ZIP Spaces. Fast Tests of New Scenario of Uses through Adaptive Reuse Strategies

The contribute describes proposals of short-term adaptive reuse interventions on dismantled commercial interiors overlooking the street, to increase the impact on urban space and on the population who uses it. These interventions concern aggregate formats of activities that can generate original synergies between the emerging creative experiences, smart and interconnected, and production activities, such as handicrafts and trade (often in decline), that represent the historical local roots. The book presents some reflections on the role of design discipline in a proactive context of reconstruction and re-occupation of urban spaces guided by residents, becoming increasingly frequent. Specific research methodologies and intervention strategies in close relation with the resident population, is the subject of the research done at the Design department in the Politecnico di Milano which aims at generating future scenarios of hybridization of functions, places, activities

From Human-centered to More-than-Human Design. Exploring the transition

The environmental emergency of the last century, highlighted by the pandemic, has led to an urgent need to reformulate the predominant role of human beings on the planet by undertaking a less anthropocentric design approach. This urgency has been especially outlined by a re-evaluation of the concept of the Anthropocene, which can be defined as a geological era characterized by the significant human impact on the geology and ecosystems of the Earth. Within this theoretical framework, the book explores the role of Design as a multifaceted discipline capable of analyzing the complexity of a changing world and reconsiders the human being’s position in a pervasive relationship with the contemporary environments (physical and abstract) through a More-than-Human approach. This volume illustrates reflections, analyses, and interventions guided by or intersected with the concept of the post-Anthropocene, and traces two different scales of observation. The first, explored in the two starting chapters, highlights how the complexity of the topic requires a large-scale analysis perspective to be fully understood. The concept of the post-Anthropocene does not exclude the human being as a fundamental component. Still, it takes the latter as a departure point to frame broader contemporary needs and issues and support a call for action to envision and shape the future. The second part of the book instead explores the possibility to include, within this broad discussion, the theme of More-than-Human applied to specific disciplines – linked to the culture of Design – analyzing different aspects that move from taxonomy, application, and creativity

A second life for Contemporary Ruins. Temporary Adaptive Reuse strategies of Interior Design to reinterpret vacant spaces

The goal of this analysis is to identify the role of Interior Design within Temporary Adaptive Reuse strategies geared to benefitting from Contemporary Ruins, preserving their identity and their memory in recent history. The aim of the paper is to envisage new future scenarios based on a creative and holistic Design approach, enabling Contemporary Ruins to become once more accessible and to bring them back to life by imagining how their social and cultural connections could be locally and globally renewed

Engaging Spaces. How to increase social awareness and human wellbeing through experience design

The book presents different perspectives of analysis and new models of experience, reconfirming the importance assigned to the well-being and human-centered approach in the contemporary spatial design disciplinary debate. The focus on 'engaging spaces' is due to the increase of participatory experiences in the design strategies supporting designers who want to create tailor-made environments to feel people more conscious of the great value of social relations. The title of the book anticipates the aim to explore the transformation process in which we are living, both in private and public spaces, underlining the central role of design in defining new qualities of connections to live together in relation to the space around us. The volume is divided into two parts described below. The first, 'Social design for engaging spaces,' explores private and public space case studies introducing new hybrid dimensions through the social engagement in 'living communities' and reports participatory design approaches in the transformation processes of shared common spaces, such as schools, intended as incubators of social practices. The second, “Experience design for engaging spaces,” describes more in-depth the experience of human beings in relation to physical and emotional aspects of space, focusing on the quality of the built environment that deeply affects people’s well-being, social interaction, and cohesion, and in-vestigating ephemeral practices and projects to experience design through a conscious sensorial approach. The pandemic and the return to a 'post-pandemic new normal' have led us to further reflect on the spatial processes of transformation and hybridization and their shared use in both the private and public spheres, exploring the importance of participatory and engaging strategies in the different phases of the design process with the aim to increase social awareness. Being back to the physical perception of spaces has confirmed the importance of evaluating the project’s sensorial aspects with a new awareness. This novel attitude leads to rediscovering the values of measurable space in the constant confrontation with the virtual perspective that triumphed during the pandemic, introducing the 'time' factor in the design discipline even with a broader complexity than before

