AGATHÓN

3-11

Authors: Cesare Sposito, Francesca Scalisi

The contribution frames the essays, studies, research and projects published in issue 9 of AGATHÓN on ‘The SecondLife of the Built Environment’, an interesting topic for universities, businesses and industry. Climate changes, excessive use of soil, renewable resources, ever-increasing production of waste, the current pandemic emergency and the global socio-economic crisis have in fact entered our daily life. Even if these are tragic issues, they can be, somehow, seized as an opportunity to rethink the way we live and our world. In this ‘revolutionary’ (Floridi, 2020) and ‘polycrisis’ (Losasso, 2020) context, specifically referring to the building industry, the Academy, the Research and Industry worlds are called to give answers – based on sustainability and the principles of the Green Deal but also and mostly of the new Bauhaus – that can encourage reconsiderations and re-orientations of processes and products, new projects on places, buildings, objects and materials, able to positively affect the governance of the global change that our planet and humanity need, able to give a ‘new life’ to the built and/or transformed environment, at any scale

22-31

Authors: David Ness

The New European Bauhaus forms part of a Renovation Wave and complements the EU Green Deal – a commitment to tackling climate and environment related challenges by ‘decoupling’ economic growth from resource use, while leading to a ‘fair and prosperous’ society. After arguing that the Green Deal does not go far enough to achieve the dramatic transformation required, a new agenda is put forward where needs are met with less consumption and carbon, less new building, and more regeneration. The New Bauhaus, intended to ‘match sustainability with style’, is seen as the ‘engine room’ and inspiration for this agenda, which may radically disrupt and transform current approaches to architecture. Thus, constraints imposed by regeneration of existing buildings, with their ethical and cultural dimensions, can inspire greater creativity and imagination while conserving carbon, cost, and character.

42-53

Authors: Alessandro Valenti with Claudia Pasquero (ecoLogicStudio)

To reflect today, as designers and researchers, on the issue of Second Life, is to pose questions not only about the potential contemporary articulations of the term within a disciplinary field defined by knowledge that intertwines sectors like Urbanism, Architecture, Interior Design and Design but also to explore the very concept of life rendering living organisms – both human and not – as an active part of the speculation and the eventual experimentations giving new meaning to actions like regeneration or reuse. To do so, it is necessary to amplify the range of intervention and to engage other disciplines like biology and computer science, but also philosophy, anthropology and many more. An example of this practice is systemic design, a method defined by the combination and integration of systemic thought, computational design, biotechnology and prototyping. It is an extended approach to design – ranging from the micro to macro – incorporated in applications where projects and installations become interactive laboratories based on interspecies collaboration. A testament to this approach is the work carried out by a multidisciplinary entity like ecoLogicStudio, through theory and practice.

62-71

Authors: Gerardo Semprebon, Kevin Santus, Stefano Sartorio, Arianna Luisa Nicoletta Scaioli

Although the circular economy has occupied a crucial place in the development agendas of industrialized countries in recent years, the construction sector still seems far from a mature understanding of the cultural dimensions related to the notion of circularity since, until now, its focus has been mainly on improving technological solutions. However, the circular economy opens up new operational frontiers beyond the scale of the construction detail. It embraces more complex social and cultural fields that ultimately question the changing relationship between man and inhabited space. The article assumes this perspective and examines the possible implications of circular logics’ spatial organizations at larger scales that have a great impact on settlement forms, proposing a critical comparison between two case studies characterized by two built fabrics with different densities. The first one is the regeneration of the Ilot de l’Arc de Triomphe district (high density and compactness), and the second one is the transformation of Contrada Bricconi (low density and rarefaction). The two design experiences ensure a second life to inhabited artifacts and soils.

82-91

Authors: Alessandro Massarente, Elena Guidetti

The reuse of existing buildings is a topic of strategic interest in a perspective of sustainability and efficient use of resources. Since many buildings tend to survive over time the functions for which they were designed, it is necessary to analyze reuse interventions through a diachronic process. Among the multiple factors that contribute to the project of a reuse intervention, a key aspect is constituted by the underlying morphology of its pre-existence. Therefore, starting from the hypothesis that a building whose original function has mutated can no longer be characterized through it, but rather through the permanence of its form, we intend to demonstrate that a project of adaptive reuse of a pre-existing building implies a morphological potential through which it is possible to determine diversified cognitive approaches and transformation scenarios.

102-111

Authors: Vittorio Fiore

The topic of the contribution is the use/re-use of theatrical heritage, a system of spaces that offers heterogeneous ‘materials’ on which to run transformations processes: plays, sets, spaces. In the past, this happened harmonically following the changes in theatrical ‘action’, with stratifications in buildings, redesigns of decorative schemes, reuse of pre-existences that followed the demand for flexibility. The objective is to add new chapters to the ‘theatre proxemics’ that governs human behaviour in these spaces of social aggregation, in order to realign them to the prescriptions dictated by the pandemic. Performing arts, which already received insufficient attention from the Institutions, leading to a heated debate on the scarce economic resources, have experienced restrictions and closures during Covid-19 emergency, calling for the necessity of new values to give these spaces a second life.

