FACTORY FUTURES // AA VISITING SCHOOL IVREA - ITALY

As production relentlessly abandons its traditional industrial sites and the labour market gets restructured around a new radical flexibility, Europe may be seen in a phase of rapid change rather than stasis. In this scenario, Factory Futures sets itself as investigative agency researching new relationships between these continental mutations and the built environment through innovative design processes. The twelve-day, intensive AA Visiting School programme will be based in Ivrea (Turin) and structured around the partnership between the Architectural Association and the Adriano Olivetti Foundation with the technical support of Gehry Technologies. As the now defunct headquarter of the Olivetti productive facilities, Ivrea offers an unparalleled insight both on the unique industrial and cultural project of Adriano Olivetti and on the current territorial repercussions of post-fordist economy – abandonment of industrial sites, demographic shrinking, urban sprawl, precariousness. While former Olivetti factories are being transformed in call centres and generic workplaces for the knowledge economy, students will explore their experimental re-use through the design of a prototypical live/work environment. Prototypes will be developed using a custom-written application of Digital Project led by Gehry Technologies tutors to enable participants to engage with BIM/parametric thinking and relate this back to prototyping techniques through a dedicated digital fabrication workshop. The experimental design workshop will introduce industrial methodologies and manufacturing processes with the aim of familiarising students with the use of PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) technologies to conceive, design and manufacture an architectural product. Alongside design and software tutorials, a series of interdisciplinary seminars will offer exclusive insights on the Olivettian culture, contemporary theories and advanced technological applications. Students’ works will be collected into a publication and also exhibited in London, Ivrea and Rome. The intensive twelve-day workshop is open to current architecture and design students, PhD candidates and young professionals. Fee discounts will be offered including early applications and group applications. The deadline for applications is 1st July 2012. All participants traveling from abroad are responsible for securing any visa required. After payment of fees, the AA can provide a letter confirming participation in the workshop. A portfolio or CV is not required, only the online application form and payment. ivrea.aaschool.ac.uk