jacopo leveratto

Among all the tools available, why models? Richard Pommer already posed this non-rhetorical question in 1981, in the catalog of the exhibition Idea as Model. «Why not […] drawings instead of models» if the idea is to deal with visions in architecture? «Drawings are closer to ideas […]. Models by contrast are usually dumb» in their objectual dimension. And if «the hope … [is] to present difficult ideas more effectively», there is not much difference between this attempt and any other «form of propaganda for persuading clients». Only a few pages earlier, however, Peter Eisenman had already implicitly answered these doubts. Writing that not only models «could well have an artistic or conceptual existence [...] relatively independent of the project they represented». But also an «unconscious, unpremeditated» effect on the design process, capable of provoking «unforeseen structural developments or even modes of perception». Thus bringing the problematic node concerning the subject from an idea of adherence and replicability, as it had been set by Quatremère de Quincy a hundred and fifty years earlier, to its generative capacity, ensuing from a previous Kantian definition…

Notes on the Complete Tool.
Stoà 1: 10-15. 2021.

The construction of a cabin can be seen not only as the most immediate means of living a free and deliberate life, but also as the most essential formalisation of a possible manifesto on living and being in the world that, in this way, finds an exemplary form of expression. As if it were a kind of built micro-treatise, however partial or unconscious it may be. For this reason, it is not surprising that over the years the cabins of Thoreau and Kaczynski have been the focus of numerous studies and critical speculations in the architec¬tural sphere. And, in particular, the one described in Walden, with which, little by little, three fundamental lines of research have been defined…

Thoreau and Kaczynski, the Media Cabin: Building a Manifesto.
With Alessandro Rocca. Vesper 3: 36-48. 2020.

In recent years, current socio-economic trends have been pushing the concept of adaptivity towards the center of the architectural debate, increasingly focused on extending buildings’ effective lives. Today, however, it seems to be much more than a simple responsible choice for a substantial part of the environmental design culture. Adaptivity has become a sort of necessary design parameter, whereas adaptation has increasingly been considered the first principle of transformation of the urban organism that characterizes the current cycle of economic development. In this regard, interior architecture and design could provide a fundamental perspective to broadly address this new issue, if they were not constantly in need of theoretical framing. For this reason, outlining some primary features characterizing interiors disciplines, this paper aims at laying the basis of a thorough speculative approach to adaptivity, crossing some consolidated ideas of type and scale.

Learning from Interiors: Towards a Multiscalar Approach to Adaptivity.
International Journal of Interior Architecture + Spatial Design 6: 8-15. 2020.

Over the last few years, different socio-economic trends have been pushing the concept of inclusivity towards the centre of the architectural debate, increasingly focused on improving urban liveability. Today, however, it seems to be much more than a simple, responsible choice for a substantial part of the environmental design culture. Inclusivity, in fact, has become a sort of necessary design parameter, whereas resilience has been considered the first condition for managing the transformations of contemporary cities. This is because identity and diversity mark our contemporary society on a daily basis and since the world population has doubled in the last fifty years — and especially since two-thirds of it is believed to relocate to urban areas by the middle of this century— the awareness that inadequate urban planning and design can have serious consequences on most people’s lives is commonly acknowledged…

The Re-appropriation of Public Spaces.
In Contested Spaces, Concerted Projects: Designs for Vulnerable Memories,
edited by Cristina Colombo and Jacopo Leveratto, 56-67. Siracusa: LetteraVentidue. 2020.

In recent years, the sudden success of “tactical” modes of urbanism has begun to challenge the traditional parameters of public space design, by requiring new tools and methodologies of “place-making” within cities. In this regard, interior architecture and design could provide a fundamental perspective to address this new issue, if they were not constantly in need of theoretical framing to legitimize their interest in the field. In many cases, in fact, the conjunction between the terms “urban” and “interior” is still seen as a provocation, and the history of the different attempts through which interior disciplines have developed a design approach about the city, although now consolidated, is little known in its complexity. Therefore, this article offers a critical and historical reading of the concept of “urban interiors,” both from a theoretical and an operative point of view, in order to trace the evolution of this line of investigation and envision its possible future developments. In doing so, it first analyses the different concepts of “interior urbanism” and “urban interiority,” and describes the emergence and the evolution of the urban interior design approach. Then, it points out some shared features that characterize contemporary practices of “interior-making” within urban situations, to eventually focus on the progressive disciplinary convergence with urban planning and design. The objective is to lay the foundation of a unified theoretical framework that could highlight the methodological contribution of interior disciplines to the urban construction.

