme has allowed the definition of themes like: the experimentation of the spatial and temporal dimensions, the relation between the arts (painting, sculpture and architecture), the reflection of light on matter.
For each theme, the paper presents some examples of iconic and textual re-elaborations oriented to the definition of possible designs.

THIRD PART: “DIDACTICAL EXPERIENCES”
Throughout the “Formazione Permanente” path, a lighting design dedicated module has been proposed, focussing on the light design process in the existing buildings. This module is divided in three parts:
- fundamentals of lighting and theoretical/disciplinary references related to the industrial context;
- critical analysis of realised case studies starting from the comparison between the previous and current/designed situation;
- results of the lighting project for architecture of interiors developed by the participants.

The conclusive section of the paper presents a comparison of the final design results. This enables the understanding of the creative process underlying the design choices in relation with the orientations discussed in the theoretical phase.

Keywords:

Architectural design, light design.