Building the City, Building the Territory

This contribution examines the relationship between architectural design and the territorial structure of the Val di Noto through the research and projects of morana+rao architetti, within the cultural and disciplinary tradition of the Scuola di Architettura di Siracusa. Architectural design is understood as an instrument for interpreting the relationships between geography, construction and forms of dwelling, recognising the city and countryside as complementary expressions of a shared settlement process. Three recurring morphological conditions – the plateau, the slope and the valley floor – provide the framework for examining five projects: Casa RU, Piazza Porta Reale, the House on the Hyblaean Plateau, a hospitality complex on the slope and Casa Gioi. Across different scales and contexts, architectural devices such as courtyards, terraces, plinths, substructures and thresholds establish spatial relationships between the ground, inhabited spaces and the landscape. The contribution highlights the reciprocal relationship between professional practice and theoretical research, identifying architectural design as a means of understanding and transforming the territory through the reinterpretation of its historical settlement principles.