- Knowledge and comprehension skills: the course in advanced representation techniques is intended to complement the design experience of the workshop, emphasising how the two practices, that of composition and that of the narration of architecture, support each other.
Since the Renaissance, but even more in the Baroque period, the forms of representation have been used to induce a state of amazement in the user, within a dynamic defined as the ‘art of wonder’. Modern technologies seem partly devoted to replicating the same tendency, to the extent of embracing a neo-Baroque aesthetic. In its premises, the course will attempt to highlight the relationship between scientific research on natural phenomena related to architecture (nature of light, existence of the void, acoustics, optics, etc.) and some works by contemporary artists who employ the same phenomena to destabilise the senses of the user.
Thematic seminars will be organised with professionals who are experts in the use of specific technological instruments. The aim of the meetings, with a theoretical calibration, will be to suggest possible forms of architectural narrative; in other words, no software or equipment will be illustrated, although many will be named and suggested, but rather a critical method in their use will be suggested.
The aim is to give the student the cultural tools to escape from the rhetoric of new technologies and digital tools, developing an autonomous and personal approach in which tools and technique support personal expressiveness.
- Applied knowledge and understanding: the direct application of the theoretical contents takes place through two paths, the structured seminars organised by the students, scheduled in the first part of the workshop, and the final project. Both activities, developed on specific topics and supported by dedicated lectures and seminars, are intended to be an opportunity to put into practice principles of exhibition design with methods and technologies freely chosen by each student.
- Autonomy of judgement: a critical and personal interpretation of the topics addressed in the ex cathedra lessons is necessary on the part of the student. The integration of digital and analogue tools dedicated to representation will be particularly appreciated in the intermediate exercises and in the narration of the final project.
- Communication skills: students will have to be able to clearly expound and apply the concepts and procedures acquired during the cycle of meetings, finalising them to the representation and presentation of the final project.
- Ability to learn: at the end of the course, students must be able to communicate in a concise and effective manner the project pathway developed, using different supports, languages and media, in order to give an account of the different dimensions of the project and above all of the coherence of the internal components and the relationships with the other 3 disciplines of the workshop.

Having attended the workshops and propaedeutic courses as envisaged in the course regulations.
The course in terms of the representation and communication of the work of Architecture also stimulates the student to apply specific skills and competences acquired in the extra-curricular sphere, enhancing them.

Design and representation are words inextricably linked to each other. The reasons of one are reflected in the form of the other and the process that both make up links the sign to the conception and the form to the profound value of conceiving man’s places in the world. The links between the architectural text and the urban context, structures, infrastructures, landscapes, geographies and territories, made explicit in and through the drawing, recall the latter's value of synthesis: in the ability to bring together the intentionality of the author, the discretion of the observer and the disciplinary tools deployed, the idea itself of ​​Architecture.
At a time when new technologies seem to offer renewed horizons to architectural representation, the dialogue of these with the world of creative expression is considered fundamental, in order to transmit not only a set of knowledge and procedures, but a new sensitivity towards issues related to the story of the project.
With these premises, therefore, the disciplinary approach to representation will necessarily be an alternative to traditional canons, inserting itself with awareness into the broader framework of the contemporary process of building Architecture through digital culture.
The cycle of meetings aims to offer an overview of the principles and applications of the most advanced technologies for representation in relation to timeless traditional tools: digital modeling in all its forms (BIM, parametric, etc.), 3D printing in relation to digital fabrication practices, surveying with advanced technologies (3D scanners and multistereo photogrammetry), architectural photography, light calculation tools for rendering, immersive devices for project fruition. What the digital world can offer are only tools that need a critical and cultural approach to find their raison d'être, so as not to be mere conveyors of 'special effects' for their own sake. The ultimate goal is therefore to develop in the student a critical approach in the use of digital tools, possibly reconciling them with analogical techniques, in order to develop in each one a personal graphic language in the representation of the project, between art and technique.

