The studio introduces students to the theory and practice of urban landscape and to the preservation of the environmental heritage of the context of the Venice lagoon.

1. Historical, Socio-political and Economical Context
We will examine the structure of the landscape of the Venetian Lagoon, together with the relationship Venice built with the territories under its Governance and how, historically, the socio-political and economical organization of the Venice community became the physical representation shaping the town, the lagoon, the buildings and the public space among them.

The investigation regards four different scales: the global scale of the network of trading goods while exchanging culture and the relationship between the Venetian and the Eastern culture; the local scale of the knots-cities of Veneto Region and, more specifically, the network of the islands of the Lagoon; the community scale of the relationship between the Palazzo and the public space and, finally, the body scale of the materials used to build the water.

2. Site and program
The project’s landscape is the suspended space of the Venetian Lagoon. Suspended between water and earth, hybrid, ambiguous, with hazy boundaries.
The program is that of the invention of a contemporary trip through the landscape of the Venice Lagoon.

The lagoon can be read and re-written as a text where “...the networks are many and interacts, without any one of them being able to surpass the rest; this text is a galaxy of signifiers, it has no beginning; it is reversible; we gain access by several entries, none of which can be authoritatively declared the main one...” (R. Barthes, S/Z, Turin, 1973).

The trip will have the following characters:
- It should be programmed on a website where the traveler can choose how long it will be, which layers he wants to meet and which means of transport he wants to use;
- it should involve different possible experiences;
- it should involve different means of transport (boat, horse, bicycle, walking, plane, helicopter).

The design will comprehend:
- a terminal building to be designed between earth and water on a site located at the edge of the northern part of the lagoon, linked to the infrastructure system (airport, railway and main roads). The location will be chosen by the instructor, but can be discussed by the student with a different motivated proposal;
- a system of points (shelters, information points, refuges, etc...) where it should be possible to sleep, eat, charge the computer, use a toilet, etc... All these points must be ‘off the grid’.
- a web site where each traveler is able to invent his/her own trip.

3. Course structure
The studio work is divided in three different parts each focusing on a specific detailed scale of the project. All students are required to maintain a sketchbook throughout the semester and use it to record ideas, observations and experiences. The sketchbook should reflect all readings, lectures and studio-related work. In addition to specific assignments, students are expected to take the initiative in developing the content of the sketchbook.

Students will participate in a trip to Venice which will take place from Mar 24 to Apr 1 and will benefit to close exposure to the topics at play through:
- direct experience of the landscape of the Venetian lagoon;
- direct visits of some of the most important historical and contemporary buildings in Venice and the Veneto Region;
- presentations by officials from various public authorities;
- direct visits to artisan’s laboratories (carpenters, smiths, boat builders, etc...) who have bridged the specific knowledge of their discipline into contemporary.