NUMERO 3 - novembre 2015

Carlo Franzato Architettura tra processo e metaprogetto Ph.D. in from Politecnico di Milano, he is professor in Design at Unisinos University (Porto Alegre, Brazil). His research focuses on complex codesign networks developed by , other professionals, organizations and institutions, users and citizens. between process and metadesign

La sfida contemporanea del progetto è quella The challenge of contemporary architectural design dell’evoluzione tecnologica di convergenza tra il mondo is that of technological convergence between the fisico e il mondo virtuale, da cui derivano concetti come physical and virtual world, from which concepts such quello di smart city e quello di wikicity. as Smart City and WikiCity derive. La sfida può essere affrontata ricorrendo al This challenge can be faced by means of meta-project, metaprogetto, inteso come processo di progetto. intended as a design process. Not only the design Non solo il progetto e la gestione dei fenomeni urbani and management of urban phenomena become diventano sempre di più pratiche tecniche, ma tornano increasingly more technical, but they also develop into ad essere sempre di più pratiche intellettuali. Pertanto, increasingly more intellectual practices. Therefore, l’architettura deve recuperare il suo ruolo guida nella architecture must regain its leading role in thinking of riflessione sulla città e nella elaborazione di visioni per the city and in the formation of a vision for the future. il suo futuro. encompasses architectural design, Nella cultura di progetto si possono includere il design, , urbanism, Parole chiave: Informazione; Smart city; Creatività; l’architettura e pure l’urbanistica e l’ingegneria. and . In this sense, the ecosystemic Immanenza; Trasformazione. La prospettiva ecosistemica, che si fonda sulla nozione perspective, which is based on the notion of open Keywords: Information; Smart city; Creativity; di sistema aperto, ci permette notevoli evoluzioni del system, allows for significant changes in the design Immanence; Transformation. metodo di progetto. process. GG http://in_bo.unibo.it NUMERO 3 - novembre 2015

What is the most pressing challenge that 1. Castells, M. (2008), L a nascita della società in rete, Milano, EGEA architecture is asked to resolve today?

We live in an age of great technological and disciplinary field. to the comprehension and the application of social change. The possibilities of acquiring, The contemporary challenge for design is the possibilities that new information and managing, elaborating and exchanging its integration in the technological evolution, communication technologies offer to the information are growing, that is, the accompanying the convergence of the design processes, especially the possibilities possibilities of knowing and communicating. physical and virtual world, which originates of opening the processes to actors without As Castells1 states, in this shift towards the concepts such as the ones of smart city design skills. In fact, new technologies foster information society, the information per and wikicity. In this way, designers can act interdisciplinary collaboration (between se is not so important as its application for in the new modes of social interaction with designers and other professionals) and the production of new information and the a leading role, and renovate their work of interfunctional collaboration (between generation of new knowledge, besides their social transformation and innovation. designers, other professionals, clients and communication. The challenge could be faced through users) along with the design processes. Therefore, in the information society, the metadesign, understood as the design Moreover, they foster the collaboration process is more important than the inputs process that has the same architectural during the use of the design results and their that feed it and even than its outputs. design process and other types of design continuous evolution. Since the process becomes central and since processes as its object, laying on a superior However, the opening to this diversity of actors architectural design and all other design than the level of such processes. In and to their collaborative relations is not disciplines have a processual nature, design this direction, metadesign is the process granted, asking for a radical reorganization culture has got a significant opportunity. for developing the design method used in of the design processes according to a Designers can assume roles of articulation disciplinary practices. network logic. Here metadesign becomes and direction of processes beyond their In this challenge, metadesign can contribute necessary. http://in_bo.unibo.it 69 NUMERO 3 - novembre 2015

With respect to the design of the contemporary city; what is the role 2. Lyotard, J. F. (2007), La condizione postmoderna, Milano, of architecture in managing urban Feltrinelli. phenomena?

