Trailer Between research and composition

In an interview with “Domus” in 1991, Libeskind resorts to the metaphor of the mosaic to describe the "irreconcilable contradictions between method, idea and desire": "It is like having a million mosaic pieces that do not make up the same figure, which can never be assembled and constitute a unity, since they do not come from a unified whole".

The theme of the mosaic perfectly sums up the varied and contemporary design approach to architecture of BTArchitetti, in Aversa, and Puccio Collodoro Architetti in Sicily. Two heterogeneous approaches in which solutions, choices, materials and colors reveal a kaleidoscopic landscape where a new way of “creating architecture” is expressed.

With BTArchitetti, the educational journey addresses the theme of the project completely combined with research. For this, the verb “to become” represents its identity, as a link that synthesizes the two souls of the firm, between “academy” and “project”, between theory and practice, in an architectural alphabet that stands out as a tool for creating.

The Norman city that houses the firm in the Campania Felix, in fact, leads the architects to an immersive dialogue with the urban fabric, its history and its contemporaneity: Aversa, a complexity of stratifications reflected in a multitude of references and imaginaries that influence the present and the future. 

Thus, BTArchitetti explores the themes of living and retail through the concept of “movement”, working on a dynamic project that is continuously open to different experiences, made of actions and relationships, changing and evolving places. Georges Perec called them “species of spaces”: a multitude of spaces to move in, living and inhabiting, trying - when passing from one to the other – “not to get too hurt”.

Hence, the idea of an emotional architecture, a process theorized by Koolhaas as a “sentimental relationship”, capable of understanding the project as a single entity with the emotional condition by which it itself is generated. A space capable of welcoming "by means of that easy, happy and ornate opening up and communicating with nature, in the invitation that the Italian House offers to our spirit to recreate itself in restful visions of peace, which consists in the full sense of the beautiful Italian word, comfort".

Shapes, colors, provocations: in parallel, in Sicily, Puccio Collodoro Architetti reconstructs the mosaic through “rationally passionate” thinking, a way of designing that explores a language that is both bold and light at the same time, where creativity and technique intersect continuously and naturally.

A modus operandi marked by the duality between pop and expressive elements, to pure and soft forms, in the exaltation of the essence and identity of the spaces that house them. Bright or pastel color palettes, accurate color choices, pure materials or vibrant decorations translate the firm’s compositional research into the ability to interpret the desires of an ever-changing society.

Micro-spaces capable of enhancing the identity of a product, dilating the perception of spaces, suggesting multifaceted atmospheres, communicating the essence of a brand or expressing the soul of an idea, intercepting heterogeneous cultures and universes and suggesting solutions that are always different according to needs. 

An eclectic panorama, the one proposed by BTArchitetti and Puccio Collodoro Architetti, made of suggestions and imagery, changing shapes and dimensions that explore new horizons, always different, always ambitious, like the pieces of a large mosaic.

Learning objectives:

• The lesson offers an excursus on residential and retail architecture within the regional context of Campania and Sicily, addressing the inclusion of projects in historical urban contexts through specific case studies;
• The planivolumetric solutions of spaces will be made explicit, from concept to execution, from diagram to practice, in the relationship between the interior of the premises and the city that houses them;
• The lesson will explore the process of negotiation and dialogue between architects, places, workers and clients in defining an ad hoc branding image for each project, from micro to architectural scale;
• The application of techniques for interior finishing will be illustrated, from research on material and its experimentation to installation, paying special attention to material and color choices to define spaces.