A Traditional Approach to Digital Technologies

with Giuseppe Mazzone

This course, originally presented as part of the 2020 Summer Studio Retrospective, presents innovative digital design methods for rendering an unbuilt work of classical architecture.

Architectural practice has been slowly reshaped by the introduction of CAD software. While a constant improvement in methods and results represents the first step towards evolution, traditional design practices should not be entirely abandoned by the introduction of the new media. In the case of three-dimensional modeling, the choice to preserve a background in descriptive geometry does not imply a rejection of contemporary applications. It promotes instead a methodology aimed at improving precision while maintaining a traditional workflow. Join Giuseppe Mazzone, Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame, for a virtual reconstruction of Sainte-Anne-la-Royale, a medium size church planned in 1662 in Paris by the Italian architect Guarino Guarini, and an exploration of the potentials of new technologies.

About the Instructor

Giuseppe Mazzone is an Italian architect whose research focuses on the analysis and reconstructions of classical buildings by combining traditional drawings and digital technologies.

Giuseppe started his career in Italy where he obtained his Bachelor and Master degrees at the Polytechnic of Bari. After obtaining his European architectural license, Giuseppe moved to Milwaukee for his doctoral research – the reconstruction of a baroque church designed in Paris in 1662 by the Italian architect and mathematician Guarino Guarini, Sainte-Anne-la-Royale. The research was awarded in 2014 by the Acanthus Award for Best Student Project and gained an Institutional Nomination at the 2015 Council of Graduate School Distinguished Dissertation Award.

Giuseppe’s teaching experience began in Milwaukee where he taught drawing courses on the application of descriptive geometry in architecture. From 2017 Giuseppe joined the Notre Dame School of Architecture teaching design studios and drawing classes combining traditional and digital media.

What You Will Learn

• Methods combining traditional and digital drafting techniques.
• Methods for the analysis and reconstruction of classical buildings.
• The principles of stereotomy, the French art of stone-cutting.
• How to use multiple animation techniques (2D, 2.5D, 3D) for architectural presentations.

2020 Summer Studio Retrospective

This course is presented as part of the 2020 Summer Studio Retrospective, a four-week series of daily online content inspired by the ICAA's Summer Studio in Classical Architecture program and the many students who have been impacted through its unique course of study. You can find additional programs in this series here.

Tags: education, video, Summer Studio Retrospective, video course, recorded event