The design of surfaces, between empathy and new figuration

Nowadays design languages seem anew defined through images and figures that appear increasingly distant from abstraction. In the time that we live in, where it is prevailing a dominance of individual needs rather common desires, an abandon of abstraction in favour of new figuration, stimulates the opportunity to investigate a new dyad, ‘Project and Empathy’; these terms could summarize well the expanded modality of physical and psychological interaction between people – as individual – and artefacts, through the increasing role of surfaces. The whole world of postmodern image, especially through the digital technologies, tends to offer hyper realistic aesthetic simulacra, altered nature: this is the current world of extension of feelings and sense, in which we are immersed daily. This condition affect the approaches to design, which require a new thinking around technologies, method and tools from training to practice the activity of design: a new attitude for materiality of things, beyond the immateriality of digital reality

The architectural and environmental retrofitting of public social housing as a resource for contemporary cities. The redesign of building envelopes

The current focus on the transformation of Western cities puts forward, in a shared and far-reaching manner, ‘degrowth’ as an opportunity to renew and update the perspective of sustainability, not only from an environmental point of view, but from a social and economic point of view as well. The most modern updated legislation is also headed in this direction: considering building stock as a resource for renovation, adopting policies and strategies aimed at reducing land and energy consumption, reusing and recycling building stock. Nowadays, the interpretation of the terms Reduce, Reuse, Recycle in relation to urban devel-opment offers the opportunity to create a new generation of spaces and architectures that sees buildings – dilapidated, neglected, worn out or abandoned – as a real resource and, hence, value. Renovations concern new programmes and projects for rethinking the uses, meanings and the values contained in existing construction (from individual buildings to whole neigh-bourhoods) and which can change. Within this scenario, suburbs are now considered part of the contemporary city and they are becoming the object of particular attention from those who are involved in urban planning and managing urban developments. Among the resources that have already been built, social hous-ing stock is a wide field of investigation, from different points of view. This built heritage can involve different levels of building and space transformation and defines various design approaches: the overall architectural quality is to be acknowledged. These design approaches reinterpret regeneration activities and are not just limited to the ‘technical’ renovation of buildings: they also take into account the consequent urban, social and economic implications

Il rinnovamento della cultura tecnologica nel progetto, tra nuova tettonica e tecnologie digitali. Scenari internazionali dell’insegnamento e della ricerca.

Attraverso una lettura critica delle posizioni espresse dai direttori di alcune tra le più prestigiose istituzioni formative nel campo del progetto, il contributo propone una riflessione sulle tendenze più evolute della formazione e ricerca nel campo delle tecnologie in rapporto al progetto. Quali sono i contributi per il rinnovo della disciplina provenienti dalle scienze ingegneristiche e dalle aree umanistiche? Quali sono i temi di innovazione e aggiornamento dei limiti della disciplina, tra cultura materiale della costruzione ed estensione degli strumenti digitali? Attraverso la forma di una raccolta organizzata di ‘testimonianze’, emerge un articolato complesso di posizioni, che stimolano una riflessione sui tratti più evoluti del ruolo della tecnologia in rapporto alle attività di progetto e sulla opportunità di aggiornare i caratteri della disciplina nelle scuole universitarie italiane in un quadro di riferimento internazionale.The paper offers cause for reflection on the most advanced training and research trends in the area of design-related technologies through a critical review of the views expressed by the heads of some of the leading educational establishments in the field of design. What are the contributions provided by engineering sciences and humanities to transforming the discipline? What are the innovative topics and updating of the discipline’s limits, among material construction culture and extension of digital tools? A complex set of positions comes to light through organized collection of ‘evidence’ which stimulates eflection on the most advanced features of the role of technology in relation to design and on the appropriateness of updating the discipline’s features in Italian universities within an international reference framework

