Tourism and hospitality: farm stay, hotel, B&B, bathing resort

A sealed envelope with two alternative practical-exam themes (Section A, 2024). THEME 1 — the renovation of an apartment in a building facing the central Piazza del Ponterosso in Trieste: a partly representative home with a double and a single bedroom, each with its own bathroom, a further toilet near a large living room, a kitchen with a pantry-store and at least eight wardrobe modules; required are a dimensioned 1:100 plan with the building and health parameters (uses, room areas, daylight/ventilation ratios), two 1:100 sections, a 1:50 plan with materials and construction details, and an axonometric view. THEME 2 — a new beach establishment with services at Grado Pineta (Gorizia province), on a Minimum Intervention Unit of about 15,600 sqm of maritime domain: following the Technical Rules of the “beaches” plan variant (band A of free transit, B of shaded stay and C of services), with an occupancy index of 0.06, a maximum height of 3 m, a pitched or flat solarium roof, 50% sea-front visual permeability, low-impact technologies and the prescribed disabled services; required are the overall 1:500 design and the 1:100 architectural development of the services area (a bar-restaurant kiosk and the small service structures).

A sealed envelope with three alternative practical-exam themes (Section A, 5 hours): three small public or receptive buildings where architectural quality matters, each with its linked written test and an explicit request for at least one three-dimensional representation. THEME 1 — on a 30 m square empty flat lot, an artists' space hosting, on a yearly rotation, the winner of a call: a workshop of about 80 sqm within the visitor route, an exhibition space of about 200 sqm always open with half its area double-height, visitor toilets and a mini-loft dwelling (≤80 sqm); ground footprint max 200 sqm, height max 10 m, aiming at a neutral, flexible backdrop. THEME 2 — the new vertical access to the town fortress, the local tourist heart, on a steep slope: on an already-built foundation platform (8×8 m reinforced concrete) an iconic tower (max height 16 m, minimum floor-to-floor 3 m) with a panoramic ascent (stairs and lift), ticket office and services on the ground floor, an events hall ≥40 sqm, the keeper's dwelling, a café overlooking the town and a panoramic terrace from which an aerial link reaches the fortress. THEME 3 — a small receptive building in a continuous terrace (lot 8.5×14 m, abutting on both sides), with fronts west onto the pedestrian street and east onto a 10 m-deep inner court: at least eight rooms (4+4) with private baths over two levels, a ground floor for reception, services and breakfast, and a manager's flat (≥80 sqm) on the top floor; eaves height on the street 9 m (max 13 m), with attention to the stone context of the adjoining buildings. Shared deliverables: a three-dimensional representation, a significant section, elevations and plans 1:100, and the construction detail of the ground and roof nodes attentive to energy containment (1:20).

A sealed envelope with three alternative practical-exam themes (Section A, 5 hours): three interventions on existing buildings, between recovery and reconstruction, each with its linked first written test (justify the choices, the construction system and the sizing). THEME 1 — the ruin of a late-19th-century warehouse on the edge of the historic centre (10.30×21.30 m, masonry, roofless): refurbishment and extension (+45% floor area) into a neighbourhood hall for public meetings, small screenings and workshops, with the landscaping of the rear green area facing a park; required are 100 seats with a storage room, two offices ≥15 sqm, four toilets (one for disabled users), 20 parking spaces and an outdoor-activities area. THEME 2 — a partly abandoned early-20th-century rural farmhouse (rendered masonry, timber-joist floors, timber roof): refurbishment with traditional techniques as a bed and breakfast with two rooms (baths ≥4 sqm), one room with a disabled bath, a breakfast room and a two-room flat for the managers, with a 40% floor-area increase in adherence or as a detached body and five parking spaces. THEME 3 — the reconstruction, on its original footprint, of a demolished public building that redefines the north-east side of the main square of a small settlement on a Romagna hill ridge (the site of the old fortress destroyed in the 17th century): a civic hall for conferences, events and exhibitions exploiting the terrain — with the lower floor at −3.50 m reached from the east — and reopening, if well shaped, the view toward the sea; 100 seats, storage, two offices ≥15 sqm, four toilets (one for disabled users). Shared deliverables: dimensioned 1:100 plan with furniture and attention to barrier-free rules, a section and two 1:100 elevations, and a ground-to-roof construction detail (1:20 or 1:10) attentive to energy containment.

