Contesti in volo

Abstract

Traditional design tools and procedures are not always appropriate to tackle the continuous movement of buildings and contexts. Starting from such apt consideration by Latour and Yaneva, this essay reflects on the issues that the introduction of movement and of time as strategic components of a design project involves, particularly within an Italian context. The move away from the binding duality of text and context requires an overcoming of the separation between objects and subjects that is substantial to a traditional determinist and authorial approach to the project: this is only possible through the proposition of a different dialogical and argumentative process and, consequently, a fundamental change in the role of the designer. This perspective finds a few premises within Italian discourse in the course of the 20th Century as regards three fundamental points: the city and its transformations; the necessary relationship between theory and project; the central question of form. In the conclusive remarks of the paper I propose an interpretation of form not as final solution but, as tentative form, as indispensable empowerment tool for the various actors involved.