Human Well-Being and Design of Office Space. The Impact of Guest Speaking from Business Companies into the Design Studio Activity

Guest speaking from the world of work motivates Master’s Design students and provides them with knowledge, awareness and professional perspective, promoting active learning. Furthermore, students tend to perceive guest speaking as an expert figure, able to bring them in contact with the real world and therefore to have a more concrete and effective experience. Thanks also to distance learning, this year students were able to deal with e-guests who in other situations would not have been able to participate. The aim of this paper is to explore the impact of business companies into the teaching methodology, active collaboration has helped to clarify goals and contents of the design studio. Thanks to these different speeches, students were able to understand the changes that have taken place in the design of work spaces, in order to respond to new needs and behaviours. This stimulated the students to design, making the course objectives clearer and bringing them to a higher level of detail that allowed them to focus better on the needs of contemporary human beings. The importance of the relationship between space and human well-being was supported and confirmed by the guest companies who talked about well-being at work through their experiences and approaches. These companies tackled the issue of work well-being with different gradients and showed students trends, issues relating to this period and their future profession

Human well-being and human performance demands as dynamic polarities to adapt new domestic interiors

The enduring pandemic and the compulsory stay-at-home condition offer the opportunity to examine some hints of domestic space renewal. The super-use of interiors, considering home as a place where ‘to stay’ instead of ‘stationing,’ brought, on the one hand, an increasing focus on physical and psychological human well-being, re-calling the domestic space prime and primitive values as a refuge and, with it, the crucial importance of its physical and virtual borders, recognizing the importance of its identity and history. On the other hand, our ‘refuge’ borders face the entry of public space with its features and functions into the private and domestic one. Our domestic scenarios recognize a new functional layer consisting of highly equipped and publicly visible spots. As designers, we try to interpret these fragmented, spontaneous, and temporary spatial interventions as elements of a broader process of rethinking the domestic environment, according to a new interpretation of time, as dense, virtual, and prolonged. New fluid pulsing layers in which the polarities of well-being and performing demands make a complex open system. They coagulate, dissolve, and re-assemble to embrace, protect and welcome their inhabitants’ ever-changing needs

Looking closer. Active learning experiences for undergraduate design students.

The latest theories on undergraduate learning tend to move towards new approach of teaching more student centered, based on active learning activities where teachers are facilitators with the aim to develop students' autonomy and their ability to learn. Specifically in the field of design teaching, activities based on Learning Outside the Classroom - LOtC - and situated learning approaches can help giving students direct and personal sensorial and aesthetic experiences on spaces and atmospheres. Moreover the modern theory of multiple intelligences states that people have an intelligence that act in specific ‘modalities’, so that teaching must be given by using different methodologies, differentiating theoretical activities with other practices, classroom lessons with others outdoors to reach all students. In this perspective, this paper reports the experimental approach carried out within the design studio of ‘visual elements of the project’ at the Design School of Politecnico di Milano based on teaching and practice activities, classroom lessons and outdoor visits, taking advantage of the cultural experience offered by the city of Milan. The design studio titled ‘Looking clooser’, lasting four months, was based on three guided tours, which were the reference for the study of analysis and the project training. The first one was at Fondazione Prada spaces, designed by the architectural firm OMA, the second one at the Fuorisalone during the Milan Design Week 2019, the most important event in the world for design, and the third one at Villa Panza di Biumo (Varese), which hosts a collection of American contemporary art among the best known in the world, as well as international exhibitions. These visits offered to the student the opportunity for an active-learning experience outside the official educational environment, engaging them in activities that forced them to reflect upon items that contribute to create spatial atmospheres and how they are used and combined. Switching between theoretical lessons and practical works, the students of this design studio have shown a greater interest in the subject and a better performance in the training activities, each achieving homogeneous levels in learning. The ultimate goal of these educational experiences is to develop in students the ability to observe the reality that surrounds them with trained eyes to recognize the meaningful elements of projects, assessing them in a critical and constructive manner. In this sense, the experience carried out may need steps further in this direction, stimulating students to recognize these opportunities autonomously in their daily experience, bringing their observations back to the classroom, during the academic career and later on in the professional activity