124-133

Authors: Andrea Grimaldi, Valeria Sansoni

While the recovery of monumental buildings is now customary, less obvious is the recovery of the built non-monumental heritage as a result of a historization of events and economic and social activities occurred over time. The subject of this contribution is the experience of research and design carried out on the former Riganti Tannery, a building complex annexed to Villa Poniatowski and part of the real estate heritage of the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia in Rome. Between conservation tout court and radical changes, this research proposes a third way: the addition of a new design ‘level’ as a device to link history with contemporaneity. The contribution also proposes an innovative strategy of collaboration between Institutions, in order to bring the project to the core of an effective process of cultural development.

146-157

Authors: Edoardo Bruno, Francesco Carota

The quick economic and urban growth of China has deeply changed its urban image, promoting both new types of settlement and the demolition of large surfaces to make room for new real estate interventions. In the variable physical and regulatory context of the cities of contemporary China, the development of some pilot projects becomes an opportunity to experiment with innovative regeneration practices of existing urban fabrics. The analysis of the Yongqing Fang case study, located in the old town of the megacity Guangzhou, shows the need to change the practice of the regeneration project within a detailed and negotiated co-operation between public and private, to favour the demand towards the historical Assets of the city. Moreover, the case study allows to implement an analysis model to recover cultural heritage within a holistic and procedural perspective, where the project becomes a tool for negotiation, selective space transformation, urban renovation and social inclusion.

166-173

Authors: Katia Perini, Francesca Mosca, Andrea Giachetta

Today’s urban environment features several critical issues related to what in Italy is called ‘cementification’: among the main ones, the phenomenon of heat islands, the cause of several problems related to citizens’ health, especially for the weaker population groups such as children and elderly people. This paper presents the results of a research focused on identifying a combination of nature-based solutions, offering good benefits both from the point of view of improving microclimate comfort and from the point of view of psychological comfort for the people who will use the regenerated areas.

184-193

Authors: Alexa Kreissl

Mattresses are multi-material products whose exact composition is mostly unknown to the waste collector, so they can hardly be recycled and continue to be incinerated. Valuable resources are lost and no longer returned to the material cycle. Foam re-use and mechanical recycling account for only a negligible share of the market. The research presented here explores the potential of re-using mattresses as thermal and acoustic insulation for construction projects and attempts to find re-purpose in order to reduce waste and emissions, save resources and provide the insulation needed. This specific case study serves as a method to identify and demonstrate the flow and potential on a much larger scale. Considering comparable and possibly compatible properties of different foams this study explores the possibility of using them in a larger format. The approach is based on an unbiased exploration of the material, which only as a second step uses scientific methods to measure the intuitive exploration of the properties.

204-213

Authors: Carlo Martino, Meltem Eti Proto, Silvia Cosentino

The role played by the culture of Design in the context of the planning of public space has evolved over time. In the sphere of Architecture, the 1990s saw the opening of an international debate that encouraged a process of revising the training methods adopted until that time, in favour of new ones capable of placing people – the true users of objects, spaces, and architectures – at the centre. This raised the possibility of breaking down certain disciplinary boundaries in favour of a transdiscipline, the Design of Spaces and Architectures. Spatial Design calls back into question many of the assumptions of the Urban Planning and Architecture of the short century, starting precisely from the relationship between Space and the user. Through recent case studies, this essay proposes an embryonic taxonomy of public space, basing its perspective upon the scientific principle of the recurrence of certain design solutions.

224-231

Authors: Moritz Kasper, Elmar Stroomer

Worldwide, an estimated 60 billion kilos of textiles and footwear is burned or landfilled every year. Although African countries – including powerhouses such as Kenya and Nigeria – contribute very little to global textile waste, their textile consumption is on the rise. And with increased consumption comes an increased urgency for concepts and designs that utilize textile resources beyond linear lines and singular lives. Africa Collect Textiles was founded in Nairobi, Kenya in 2013, where it has successfully implemented a model for collecting and processing used textiles. Based on fieldwork in Lagos, Nigeria and the extensive experience in Nairobi, this paper will discuss spatial contexts, socio-cultural potentials, and economic modes relevant for adjusting and implementing a textile collection and recycling initiative in urban Africa.

244-253

Authors: Antonella Violano, Monica Cannaviello, Salvatore Del Prete

The European Green Deal and the European Climate Law of the European Parliament are the socio-political context in which the construction industry has to engage in order to reduce upfront carbon. This focus puts the role of building materials in a new perspective. By focusing on the development of innovative solutions that specifically address biotic and bio-based materials, the Cradle-to-Cradle approach values biobased materials and gives them a key role in the transition to the circular economy. The paper presents an innovative material, the complex outcome of two different research projects conducted by the ZEBtwdZEEB Group of the ‘L. Vanvitelli’ University of Campania in collaboration with the innovative start-up Service Biotech Srl, winner of the BioInItaly Investment Forum 2021 & Intesa Sanpaolo Start-Up Initiative for the Circular Bioeconomy sector.