Platform_Architecture_and_Design_1.pdf

108 SEEDS
BY GIAMPIERO VENTURINI
PHOTO GONZALO DEL VAL
New generations of architects are rethinking
the traditional hierarchies that have
characterized the discipline.
A wind of change is blowing through the new
generation of European architects. They share
the need to find a new identity. The role of the
architect is changing, along with topics that are
up for discussion and debate, as well as objectives,
processes and languages. A new set of issues
are steadily emerging both on a local and global scale: the
processes for managing aging public spaces, the definition
of new
economically sustainable design models, tools for working
and sharing, the search for an alternative customer and
above all, the
need for a redefinition of the traditional
hierarchies that characterize the architectural studio.
There are numerous young studios trying to redefine
themselves. In Spain Gonzalo del Val with his work
colleagues spread throughout Europe is doing so, offering
an open distance working model, based on what the young
architect defines as “healthy productive promiscuity”, which
translates into the need to combine their own knowledge
with that of others in order to increase the effective potential,
while maintaining a certain freedom of movement that allows
the creation of informal working groups designed for each
project.
The Rome-based collective Orizzontale is also open to the
areas of participation and collaboration. The group works
on projects that start from the ground up through an open
discussion that aims to redefine the architect’s position
precisely through shared horizontal processes. And then
there are the young people at Ines Bajardi, the European
network that is established as the leading light in this
redefinition of hierarchies. We interviewed Claudio Esposito,
one of the six partners at “Ines”.
The classical concept of the architectural studio has
changed. The physical space has changed, along with
the
players and their organization.
What has been the
experience at Ines Bajardi?
Today the scale of design, even at an urban level, can be
reduced to the immaterial design of experiences. In a world
saturated with architecture, we must increasingly deal with
the system of relationships that citizens have with their
context. Starting from this premise, the concept of scale can
be substituted uted and gauged with impact metrics on the same
citizens.
Distance working, new technologies. Do these tools
help to redefine the traditional hierarchies of the
architectural studio?
People’s geographic location is absolutely irrelevant for
the purposes of design development. Furthermore, the
technologies that reduce the distances between people in
no way negate the specific nature of places. Our different
identities have contributed to develop the sense of creativity
at “Ines”.
For some time now we’ve heard talk of “horizontal
practices” and “sharing”. How is design changing in
terms of the new hierarchies we’ve just been talking
about?
Our role is increasingly linked to process design and
management. In this context, technology is essential:
knowing how to apply the solutions that new technology
makes available to the designer to urban/architectural
design is a cornerstone of our approach.