Miglietta / The materialisation of the joint

The materialisation of the joint Re-reading the Brion Cemetery through the agency of the drawing

Author: Enrico Miglietta, Politecnico di Milano; KU Leuven

Supervisor: Gennaro Postiglione, Prof., Politecnico di Milano; Annalisa de Curtis, Politecnico di Milano; Jo Van Den Berghe, Prof. dr., KU Leuven; Thierry Lagrange, Prof. dr., KU Leuven

Research stage: Final doctoral stage

Category: Artefact

DDR Statement

Positioning on the slipstream of operational criticism, the PhD research aims to formulate a methodology for the interpretative reading of existing architectural works and, starting from its findings, systematically describe a design attitude that sees in exploiting the agency of the joint the foundation of a design strategy. In this sense, the investigation through drawing of some paradigmatic architectures showed the emergence of a transcendental schema, therefore the possibility of defining project ‘recommendations’ that work regardless of personal styles or languages, but super-historical and applicable towards a specific design economy and coherence.

The initial part of the interpretative analysis, of which an extract will be presented during the conference, represented a fundamental phase for the emergence of the first findings of the project, insights for the construction of a reflective practice which, although explicitly partisan, proves to be relevant and usable by researchers, students and professionals to varying degrees. Moreover, the process also showed another type of findings, of a procedural nature and embedded into what we could define the agency of the drawing, or how these ways of proceeding are closely intertwined with a particular way of operating on the drawing board, to how the draughtsman uses the tools at his disposal.

The final phase of the research is verifying these findings through an analysis of the design process, with personal research by design and then a test in an academic studio as a controlled environment.