Out There

"Out There" is a research about alternative living models for contemporary human settlements using rural conditions as a platform for urban experimentation. The studio is interested in alternative forms of organization and production exceeding traditional linear economies to improve urban habitability, social equality and ecologic balance through landscape reconnection, program reconfiguration and technological innovation. 

The studio is not sympathetic to a "back to the land" movement nor a campaign for urbanites to flee from the cities. It aims to explore an integrative path that blends urban efficiency with rural resilience in search of new domains for the uncertain future of post-urban developments. 

The studio aims to develop the conditions to establish a self-sufficient community for 500 people who will settle in the old stadium. The goal is to challenge the future of communal living spaces by rethinking standards and creating awareness of how we produce and consume, promoting slow, soft, and ecological urban settlements to allow architectural discipline to broaden its horizon and take on alternative themes and approaches.

The Course will require students to group in pairs. Each team will define a particular vision and develop a program that will become a key and strategic component of the design agenda. The approach is free but needs to fit into the topic of "future urban habitats: co-living, co-sharing, co-producing."

Co-Living.- This is the main program to be developed. It is about communal housing and finding possible new ways we will be inhabiting cities in our near future. Please check the following point about "some questions to reflect upon" to find inspiration and relevant topics for the brief.

Co-Sharing.- This is a complimentary program related to how public spaces will be in the future and how they will be affected by new ways of living. How is leisure going to be? What type of amenities can be expected? 

Co-Producing.- This side program will consider the potential of future forms of labor and alternative ways of production and access to food, goods, and energy. We will speculate about new economies based on urban agriculture, fab-lab production, co-working spaces...