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nowledge, ethics, common good quality

and responsability: these are the

words that summarize the fundamental

theme under discussion in De Architectura

1

,

written by Marco Vitruvio Pollione, and

that ring true today, to describe the state

of architecture and the role of the architect.

If, indeed there is no doubt about the

influence architecture and design have on

our lives, at the same time it is clear how

the architectural project should be more

focussed on daily life, its dynamics, its

rhythms and living habits.

The centre of the project represents a real

need that can longer be put off, consid-

ering the demographic growth forecasts

provided by the United Nations annual

report: there will be 8 billion inhabitants

in 2023, 8.6 billion in 2030; 9.8 billion

in 2050 and 11 billion in 2100. We need

however to add an observation to this

statistic – and that is that this increase in

the population will be concentrated only

in nine countries: India, Nigeria, Repub-

blica Democratica del Congo, Pakistan,

Ethiopia, Tanzania, the United States,

Uganda and Indonesia. India, a country

that today has 1 billion, 300 million inhab-

itants (18% of the world’s population),

will become the most populated country,

overtaking China (1 billion, 400 million),

while the European countries will be the

only ones in which a reduction will take

place: between 2017 and 2030 going from

742 million to 739 million. Going beyond

the numbers, it is far too predictable to

affirm the necessity to design or redesign

cities, roads, neighbourhoods, houses and

furnishing systems. Something more

has to be done: it is necessary to imagine

alternative or complementary housing

models, to redefine the living, working

and free-time dynamics of those ever-

increasingly crowded urban centres, to

redesign the flows of people and objects

in limited spaces, to regulate the integration

between constantly evolving buildings

and the natural environment that is con-

stantly under attack and finally, if possi-

ble, to repair the rift that has been created

between man and nature.

Today architecture is a hybrid of all these

things, a mix of complexity and synthesis,

a union between style and technology,

between being and doing, between shape

and function. But perhaps it has always

been that way. One of the most successful

definitions of architecture is provided by

one of the pioneers of the Modern Movement

Adolf Loos, who said in his famous Orna-

ment and Crime

2

, written in 1908: “If we

find a mound of earth in a wood that is

six foot by three... in the shape of a pyramid,

we take it seriously and something tells

26

us: there is a body buried underneath.

This is architecture”.

This sentence sums up the very meaning

of architecture: starting from a well defined

place, in this case a wood, a place that

has unique and extraordinary characteristics,

and consequently an environment able

to stir up unique thoughts and emotions.

Then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere,

an artifice appears, a construction, in this

case a mound of earth, something that

disrupts the balance with nature, triggering

a new system of connections. Its presence

generates a reaction, provokes a certain

frame of mind to those who observe it:

seriousness! Architecture, therefore, can,

indeed, must generate an emotion, create

an instinct to participate in an experience.

But not only. Loos’ definition also express-

es the experience of building, or man’s need

to use tools and techniques to give shape to

architecture, in this case a pyramid.

A volume with clear-cut geometries rules

and dimensions, referring precisely to the

human body (6 foot by × 3 foot), is always

a benchmark for space (Le Corbusier

strongly reaffirmed this, with his Modulor,

approximately 50 years later). The rule

therefore means awareness: whoever was

in front of the pyramid in the forest would

immediately understand, without needing

to be an architect, that it was a tomb.

Loos definition is therefore the best sum-

mary of the issues that revolve around

architecture, but above all high-lights the

complex nature of relations and connec-

tions between those who build, those who

see and those who live architecture.

While the iconic draw of architecture,

remains intact, today, more than 100

years after Loosian style Vienna, we have

to say that the dynamics and the process-

es connected to projects have changed

enormously, mainly because they no

longer involve only architects and interior

designers, but clients and creators are in-

creasingly more involved. In this “shifting

and unstable” lifestyle of the new mil-

lennium roles often overlap, skills, while

specific, become integrated, objectives

are shared, processes are transformed and

technologies evolve rapidly.

It is for this reason then that, on a local

scale, the most recent successful projects

have been those able to interpret the

identity of a city or an urban area, enhancing

it with interventions expressiing moder-

nity without abusing the spirit of the place:

neighbourhoods and buildings able to

integrate into their social and urban fabric,

expressing contemporaneity without

erasing the past. The large, former industri-

al areas of cities, and not only European

ones, have been, and still are symbols of

extraordinary potential.

In London just as in Milan; in Paris just

as in Berlin numerous projects have been

able to fill a gap, to heal a wound to ex-

press positive energy, transforming prob-

lems into opportunities: from Battersea

Park in London to Porta Nuova in Milan,

from the port area Hafen City in Ham-

burg to the projects involving surburban

Paris neighbourhoods. All of the projects

are characterised by their attention to the

use of resources. Vast abandoned areas

that are bought back to life and play a

strategic role in the transformation of the

city, offering shared common spaces and

new areas of sociality, in which the public

and private aspects co-exist. The former

industrial areas, enriched by covered

squares intended as new agoras, they are

in fact a driving force of attraction and

development. But a vision characterised

by a community vision does not solely

refer to urban areas, the same attention

can be given to lounge areas in hotels,

no longer intended areas but as areas of

relationships, meetings and business, life

3

.

