From Cinema to the Scientific Theater. An Exercise on the Architectural Composition of a Scene

After a series of introductory lectures on the relationship between cinema, literature, and architecture, the students were invited to choose a film from those presented during the course and present its fundamental concepts through the creation of a three-dimensional model made to an appropriate scale and with materials of their choice. Since these were first year students, this presented itself as their first design experience useful to understand fundamental concepts such as: the development of an idea, the scale of representation, the architectonic reference, the concepts of drawing and modeling; essentially the basics of composition. The cinematic work, then, was in this case used as a tool to introduce students to architecture, this way allowing them to understand its importance and complexity. Inspired by the example of Aldo Rossi’s “Teatrino Scientifico” (Scientific Theater), the students were invited to think of their own “teatrino” (or small theater) where they could stage the synopsis or interpretation of a movie presented during the lectures, first creating drawings which they would then translate into a three-dimensional model. From these premises, each one of them, assisted by the teaching staff, was able to develop and represent their own idea, thus acquiring the fundamental rules and basic principles of the architectural discipline.