partner institutions

Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris-Belleville (France)

Technische Universiteit Delft (The Netherlands)

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain)

scientific committee

Università Iuav di Venezia

Fernanda De Maio, Alberto Ferlenga, Sara Marini

other universities

Piotr Barbarewicz (Università degli Studi di Udine), Robertino Cavallo (Technische Universiteit Delft), Giuseppe Ciorra (Università di Camerino), Giovanni Corbellini (Politecnico di Torino), Sergio Martín Blas (UPM), Virginie Picon-Lefebvre (Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Paris-Belleville), Heidi Sohn (Technische Universiteit Delft)

experts

Aldo Aymonino, Maristella Casciato, Marco De Michelis

PhD students

Giulia Buffoli, Chiara Carrera, Giacomo De Caro, Marco De Napoli, Alessandro De Salvi, Riccardo Del Fabbro, Martina Dussin, Giulio Marchetti, Alessandra Pelizzari, Giuseppe Ricupero, Renzo Sgolacchia

The international track Villard de Honnecourt, activated in collaboration with Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Paris-Belleville (France) and Universidad de Madrid (Spain), deals specifically with a theme that can be identified as ‘Post-Urbanism’.

It concerns the phenomena related to architecture, landscape and the city in the temporal context in which we live. The programme considers these issues in relation to the contemporary theoretical and cultural debate, the complicated evolution of the figure of the architect, and the elements of the geopolitical and ecological framework that strongly influence the theory and practice of architecture. PhD students are encouraged to develop their research to delve into this intellectual and physical landscape by focusing on its origins, derivations, and intersections with multidisciplinary aspects, starting from the assumption that architecture, despite its disciplinary autonomy, is a medium capable of defining new relationships. This study programme also pays particular attention to forms and methods of architectural communication and pedagogy, encouraging research that focuses on editorial and literary production linked to architecture exhibitions and curatorial culture.

Regarding the specific teaching and research activities that complement the transversal training provided within the Bembo Writing Workshop, the study programme is indicatively as follows.

The VdH track positively evaluates and encourages the development of continuous and direct exchanges between the individual doctoral student and the members of the Scientific committee. It focuses on theoretical reflection, interdisciplinary dialogue and, consequently, exchanges between PhD students and experts outside Università Iuav di Venezia. Consistent with this assumption, the work program offered to Villard d'Honnecourt doctoral students has a double line of development. The first is more related to ongoing mentoring and involvement in specific activities in each of the participating schools and the context of direct doctoral-tutor relationships. The second is instead based on the organisation of 3-4 collegial seminars to be held along the various venues/institutions involved. Each year, one or two of these seminars are organised directly by the doctoral students and include the presence of external guests and lecturers.

1. First year: three plenary seminars are planned. The first coincides with evaluating the first and second-year doctoral students and welcoming new PhD students. The second seminar focuses on setting up new research projects, while the third seminar, which takes place in early autumn, focuses on the presence of external examiners.

2. Second year: four collegial seminars are planned, at least one of which will be held in one of the foreign venues, with the same methods indicated for the first year.

3. Third year: the regular activities of the doctorate, i.e. the organisation of the four seminars, are accompanied by a collective work aimed at designing and producing a new issue of the Villard Journal, the architecture publication attached to the programme.

The Villard d'Honnecourt research area encourages internationalization and the relationship with non-academic cultural institutions, such as museums, research centres, etc. During at least two of the three years of the course, it is recommended that the PhD students undertake periods of study abroad and attend also schools and institutions that are not affiliated with the VdH network.