The state exam at Genova

A sealed envelope with three alternative practical-exam themes (Section A), each with its linked written test (a report on formal, dimensional and technological choices and construction criteria). THEME 1 — a coastal observatory: a small building on elevated points along the coast for navigation, boating, fishing and naturalistic watch (2-3 operators per shift, possible overnight stay, a 120° visual horizon), in high-value windy landscapes: the most compact surface and volume possible, natural ventilation, solar-radiation protection, photovoltaic power, minimal external services, resistance to saline climate and wind load (+800/−500 N/sqm), thermal insulation (ref. −5°C/+20°C) — with the constraint that the site may be unreachable by construction machinery, driving techniques and materials. THEME 2 — a settlement of 10 “growing houses” on assigned 9×18 m lots: incremental dwellings from 36 gross sqm up to 108 sqm (36×3) with a programmed-growth system in max 3 phases (one or two storeys), for young couples with growing needs, cohousing allowed; an unspecified Mediterranean coastal context, 3 m between blind fronts and 6 m between windowed fronts, minimum heights 2.70 m (services 2.40 m). THEME 3 — the regeneration of piazza Roma in Pinerolo (about 3,110 sqm, a 38×83 m rectangle), the town's historic market square: replace the existing steel canopy with a new structure hosting about 40 stalls of 4×2.15 m and opening the square — fully pedestrian yet accessible to service and emergency vehicles — to other uses, giving value to the roof's upper face seen from the tall surrounding buildings and favouring low-maintenance materials.

A sealed envelope with three alternative practical-exam themes (Section A, summer session 2017), each with its linked first written test. THEME 1 — an urban-regeneration design for Transformation District no. 17 of Genoa's municipal urban plan (PUC), in Sampierdarena, following the plan's compliance rules (materials provided: PUC excerpts, Liguria Regional Law 16/2008 on usable floor area and settlement-use indexes, 1:5,000 mapping): an early-20th-century residential fabric with historic remnants (holiday palaces), the via Rolando shopping street, schools, the Sampierdarena railway station, via Cantore and the nearby Fiumara mall. THEME 2 — a civic library in an eastern-Liguria town, on a services lot next to a watercourse (15 m minimum distance for new buildings, no basements allowed), two storeys high, with lobby and cloakroom, reading and periodicals rooms, archive, staff and public toilets and a small café point, complying with rules on energy saving, renewables and architectural barriers. THEME 3 — the residential recovery of an old three-storey rural building (oven, stable and cellar at ground floor, two flats above, long used as a warehouse) into one or two units of the candidate's choice, with a possible 20% volumetric extension of the gross habitable area: attention to vertical circulation (internal or external), justified changes to structure and openings and the extension's choices; the report also asks for specification items for works on the existing structures and the technical specs of the extension.

A sealed envelope with three alternative practical-exam themes (Section A), each with its linked first written test. THEME 1 — the residential reuse of a top-floor dwelling in a six-storey building: a volume already covered by an amnesty, a reinforced-concrete structure with no static issues but decayed perimeter walls; a new layout for a two-level dwelling, with a report on criteria, materials, energy-saving technologies and the permit procedure. THEME 2 — a retail complex sized to the attached table, separating the food retail volume from the others, with dedicated pedestrian and vehicle access, outline sizing and the organization of open spaces (greenery and parking); a report on distributive sizing, accessibility and architectural barriers, escape routes and the authorization procedure. THEME 3 — a housing building in the urban fabric of Imperia, on a lot with a flat central part and a steeply sloping raised part held by an existing retaining wall, with two vehicular entrances: no more than three storeys (ground floor possibly non-residential with plant rooms, cellars and covered parking), three dwelling types of which one barrier-free, a mixed roof — pitched and walkable flat; the report justifies typology, structural system, energy efficiency and barrier-free solutions.

A sealed envelope with three alternative practical-exam themes (Section A, 2015): all three sit on the same site — the former A.M.T. bus depot on via Maddaloni in Genoa, to be imagined fully demolished — asking for three different transformations, with the shared warning that the area is at flood risk and must be designed with suitable solutions. THEME 1 — an open-access library over several floors, with a detailed programme: lobby, a selection/consultation/lending area (450 sqm), a reading area (400 sqm), a periodicals room, a study area, an archive (300 sqm), a media library, offices, a refreshment area, toilets, a 100-seat conference hall usable outside the library service, and covered staff parking; the written test asks for the conference hall sizing at 1:50. THEME 2 — a multi-storey residential complex in one or more volumes, with a total volume no greater than 16,000 cubic metres; the written test asks for the typical-flat sizing at 1:50. THEME 3 — the residential urban development of the area under three alternative floor-area ratios (1.00 / 1.25 / 1.50), with the provision of planning standards (12 sqm/inhabitant of equipped greenery, 3 for common-interest uses, 3 for public parking, plus private parking): a comparative assessment of the three solutions and the chosen one developed as a 1:500 site-volume plan with 1:200 sections and elevations. Deliverables: 1:100 plans, elevations and sections for the buildings; a 1:500/1:200 site-volume plan and layout scheme for the urban study.

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.

A sealed envelope with three alternative practical-exam themes (Section A, November 2013 session), each with existing-state drawings and a short written report. THEME 1 — in the urban centre of a western-Ligurian town, a public detailed plan sets an organic intervention unit on a lot of about 1,000 sqm: design a building with retail on the ground floor and housing above (usable area up to 1,700 sqm, eaves height no higher than the existing building on via Fiume), after demolishing the internal buildings, with given alignments, the public use of the pedestrian areas, a public portico and an inner garden-square, basement parking at the legal minimum, compliance with energy saving and barrier-free rules, and the use of passive heating and renewables. THEME 2 — a new building for a small food market with an attached bar/café, on a flat lot facing a pedestrian square in the Po valley: eaves height 9 m, maximum gross buildable area 950 sqm, with an accessibility check. THEME 3 — a small brewery in Genoa's historic centre, in a former harbour warehouse within a building listed under the Cultural Heritage and Landscape Code (Legislative Decree 42/2004): arrange the production cycle (possibly on view), the tasting and serving spaces, a light refreshment service and the toilets, with a mezzanine of at most 140 sqm, working on a room of thick stone walls, pillars and vaults, without ground insulation or systems, and creating a boiler room reached directly from outside. Deliverables: a 1:200/1:100 building design with an arranged site plan, dimensioned plans, elevations and sections, a 1:50/1:20 construction detail, a 1:20 bathroom plan and an accessibility check.