Within the urban and disciplinary context, both historical and contemporary - in the case of Florence, one comprised of a complex set of public spaces, urban structures, monuments, fortifications, infrastructures, and an interplay of multiple political, mercantile, and religious forces. To this end, architectural history is viewed not merely as a record of names, dates and styles, but more importantly as a repository of ideas and a continuity of meaning that has relevance to contemporary problems of architecture
and urban design. Typlogical studies and programs related to adaptive reuse for a  new architecture school in florence, ideologies were asked to be recognised in our efforts to cultivate a narative in florence. We were asked to search for the vernacular within our context and found the type of “sporti” a facinating formal move that embodied the extention of the past, a sort of parasite, and researched ways in which extentions were taken place in the past. This led to a design that questions the role of context and its implication on our perception. 



Instructor: David Shanks
Partner:  Hanzhang Lai