Similiarly, one could see the phenomenon-

of inhabiting the exterior of a building as

a natural extension of the interior rather

than something stand alone.

A

currently underway and will be even more

evident in the future – the OECD fore-

sees that in 2030, two thirds of the world’s

population will be living in urban cen-

tres

4

–, has fostered the concentration of

buildings and their vertical development.

The architectural project has therefore

transformed, in the most expert cases,

into an opportunity of technological exper-

imentation, redefinition of type and reor-

ganization of the social and urban fabric.

Not to mention the new skyscrapers,

that are changing the face of our cities, they

are designed down to the slightest detail,

almost like precious objects. Architects take

advantage of their isolated position to

transform them into icons, recognizable, both

phyically and metaphorically “from afar”.

A similiar devlopment can also be seen within

homes. We see the most prestigious fur-

niture in the living space and the kitchen

area, that are conceived as self expres-

sive, micro pieces of architecture, able to

communicate through full and empty

correlations and tricks of light and shade.

Leaving aside the common and banal

single material, design is enhanced by

combinations of of finishes, materials

and different colours. Because nowadays

the projects reasoning and the formal

imagination are similiar, whether we are

talking about architecture or interior

design. In both cases, the proportional and

dimensional balances between volumes,

the correlation between natural and artifi-

cial light, colours and the evaluation of

the performance of materials all matter and

carry their own weight. In one word:

the involvement of all the senses in the use

of a space or in the use of an object.

As we said, architecture and interior design

merge together and there are no longer

formal and conceptual divisions between

internal spaces and external ones.

Consequently the division of the architect’s

role, that had led to them being consid-

ered as disinterested in interior design and

furnishings has been avoided. On the

contrary, today a new organically uniform

thought is being proposed again, quoting

the beginnings of Modernism, able to guide

choices and to define both the functional

and aesthetic aspects from the early con-

cept stages.

The spirit of the past leaves room for open

structures in which “the inside and the

outside” interpenetrate, leaving no solu-

tion of continuity, an osmosis of surfaces

and materials that are increasingly more

performing and include the outdoor sec-

tor. That is why it is then easy to hypothe-

size, infact it is now possible to verify,

a city in which roads and buildings no

longer exist, in their place there is an

interpenetration, an osmosis of entities,

with private spaces that integrate public

uses and public areas that host their own,

different private activities.

M

and the awareness of the impact human

actions have on the environment. In the

best architecture faculties

6

, increasing

importance is given to green buildings

and their design as some recent University

statistics confirm: from the University

of Hong Kong to the University of Carolina,

from the course on Sustainable Architecture

at the Norwegian University of Science and

Technology, to the course on Envirno-

mental Architecture at the Polytechnic of

Milan to the offerings from the numerous

Anglo Saxon universities such as The Uni-

versity of Sheffield or The Sydney School

of Architecture, Design and Planning.

But knowledge is not created only at school:

nowadays the architectural project or

the industrial product project involve a great

number of professionals. It is therefore

necessary that a virtuous relationship between

the designer and a technical support team

equipped with such sophisticated special-

ization necessary to be inside the actual

companies producing materials, solutions

or finished products. At the same time this

complexity has made some architecture

firms acquire in-house skills and know-how

on innovative design technologies, model-

ling, materials, sustainable technologies,

without however, undermining the fact

that knowledge can be found elsewhere, for

example in artisan workshops, in material

transformation laboratories, with whom the

firm must have an open and constructive

working relationship. From Aecom to Gen-

sler from Nikken Sekkei to Hok or from

OMA founded by Rem Koolhas to Foster

+ Partners, from Zaha Hadid Architects

to Renzo Piano Building Workshop, the big

firms have been able to create parallel

work teams, often dedicated to interior

design, through the transferral of a

method, coming from the architectural

field, interior design or product design.

However, even in the current condition

of a globalised “architecture system”

that has transformed the firms into progres-

sive and fully developed ones (there

are over 50 companies in the world with

more than 200 professionals, 20 with

500 resources, 5 exceed 1000 employees

7

),

distinguished by the presence of different

skill-sets, there is a phenomenon that is

the collaboration of designers located

in different continents who dialogue in

real time on a common platform. The most

diverse experiences and professionals

are now integrated within an architectural

project, but it is not yet enough as this

project will have to measure itself increas-

ingly more against other expressions of

creativity: from the figurative arts to music,

from social science to psychology.

That is why, then, precisely in the age

of unlimited specialization and hyper

segmentation of know-how, we want

to believe that the challenging but stimulat-

ing task of looking beyond will be left

to the architect. In conclusion, we hope that

the designer can, in the near future, not

only express the ability to give the correct

form, but also drive and stoke transfor-

mations and processes of development

capable to positively influence our lives.

