METADESIGN WORKING STUDIO ACTIVITIES: BETWEEN DIDACTICAL APPROACHES AND TECHNICAL EXPERIENCES

This paper presents a training experience developed in collaboration between Politecnico di Milano - Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering - and Carlo Cattaneo Institute of Higher Education in Milan - Study courses in "Construction, Environment and Territory".

The Italian Ministry of Education, starting from the 2015/2016 School Year, has introduced a rethinking of the scholastic/educational curriculum of high school students, bringing into use an experience called "Alternanza Scuola Lavoro - ASL" (work-linked training). The ASL is an innovative teaching method that, through practical experience, helps to: consolidate the knowledge acquired at school, test students' attitudes in the field, enrich their education and direct their studies and future work.

The work-linked training is an integral and coherent part of each course of study and is realized through projects that are consistent with the specific study plans of the participants. The ASL (compulsory for students of the last three years of high school) aims to represent a cultural change in order to give young people the opportunity to know professional sectors, research and work contexts, useful to achieve and integrate curricular skills, with a view to motivate and guide them to conscious choices, for the purpose of continuing their studies or entering the world of work.

Building on these premises, Politecnico has activated (in the sphere of the activities of the Continuing Education Course) a strongly structured proposal starting from a teaching laboratory (learning by doing) organized in four thematic "working studio":
A) Preservation reuse design of historical architecture:
The workshop aims to introduce the student to the topic of conservation of widespread built heritage, combining knowledge and know-how starting from a didactics realized on site (abandoned buildings to be restored) alternated with subsequent re-elaboration in class.
B) Light and architerctural space:
The workshop's theme is the study of natural and artificial light, designed to define and characterize architectural spaces. The activities have been marked by the constant dialogue between design projects and simulative technical tools with the aim of seizing the methodologies and operational tools necessary to correctly set up a light design action for an architectural space.
C) Contemporary architecture: construction and structure:
The addressed topic concerns the study of constructive and structural methods aimed at improving performance levels (in terms of energy, structure, distribution, etc. ...). In particular, participants were invited to visit "case studies" and to analyze the role of the structure in the architectural project.
D) Wood construction and architecture:
The national and international experimentations related to wooden constructions, have today led to a rethinking of the shapes and ways of sustainable living. The workshop has driven students through the analysis of the constructive aspects that characterize wooden architecture starting from case studies and scale models aiming the investigation of construction details.

The paper (after having introduced for each "working studio" the training objectives, the planning of the activities and the teaching methodologies used) presents some project results achieved, in order to identify the acquired skills and the scenarios of improvement of the experience itself.