The fragile body in architecture

26.11.2024 17:00 – 19:00

How could architects design the city for the fragile body? This question is at the centre of the first dialogue of our 4EU+ European University Alliance project "The recognition of the fragile body in the city: An interdisciplinary perspective on European fundamental values”. Two architects will launch the discussion on “the fragile body in architecture”.

On the one side, Cristina Bianchetti, professor of urban planning at the Polytechnic of Turin, deals with contemporary urban design criticism. Her work on the relation between space and bodies permits to focus on the agency of bodies. Her view on the body as an intermediary between space and person leads to read the sharing of experiences in housing, in the use of the public space, in the everyday encounters at the forefront of an architectural intervention.

On the other side, Paolo Fusi, professor of urban design at the HafenCity University in Hamburg, tries to introduce the topic of multiplicity in (historically established) design and in use of the same spaces. Cities characterised by this double multiplicity deserves care, says Fusi, even more care than we are used to applying to our own private living environments.

Panos Mantzarias, architect, director of the Braillard Fondation Architects (Geneva) and partner of the project and Francesco Della Casa, cantonal architect of Geneva canton will comment on how cities of differences can be designed.