Recently, the notion of material harvesting, collection, and reworking has gained significant attention as a crucial step in understanding essential aspects of building culture, particularly in relation to reuse, material scarcity, or, conversely, material availability. The ‘Recycling Beauty’ exhibition (Fondazione Prada, Milan 2022), which displayed Greek and Roman spolia, marble fragments, and pieces of sculptures placed alongside one other, alluded to practices of appropriation and possession, to the relationship between craftsmen and found resources, and to the need to store and preserve material in times of scarcity or political uncertainty. Similar questions have emerged in Dutch and Belgian contexts, for example, from research into the work of designer Marcel Raymaekers and his way of organizing salvaged materials (Marcel Raymaekers, pioneer in circular architecture, Vai, Antwerp 2023). Besides highlighting the relevance of practices linked to material reuse, exhibitions and installations also make clear by their very organization, how material collections take space and, at the same time, sculpt ever-changing landscapes. Building on these premises, and shifting the focus towards contemporary and less curated cases, this article critically examines the purpose, spatial qualities and configurations of three material storage typologies in the Dutch context – bricks and tiles, soil, and trees – highlighting their pivotal role in relation to material accessibility and availability. These sites, termed ‘material gardens’, are understood as experimental laboratories or ‘banks’, where the notion of availability is translated into the allocation and management of (material) reserves. Though often overlooked and considered marginal, such open spaces are in fact key sites where design and other creative processes are crucially tied to resource allocation and disposal, and impact collective imagination and practices. They are increasingly being positioned at the core of construction and deconstruction processes, raising relevant ecological questions and helping to shape tacit knowledge on material reuse. ... Read more

Section Natural Intelligens. Curated by Carlo Ratti. ... Read more

The pavement joint in urban spaces has, in recent years, become a controversial detail, particularly when unexpectedly colonized by wild plants and pioneer species. This article, however, highlights that this is not a spontaneous phenomenon but rather a process: the evolution of this overlooked interstitial space was revived during the immediate post-war period, when ecological awareness emerged globally. By considering examples such as the Ecokathedraal by Louis G. Le Roy, the Jardin des Joyeux by Wagon Landscaping (Paris, 2016), and Gilles Clément and Coloco’s urban regeneration project for the Manifatture Knos (Lecce, 2012–18), this investigation illustrates the transformative process of pavement joints. It emphasizes the relationship between inert matter, soil, and interstitial vegetation, while underscoring the increasing role of craft knowledge, collective practices, and the radicalization of the principle of minimal intervention. ... Read more

In line with the ambition to combat climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, the EU has recently committed to planting 3 billion trees (see the EU Forest Strategy, 2021). On a global level, a number of cities have implemented reforestation programmes and urban greening initiatives. Within the framework of this vast and urgent commitment, the paper examines the emerging phenomenon of Tree Hubs, where unwanted trees and plants can be placed after harvesting and before replanting, with a particular focus on The Netherlands. ... Read more

In an era of globalisation, landscape architects and urban designers have learnt to think big: large-scale plans with far-reaching visions, saving the planet and solving urgent global challenges. Usually, we try to solve these problems in the same way that we created them: with advanced and generic technological methods, and with significant investments. Yet this bigness is still largely the domain of international players, and its effects do not necessarily foster the quality of urban spaces. On the other end of the spectrum is the small realm of a terrarium, intriguing because of the contradiction between their otherworldliness and the representation they offer of the world as we know it. They share this quality with gardens, described by Michel Foucault as “the smallest fragment of the world and, at the same time, represents its totality, forming right from the remotest times a sort of felicitous and universal heterotopia”1. What if we learned to think small again? What do small gestures have to offer to reveal what is valuable and meaningful and to foster a novel understanding of the relation between humans and nature? How can they sharpen our view for the particular, identifying the places in the landscape in their structural, material, dynamic, practical, atmospheric, mnemonic, and discursive identities? [...] ... Read more