Urban Interiors: A Retroactive Investigation.
The Journal of Interior Design 44(3): 161-171. 2019.

The paper focuses on an emerging trend that characterises the reconstruction of the urban identity of some Post-Soviet countries. In this context, the most interesting projects of public space design of the last ten years show a formal and functional repertoire that recalls, in all its aspects, the features of domestic architecture. Far from being the epitomes of a simple stylistic vogue, they can be read as a part of a longer disciplinary redirection in this field, aimed at enabling and encouraging different forms of spatial appropriation. Therefore, to understand this phenomenon in its cultural depth and envision possible future scenarios, the paper highlights the theoretical framework and historical background that are at the basis of this line of research. Focusing on concepts such as belonging, place-making, and domestication and ranging from planning to interior design, it traces the outline of the design strategies implemented to foster spontaneous tactics of spatial production. The purpose is to demonstrate that home is just the most direct and literal symbol of the possibility of creating a new sense of spatial belonging, even in places that are traditionally subject to a different spatial and functional regime.

Domestication as Pacification: Public Space Design in Post-Soviet Countries.
In Reinventing Eastern Europe: Imaginaries, Identities and Transformations,
edited by Evinc Dogan, 131-142. London: Transnational Press London. 2019.

During the second half of the last century, public space design has gradually moved towards the center of the architectural debate, increasingly focused on improving urban liveability. An improved understanding of urban design and the everyday use of public space within cities has become a fundamental parameter, and resilience has become an important aspect for managing the transformations of contemporary cities. With the world population having doubled in the last fifty years, and two thirds of all people believed to relocate to urban areas by the middle of this century, the awareness for open and inclusive public spaces has become an essential factor for the development of more sustainable and resilient urban societies. By consequence, the definition of a city has begun to require a total rethinking of its traditional use and meaning, demanding new forms of place-making…

Interstitial Practices: The Strategy of the In-between.
With Madalina Ghibusi. Int/AR 10: 84-89. 2019.

City and personality have never been easily associated. Historically, since classical antiquity, urban space has always been the reflection of a collective identity representing the natural inclination of human beings to live in group. However, according to Lewis Mumford, the city has been the context in which another ideal arose—the concept of personality. This ideal, according to the official history of urban design, seems to have had a very marginal role, if not as a formal or functional analogous structure. Nevertheless, looking at the physical consistence of built space—as well as its ideal formulation—it is not difficult to find some evidence of Mumford’s theory. Therefore, the paper, through an architectural overview ranging from classical street-side benches to contemporary digital cities, aims at outlining the progressive change in the representation of urban identities from a collective to a more personal dimension. It describes how public space design, especially during the last 30 years, has redefined its strategies in order to increase the possibilities of personal intervention for users, and it focuses on the gradual shift of this discipline towards other scales, instruments and objectives, in a sudden disciplinary convergence with interior architecture and industrial design. Thus, showing how a pervasive process of domestication is nowadays transforming not only the use, but also the symbolic meaning that the public domain has traditionally had.

Personal Urbanities: Domesticating the Public Domain.
Philosophy Study 6 (7): 424-431. 2016.

Several contemporary studies on public space focus on its loss, in relation to an increase in people’s disengagement from these types of spaces. Since the 1960s, a considerable part of urban culture has attempted to develop strategies for people to re-appropriate public space and to ‘inhabit the city again.’ This has defined a line of research that, although now consolidated, is still little known in its complexity. In the effort to create a unified framework for the different attempts through which architecture has historically responded to the rise of spontaneous forms of urban creativity, this paper outlines a short history of design strategies aimed at enabling and encouraging different forms of spatial appropriation. It also highlights a gradual shift from prescriptive and repeatable rules to site-specific approaches, prompting a new disciplinary convergence between urban planning and design, interior architecture, industrial design and public art.

Planned To Be Reclaimed: Public Design Strategies
for Spontaneous Practices of Spatial Appropriation.
Street Art & Urban Creativity Scientific Journal 1 (1): 6-12. 2015.