A sealed envelope with three alternative practical-exam themes (Section A, 5 hours): three refurbishments of existing buildings, each with given structural constraints (a structure to keep and to treat as seismically adequate) and the linked first written test (justify the design and construction choices). The candidate must organise functions and spaces respecting the given structure, external perimeter and maximum height. THEME 1 — a municipal building of about 240 sqm in a residential area, from the 1960s, in mixed masonry and reinforced concrete: refurbishment into a neighbourhood service holding a library and a playroom, using an existing mezzanine at the rear and possibly keeping or relocating the ground-floor services and heating plant, with facade changes allowed. THEME 2 — the ground floor (about 400 sqm, 3.50 m high) of a building with a social centre already active upstairs, freed by the relocation of a shop: a functional expansion of the centre (library, bar, offices, services) with a seismically adequate reinforced-concrete structure, coordinating with the upstairs gym, clinic and other spaces and with the basement store. THEME 3 — a two-storey rural masonry farmhouse: refurbishment into a farm-stay with the manager's flat, three guest rooms with bathrooms and a dining room with a kitchen of at least 20 sqm. Shared deliverables: a furnished, dimensioned 1:100 plan, 1:100 elevations and section, and a significant construction detail (1:20), which may be integrated with sketches and perspective drawings.

A sealed envelope with three alternative practical-exam themes (Section A, first 2014 session), each with existing-state cartography and a first written test justifying the choices and the sizing. THEME 1 — on a buildable lot owned by the Municipality of Sestri Levante, in the valley of the Gromolo stream, a residential building within a maximum volume of 2,405 cubic metres: no more than three storeys above ground plus a possible non-residential basement, a pitched roof and at least two different dwelling types, accounting for the given no-build constraints (cemetery buffer and river buffer) and addressing accessibility, visitability and adaptability under Ministerial Decree 236/89. THEME 2 — the recovery of a cluster of unremarkable rural buildings in open countryside at Amelia, Forano locality (a PRG agricultural zone): today stores and barns with a single two-storey rural dwelling, to be turned into a family-run farm-stay by defining the hospitality and social spaces (restaurant, kitchen, living room, bar, outdoor common spaces and the manager's flat), with modest volume increases and altered openings. THEME 3 — in a peripheral area of a small Piedmont municipality, the design of a vacant residential (and compatible-use) area through a privately-initiated executive urban plan: define uses, building type, the location of planning standards and the road layout, respecting the assigned parameters (territorial index 0.60, coverage ratio 0.50, maximum height 10.50 m, standard 25 sqm/inhabitant) and the obligation to continue the pedestrian route to the north. Deliverables: from the building's 1:100 plans and sections to the 1:500/1:400 site-volume plan and the implementation-plan scheme, depending on the theme.

A sealed envelope with three alternative practical-exam themes (Section A, 20 June 2013), each with existing-state drawings and a short written report. THEME 1 — the recovery of a building, originally a residential villa later extended with added bodies, into the town hall with its offices: a general refurbishment that enhances the main body and reorders or demolishes the accretions (maximum 20% volume increase), inserting multipurpose social spaces with teaching rooms, a conference space for at least 50 seats, an exhibition space, gathering spaces and offices, with full accessibility for public buildings and by opening the inner courtyard to the public, linked to a pedestrian square. THEME 2 — a new residential building for the managers of a farm-stay business in the Apennines behind Genoa: a maximum usable area of 118 sqm (per Regional Law 16/2008), a 7 m eaves height and at most two levels, with a double bedroom, a twin and a single room, bathrooms, kitchen, living-dining room and storage, blending visually with the existing farm complex and meeting adaptability per Ministerial Decree 236/1989. THEME 3 — the renovation of an urban flat (reinforced-concrete structure, cavity perimeter walls, systems and finishes to be redone) for a family with two children, one severely disabled: the reorganisation provides a room for the disabled child with space for nursing staff and an equipped bathroom with a bathtub accessible on three sides, ensuring the assistance areas are not hospital-like but stay residential and comfortable. Deliverables: a 1:100 building design with functions and areas, significant elevations and sections, an existing-vs-project comparison plan, a 1:20 bathroom plan, and the report on systems and on energy-consumption containment.