The proposed contribution arises from a research trajectory that began during a master’s degree at the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio (2007), expanded during a PhD at the Politecnico di Milano (2022), and is currently being developed through research hosted by the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment at TU Delft (ongoing). The investigation focuses on the disposal and transformation of dismantled or excavated materials within landscapes, specifically in relation to the construction and deconstruction processes of architectures and infrastructures. In particular, it examines ground movements related to complex infrastructural projects, such as the excavation of the Gotthard and Ceneri tunnels in Switzerland (1999-2020), and the material yards and circular hubs involved in the storage, reprocessing and reuse of architectural construction materials in the Netherlands. Indeed, in a period marked by climate change, overall ecological decline, and sociopolitical instability, an understanding of the complexity of landscapes that are mostly forged by human constructive actions seems paramount. Not only are we shaping and re-shaping the planet’s crust by rail or road-lines (by 2050 at least 25 million kilometers of new roadways are planned to be built by the International Energy Agency), extended tunnels, underground constructions (more than 800 million tons of material will be excavated during large underground projects by 2030) and land-scrapers, but we are at the same time flattening and carving surfaces, sprawling cumuli and heaps, unfurling volumes of earth, while relocating and reusing vast amounts of construction materials (over 150 material yards hosting construction materials have been mapped in the Netherlands in 2023). What kinds of landscapes are created by these movements and disposals? The tasks of the research project are both to uncommon the deep, material impact of constructive actions on landscape and to envision the monumental character of the new emerging grounds, disengaging earthworks and material yards from an exclusively technical approach and questioning their meaning inside the landscape architecture thinking, language and design process. ... Read more

La parola “accumulazione”, dal latino accumulatio -onis, significa letteralmente raccolta, accatastamento, affastellamento di mate¬riale. In particolare, in geologia, il termine fa riferimento al pro¬cesso incessante di formazione di cumuli di detriti ad opera di agenti terrestri esterni. In ambito letterario l’accumulazione è una figura retorica, ovvero una metatassi che nasce dal mettere insieme una serie di termini, pensieri, immagini, stati d’animo – anche inconsci – accostati tra loro sia in modo ordinato e pro-gressivo, che in modo caotico, destrutturante. Vengono in mente, in ordine sparso, le accumulazioni lessicali di Petrarca, gli eccessi descrittivi di Rabelais, i monologhi di Joyce, le sequenze imma¬ginifiche dell’Ariosto. Quest’ultimo, in particolare, utilizza ardite accumulazioni di termini per trasmettere ritmicamente, oltre che semanticamente, un effetto di straniamento e per trascinare così il lettore in una foresta (sia immaginaria che verbale) di spa¬zi amplificati che si annodano e si aggrovigliano su loro stessi. ... Read more

“Isolario Venezia Sylva” è un progetto dell’unità di ricerca dell’Università Iuav di Venezia svolto nell’ambito del programma Prin “Sylva – Ripensare la «selva». Verso una nuova alleanza tra biologico e artefatto, natura e società, selvatichezza e umanità”. Agli autori invitati è stato chiesto di sviluppare una riflessione progettuale per un’isola minore della Laguna di Venezia che è stata loro assegnata. L’esercizio, fondato sulla conoscenza della realtà e sulla prefigurazione dello spazio, è strutturato su quarantotto frammenti di terra e su quarantotto gruppi di progettazione di quindici diverse scuole di architettura italiane o studi professionali, è incardinato sui tre termini/temi “isola, architettura, selva”. ... Read more

Exhibition curated by Sara Marini in the context of the PRIN "SYLVA - Ripensare la ‘selva’. Verso una nuova alleanza tra biologico e artefatto, natura e società, selvatichezza e umanità".

“Isolario Venezia Sylva” è un progetto dell’unità di ricerca dell’Università Iuav di Venezia svolto nell’ambito del programma Prin “SYLVA - Ripensare la ‘selva’. Verso una nuova alleanza tra biologico e artefatto, natura e società, selvatichezza e umanità”, curato da Sara Marini. La mostra itinerante raccoglie quarantotto indagini progettuali dedicate a quarantotto isole minori della Laguna di Venezia. Sedi: Venezia (Ca’ Tron - Iuav, 13/6-1/7/22), Treviso (Spazio Solido, 21/7-5/8/22), Genova (Cisternone galleria Gaspare de Fiore, 22/9-6/10/22), Firenze (Chiesa di Santa Verdiana - DIDA, 18/10-2/11/22), Napoli (Palazzo Gravina, 24/11-14/12/22), Roma (Sapienza, 19/01-2/03/23), Matera (Museo Archeologico Domenico Ridola-Museo Nazionale di Matera, 28/03-2/05/23), Pescara (Spazio Francesco Garofalo - Dd'A, 17/10-17/11/23), Ascoli Piceno (Sede dell'Annunziata - SAAD, 7/3-5/4/2024), Palermo (Dipartimento di Architettura, Università degli Studi di Palermo, 12/02-12/03/2025), Udine (Università degli Studi di Udine, dal 16 maggio al 13 giugno 2025). ... Read more

A direct and empiric observation of landscape architecture interventions, from private gardens to public parks planned and realized in southern Switzerland between 2009 and 2018, has presented an opportunity to think about ground movements linked with the construction phases of landscape and architectural projects. [...] ... Read more

Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, 2021. ... Read more