Ri-abitare il moderno. Il progetto per il rinnovo dell’housing

Il testo si propone di affrontare il tema di ‘cosa fare’ del grande patrimonio di edilizia residenziale pubblica realizzato nella seconda metà del secolo scorso. Questo patrimonio di case popolari costituisce quella periferia moderna che è una parte significative delle nostre città e che la maggior parte di noi percepisce come problematica, sia brutta, sbagliata, luogo di degrado sociale fisico e ambientale. Questa enorme eredità edilizia residenziale formale, a partire dal secondo dopoguerra, costituisce oramai per quantità, una parte rilevante delle nostre città, soprattutto quando pur non essendo pubblica, ne ha però imitato i modi e le forme. Il testo indaga, attraverso un inquadramento del tema nel quadro internazionale, una rassegna di buone pratiche e sperimentazioni, metodi e strategie progettuali per il rinnovo di questo patrimonio edilizio, che rappresenta una risorsa su cui innescare urgenti processi di trasformazione, forse gli unici sostenibili dal punto di vista economico sociale e ambientale.The text aims focuses the theme of 'what to do' of the large public housing heritage achieved in the second half of the last century. This built heritage constitutes a a significant part of our cities - our suburbs- and that most of us perceive as problematic, both ugly, wrong, a place of physical and environmental social degradation. This huge formal residential building heritage, starting from the post-World War II period, now constitutes a relevant amount of our cities, especially when not being public, but has imitated the ways and forms. The text investigates, through a classification of the theme in the international context, a review of good practices and experiments, methods and design strategies for the renewal of this building heritage, which is a resource to be main object by urgent processes of transformation, perhaps the only sustainable from social and environmental point of view

Riciclare le cave di Puglia: tra paesaggio primario e infrastruttura produttiva

Il contributo propone una chiave di lettura sul tema del rapporto tra paesaggio e luoghi dell’estrazione attraverso la declinazione dell’idea di riciclaggio a un approccio su scale differenti, per definire strategie e metodologie operative che consentano di aggiornare e innovare i principi su cui si basa il rapporto tra sfruttamento, trasformazione e dismissione delle cave. Il caso della Puglia rappresenta un ambito particolarmente rilevante per almeno due ordini di ragioni: per il ruolo che l’attività estrattiva occupa nell’economia globale della regione, seppur non affiancato da un’adeguata attività locale di trasformazione, e per la rilevanza dimensionale del paesaggio dei bacini estrattivi e delle attività a essi connesse in relazione alle loro implicazioni ambientali1

The transformation of technological culture in design, through new tectonics and digital technologies. International teaching and research scenarios

The paper offers cause for reflection on the most advanced training and research trends in the area of design-related technologies through a critical review of the views expressed by the heads of some of the leading educational establishments in the field of design. What are the contributions provided by engineering sciences and humanities to transforming the discipline? What are the innovative topics and updating of the discipline’s limits, among material construction culture and extension of digital tools? A complex set of positions comes to light through organized collection of ‘evidence’ which stimulates reflection on the most advanced features of the role of technology in relation to design and on the appropriateness of updating the discipline’s features in Italian universities within an international reference framework

El envolvente tectónico en la arquitectura contemporánea entre experimentación didáctica y construcción

Ponència presentada a la sessió

El envolvente tectónico en la arquitectura contemporánea entre didáctica y construcción

El envolvente arquitectónico constituye hoy en día el objeto de investigaciones y experimentaciones que revisten muchos aspectos del proyecto contemporáneo: entre ellos, los principales parecen ser una renovada concepción tectónica de la arquitectura, una nueva relación entre los diferentes aspectos de rendimiento y de exigencias de ahorro energetico, una renovada condición de equilibrio entre sistemas constructivos y componentes industriales, una cierta fascinación por los nuevos materiales y por las innovadoras técnicas de transformación

Experimentaciones sobre la tectónica de envolventes y de superficies en la tecnología y en los talleres de construcción de la arquitectura

Ponència presentada a: Session 6: Teorías cerebro-máquina. Teorías de diseño y metodologías del diseño. Teorías criticas socio-físicas / Brain/machine theories. Design theories and methods systems approac

Performance assessment of Timber High-rise Buildings: Structural and Technological Considerations

Nowadays, a renewed momentum on the use of timber material is ensured by the development of high performing engineered wood products, which enables larger and taller structures to be built. Although the design of multi-story timber buildings is still in its early stages, the active interest shown by designers and researchers in advancing awareness and technologies in this field bodes well for the proliferation of an increasing number of tall wooden buildings