The state exam at Trieste

The brief asks for a villa for an artist — sculptor, painter or musician — on the Trieste Carso, with the explicit option of building it as a prefabricated system. The plot is partly developable and partly agricultural, bounded by dry-stone walls protected as pre-twentieth-century features, and falls within a landscape protection area under article 136 of the Cultural Heritage Code, in a context described as a “transitional landscape”. The stated aim is a new-build that carries the personality of someone who wants a unique artefact while staying within the canons of respect for the territory. The design must address five things: the plan layout of the new building, the application of the provisions on removing architectural barriers in private buildings with explicit reference to law 13 of 1989, the external landscaping, the furniture layout studied around the scenic viewpoints of the surroundings, and the construction details. The planning parameters are given: minimum plot of 800 sqm for new construction, floor space index no greater than 0.8 cbm/sqm, building coverage no greater than 30%, maximum height 7.50 m and a distance of at least 10 m between windowed walls and the walls of facing buildings.

A sealed envelope with two alternative practical-exam themes (Section A, 2024). THEME 1 — the new construction of a detached house on a lot of about 1,000 sqm in a municipality of Trieste province, for a family of four, with a pool and relaxation area in the basement and two possibly-covered parking spaces, complying with the B3 zone parameters of the town plan (floor-area ratio 0.8, coverage ratio 30%, maximum height 7.50 m, distances of 5 m from boundaries, 10 m from buildings, 5 m from roads); required are a 1:200 site plan with external works, dimensioned 1:100 ground-floor and basement plans with building and health parameters, at least one 1:100 section and at least two elevations with materials. THEME 2 — an urban recovery in Trieste's centre, at the edge of the walled city: a residual space left by unfinished works, at the junction between the pedestrianised Cittàvecchia district and the 19th-century Piazza dell'Unità d'Italia, to be turned into a public space. The urban-scale design defines a square — with a site-volume plan for the buildings to rebuild or complete, pedestrian and green areas, street furniture, traffic (including emergency access), disabled accessibility, rainwater management and lighting — and includes a small kiosk (florist, newsagent, small bar). Deliverables: a 1:500 site plan, a 1:200 plan of the square and one of its sections, and the kiosk's 1:50 plan, section and elevations.

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 two alternative practical-exam themes (Section A, 2019). THEME A — the reuse of a building originally of mixed agricultural and residential use in a mountain historic centre: on the ground floor a large stable and the kitchen with a pantry, both under barrel vaults, and the everyday rooms; the attic, reached by an internal hatch and an external stair, holds a hayloft and an added room. The candidate must design its reuse for contemporary uses, with spaces that are not overly compartmentalised and an informal use, engaging with the historic structure (the vaults, the connections) and the historic-centre context. THEME B — a product-image centre, i.e. the corporate outlet of a confectionery industry, to be built at the company site, in a semi-rural area of Friuli along a busy, highly visible regional road: a minimum 10 m setback from the road edge, a maximum height of 10 m above ground, with the option to build against the plant (for blind walls). The new building, linked to the plant and reachable from the existing guest car park, spans one or more floors for about 400/500 sqm of gross area, with a direct-sales area (no warehouse) and a space for meetings, seminars and exhibitions. Deliverables: a 1:500 location plan, 1:100 plans, main 1:100 elevations and sections, a construction and facade detail, and possible concept sketches.