- H. Thomas, Drawing architecture, Phaidon, London 2018.
- F. Gramazio, M. Kholer, Made by Robots: Challenging Architecture at a Larger Scale, Architectural Design n.229, London, Wiley, 2014.
- M. Scolari, Il disegno obliquo: una storia dell’antiprospettiva, Venice, Marsilio 2005.
- H. Pottman, A. Asperl, M. Hofer, A. Kilian, Architectural Geometry, Bentley Institute Press, Exton 2007.
- J. Wassim, Parametric Design for Architecture, Laurence King Publishing, London 2013.
- D. C. Llach, Builders of the Vision. Software and the Imagination of Design, Routledge, New York 2015.
- M. Heinrich, Basics fondamentals of presentation. Architectural Photography, Birkhäuser, Basel 2014.
- R. Evans, The Projective Cast: Architecture and Its Three Geometries, MIT Press, Cambridge 1995.
- F. Melendez, Drawing from the Model, Wiley, New Jersey 2019.
- G. Liva, Proiezione e rappresentazione. Una storia millenarian, Aracne, Rome 2017.

The course takes its cue from the tendency in the Baroque era to build architecture conceived as machines of wonder, between scientific experimentation and artistic experience, capable in that period of finding their manifestation in the so-called wunderkammer. Such places, villas, palaces or castles, in addition to triggering a state of amazement in the user, represented de facto places of knowledge, containers of a knowledge matured over the years through an empiricist approach to science. More specifically, the scientific-artistic apparatuses referred to consisted of: large frescoes distorted in anamorphosis; large mirrors capable of deforming reality or of allowing, through the laws of reflection, the reading of otherwise incomprehensible images; rooms with alienating acoustic phenomena thanks to the presence of architectural surfaces (domes) designed ad hoc according to precise geometric principles; self-propelled automatons thanks to the forces of nature (wind, pneumatic pressure, heat) or, again, sundials and astronomical instruments on an architectural scale for the observation of celestial phenomena or the measurement of the passage of time, and more.
These events, significant in a historical period in which design was profoundly influenced by scientific experimentation and indeed materialised its achievements, find their analogue in certain trends in contemporary architecture and art.
New technologies have in fact partly renewed that art of wonder that inspired 17th century production, within an aesthetic that can be defined as neo-baroque. The course therefore, following this speculative key, aims to offer an overview of modern devices dedicated to the representation of architecture and also used by some contemporary artists. The theoretical lessons will be dedicated to the concept of parametric modelling, the use of point clouds, lighting simulations with rendering algorithms, 3D printing techniques, virtual, augmented and immersive reality applications. This overview will not dwell so much on the specific technicalities of each application, but rather on the principles that determine their operation, dwelling above all on the analysis of some case studies. As anticipated, some of these case studies will refer to the production of contemporary artists who use intangible elements (light and sound) in their installations, but capable of stressing sensory perception, in particular the sense of sight and hearing.
Some meetings on the topics described will include the presence of external experts, professionals working in the field and therefore specialised in the use of these tools.
The course in advanced representation techniques includes two exercises coordinated with the other workshop modules, the assessment of which will contribute to the final grade.

The cycle of meetings will be extended to the entire academic year. The theoretical lectures will concern some specific aspects of the history of representation in relation to the most advanced technologies dedicated to the narration of the architectural project. External guests are planned to animate the debate in relation to specific themes that will support the development of the exercises. A number of workshops have been planned for the first and second semester that will include specific individual or group exercises. Practical experiences related to certain technologies will be conducted in order to highlight the possible communicative value of these tools in relation to architecture and art.
The works of some contemporary artists, capable with their installations of creating a dialectical relationship with the architectural space, will be the subject of the lectures in the second semester.

Additional lecture-specific bibliographical references will be provided during the course, and arrangements will also be made for the lecturer to be received.
The teaching material will be available on the MOODLE platform.

The advanced representation techniques module includes two intermediate tests that will be outlined in detail during the course. The first, to be carried out in the first semester, will involve the creation of a graphic table on the theme of the first workshop; the second, to be carried out in the second semester, will involve the construction of a model, physical or digital, to enhance the contents of the second workshop. The final grade will result from the sum of the evaluations of these two first exercises (1/3 each) and from the evaluation of the storytelling strategies of the final project to be developed in the composition module (1/3). Finally, the expository capacity of each student will also be taken into account.