Stories and Matters
2018
27
26
Architecture
K
nowledge, ethics, common good quality
and responsability: these are the
words that summarize the fundamental
theme under discussion in De Architectura1,
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
infl uence 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
affi rm 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 redefi ne the living, working
and free-time dynamics of those ever-
increasingly crowded urban centres, to
redesign the fl ows 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 fi nally, 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
defi nitions of architecture is provided by
one of the pioneers of the Modern Movement
Adolf Loos, who said in his famous Orna-
ment and Crime2, written in 1908: “If we
fi nd 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
us: there is a body buried underneath.
This is architecture”.
This sentence sums up the very meaning
of architecture: starting from a well defi ned
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 artifi ce 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’ defi nition 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 reaffi rmed 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 defi nition 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
specifi c, 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 fi ll 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, life3.
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
comparable development operation
is underway even within infrastruc-
ture. In a world constantly on the move,
airports, stations and even bridges and roads
become opportunities to redefi ne 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 fi nd 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
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-
tres4 –, 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, redefi nition 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 fi nishes, 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 defi ne 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
arking a signifi cant, potential varia-
tion on the vision of interior design,
following the enthused buzz around open
space5 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 redefi ning 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 fl ank 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 effi ciency,
awareness and respect of the territory
and the awareness of the impact human
actions have on the environment. In the
best architecture faculties6, increasing
importance is given to green buildings
and their design as some recent University
statistics confi rm: 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 Sheffi eld 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 fi nished products. At the same time this
complexity has made some architecture
fi rms 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
fi rm 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
fi rms have been able to create parallel
work teams, often dedicated to interior
design, through the transferral of a
method, coming from the architectural
fi eld, interior design or product design.
However, even in the current condition
of a globalised “architecture system”
that has transformed the fi rms 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 employees7),
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 fi gurative 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 infl uence our lives.
Architecture, beyond formalism
and community and sharing.
Curated by Rimadesio
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 fi rst 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 offi ces or working environments. This system,
widely used from the mid fi fties 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 fi rms 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.