We live in an age of great technological and of extends itself, as any other social change and probably in a change of design located within the city. And their age. In fact, our way of acting and thinking is ethical consequences extend themselves as changing radically. well. The ecology of the thought and the ecology Not only design and administration of of the action merge together in the already urban phenomena have become even more cited convergence of the physical and virtual technical practices, but they have returned world and in the convergence of science and to be even more intellectual ones. Therefore, technology as well. Nowadays, technology is architectural design has to recover its not a mere effect of science anymore, since guiding role in the reflection on the city and it has become indispensable for scientific in the elaboration of visions for its future. evolution. This way, we have to speak of technoscience and recognize the political power it has acquired.2 Thinking, designing and producing the social constitute a unique action. Thus, the range http://in_bo.unibo.it 70 NUMERO 3 - novembre 2015

Architecture and design have established an exchange that is both operational and perceptive; buildings are conceived as 3. Franzato, C. et al. (2015), ‘Inovação cultural e social: design objects and objects are conceived by estratégico e ecossistemas criativos’, in Freire, K. (a cura di), Design those who design buildings. Between estratégico para a inovação social e cultural. San Paolo, Kazuá, pp. architecture and design, is it possible to 147-171 define boundaries or intersections?

Design culture includes design, architectural process oriented to the development of socio- projected towards the future, seeking for the design, urban design and even engineering. technical devices for the transformation of transformation of the world; understanding In fact, design culture is the field in which the the world”, as defined by the research group and connecting the past through recalling, different design disciplines meet and interact in design for cultural and social innovation the present through representing and for evolving their process dimension. based at UNISINOS University.3 the future through anticipating; and d) The importance of such interdisciplinary The group proceeds defining four transitivity, the process is fulfilled by socio- dialogue grows due to the centrality that constituents that allow distinguishing this technical devices interposed between the contemporaneity attributes to the process in process from the ones practiced in other process and the transformation of the world. respect to its results. Considering the results areas: a) creativity: the process explores the of design, architectural design, urban design human ability of creating and imagining, and engineering, it is rather simple to trace daring, subverting; b) immanence: the their limits. Considering their processes, process is a mundane practice, immanent however, it is more difficult to do so, and to the human existence and it continues it becomes more adequate to stress their to be immanent in the designed socio- common basis. technical devices and in the transformation Here, process is understood as the “creative of the world; c) projectivity: the process is http://in_bo.unibo.it 71 NUMERO 3 - novembre 2015

When giving advice to students, what 4. Morin, E. (2008), On complexity, Cresskill (NJ, USA), Hampton is the most valuable tool that an Press. architecture or design student ought to 5. Munari, B. (2006), Da cosa nasce cosa, Bari, Laterza. acquire during their studies?

More than just tools, designers have example of this. In the studies on the design of the design process, the transformation of to acquire method throughout their method of the second half of the 1900s, the the world, and the possibility or, rather, the education and continue this methodological process has been separated in phases and responsibility of exploring alternative future development in their professional practice. these phases in activities to be performed through design. Morin4 states that the paradigm of through specific tools. This way, the process For not dismissing the design process, simplification – supported by the principles of has been reduced to a procedure, an we have to develop the concept of method disjunction, reduction and abstraction – has algorithmic sequence of subsequent steps as a base for strategic action in front of accompanied the great progress of occidental that lead from a problem to its solution. And such complexity. We have to go beyond the thought, from Descartes until the twentieth it has been represented through schematic principles of disjunction, reduction and century, when the developments of micro models as, for example, a flow chart. abstraction, developing new principles that and macrophysics began to demonstrate This way, the process has been understood as allow practicing the design process with its limits. At the beginning of the 1900s, in if it was that abstract model, that procedure, renewed awareness. Principles that affirm fact, the theories of quantum and relativity those steps, those tools, that line (or circle, our point of view, orient our thinking and came in contradiction with the classical spiral, double diamond, etc.), which allow to govern our action. Afterwards, we have to physics, requiring an epistemological effort solve a problem. Hence, the ecosystem of the practice the design process, we have to for solving the scientific impasse. design process – the with his or her design. However, the paradigm of simplification identity and the stakeholders with their ones In this sense, the ecosystem perspective, is going on exerting its influence over the – is forgotten, and so it is for the ecosystem which lays on the notion of open system, comprehension of the design process, and in which the sociotechnical device would allows significant evolutions of the design the famous flow chart of Bruno Munari5 is an become an agent. It is forgotten the future method. http://in_bo.unibo.it 72