1. De architectura (On Architecture) is an essay

in Latin by the Romanarchitect and engineer Marco

Vitruvio Pollione written around 30 and 15 BC.

It is the only text on architecture to survive from

antiquity and is regarded as the first book

on architecturaltheory since the Renaissance.

2. Ornament and Crime (original title Ornament

und Verbrechen) is a short essay, written by the mo-

dernist architect Adolf Loos in 1908. It wasre-publi-

shed in German in 1962, later translated into Italian

in 1972 by Adelph and entitled Parole nel vuoto.

3. Originating from the Anglo Saxon noun contract,

that literally means “contract-tender-agreement”,

the word contract has very quickly become one of the

leading sectors in design. In this context it means

a complete “turn-key” provision of existing products

and\or designed ad-hoc and mainly for hotel and

hospitality sector.

4. The Oxfordshire Economic Observatory

predicts a 70% increase in growth in the building

and construction market from 2017 to 2025.

5. The term open space originally indicated a lay-out

of work spaces that were not fragmented into

smaller offices or working environments. This system,

widely used from the mid fifties onwards has been

questioned for a while. At the same time, howver, the

term has found a new use in interior design and

and indicates a layout in which the traditional subdi-

visions are no longer conformed to.

6. According to the latest QS (Quac quarelli

Symonds) World University Rankings, 2017, the top

10 universities in the world include: Massachusetts

Institute of Technology (MIT); The Bartlett School of

Architecture (UCL University College London);

Delft University of Technology Netherlands; University

of California, Berkeley (UCB); ETH Zurich (Swiss

Federal Institute of Technology), Manchester School

of Architecture; Harvard University United States;

University of Cambridge; National University of

Singapore (NUS); University of Hong Kong (HKU).

7. Architectural firms with over 1,000 employees:

Aecom USA, 1,370 architects employed; Gensler

USA, 1,346; IBI Group Canada, 1,129; Nikken

Sekkei Japan,1,109; Aedas, China/ UK, 1,078.

Architecture

Stories and Matters

2018

Architecture, beyond formalism

and community and sharing.

Curated by Rimadesio

comparable development operation

tion on the vision of interior design,

following the enthused buzz around open

space

5

and lofts, the most current trends

try to redevelop the right balance between

the public and private sectors, between

sharing and privacy, between homogeni-

sation and personalization of space. And

this happens, regardless of form or style,

thanks to research and envelopment on the

matter, and at the same time to to the

rediscovery of materials from the past and

to the experimentation of new feasible

high performance surfaces, characterized

by sophisticat-ed textures, combinations

and innovative colour associations.

The project then, on any scale, is experienc-

ing a redefining of its rules and regula-

tions, a transition phase from formalism

to greater consistency and awareness

of the need of going beyond fads and trends.

Architects and interior designers can

no longer overlook the importance of a

transversal and in-depth knowledge of

the most innovative materials, technologies

and systems on the market, as well as

the ability to develop economic strategies,

manage timing, formulate hypotheses

for re-use and transformation. Also in this

sense the role of the architect or designer

has changed dramatically. Although the

architect has always known, albeit with

the necessary distinctions for every era,

how to combine in the best possible way

their technical skills with artistic talent,

it must be said that today there are new

innovative design methods and new forms

of representation that are able to substitute

or flank some of the architects tasks: for

example parametric design or generative

design at the initial phases of a project.

However, it is clear that such tools are no

substitute for ideation and creativity but

it is necessary to know them even if only

to make the most of them. So then, also

for architecture the essential question of

knowledge arises and therefore, levels

of training, the role of universities, or rather

the ability of educational institutions

to educate and train the designers of the

future come under discussion. Degree

courses in Architecture and Design have,

over time, become fragmented into decli-

nations and broken down into specializa-

tions. An example of this is the growing

attention to sustainability and the ability

to design consciously and the wide range

of courses that analyse energy efficiency,

awareness and respect of the territory

is underway even within infrastruc-

ture. In a world constantly on the move,

airports, stations and even bridges and roads

become opportunities to redefine an

area, re-weave a social or urban fabric,

redevelop a piece of a city or give back

some lifeblood to a surburb. The highly

successful High Line in New York is

an excellent model and there are numer-

ous projects nowadays aimed at rede-

veloping disused railways, skyways or

elevated roads and other infrastructures

by giving them a new lease of life, new

uses, integrating green areas and cycle

paths (Milan must find a clear and effec-

tive model amongst these examples for

its former rail yards, areas that undoubt-

edly represent an excellent opportunity

for any future development of the city).

The role of planning these urban changes

is not only then the prerogative of tech-

nicians, architects, town planners and

designers, but is shared between the local

communities who, more frequently, play

an important role in the decision process.

Other evident examples of this aware-

ness can be found in the new forms of

social housing or co-housing, in start-up

incubators just as in co-working spaces,

through to bike sharing on a micro scale.

At the same time, the reduction of availa-

ble space in cities and urban areas that is

arking a significant, potential varia-

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