Elena Porqueddu
Elena Porqueddu is an Architect, Researcher and Lecturer based in Milan.
She received her Ph.D. in Architecture, Urban Design and Conservation at the Polytechnic of Milan with a thesis (partly developed at the University of Melbourne) which explored the potential for urban intensity in low-density urban areas. The research she has been conducting since 2012 investigates the implications of systemic thinking for spatial design practice, with a focus on theories of Complex Adaptive Systems, emergence, self-organization, autopoiesis, resilience and assemblage. In particular, she explores the role of spatial design in triggering processes of spontaneous self-regeneration in cities.
Her research has been published in international peer-reviewed journals, and presented at international seminars and conferences in Europe (Architecture, Education and Society, Barcelona, 2012; Cosmos+Taxis Conference, Milan, 2016; New Science and Actions for Complex Cities, Florence, 2017; Open City Forum, Berlin Science Week, 2018), Russia (Moscow Design Week, 2014) Indonesia (Bazaar Art Jakarta & Casa Jakarta, 2014), Colombia (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotà, 2014) and Santo Domingo (UNIBE, UNPHU, 2014-2015).
She is a Senior Lecturer at the Marangoni International School of Design in Milan (2010-current) where she teaches Design Methods, Project Development, and Architectural Design both for undergraduate AFAM courses and Master’s courses. With Marangoni’s students and colleagues, she developed a wide range of projects for external companies (among others Valentino, Cappellini, Park Hyatt Hotel, Vibram, Flaminia, Starbucks and Victoria Arduino), in which she experimented heterogeneous forms of adaptive design.
She was also an Adjunct Professor at Polytechnic of Milan (2006-2014), teaching in Architectural Design Labs for both undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
As an architect, she has a history of designing at different scales. As a senior designer at Cecchi&Lima Architetti Associati (2003-2009) she worked on projects for housing and public spaces in Milan, following different design phases, from concept to construction. As a freelance architect (2012-current) she mainly develops interior design projects for the renovation of existing spaces, enhancing their adaptive capacity through minimum progressive interventions.
Her research on spatial design is also nourished by a multi-year practice of Contemporary Dance and Yoga (1st level instructor), and by a strong interest in participative performing art. This parallel research on movement and body awareness led her to investigate architecture as a relational art.
She received her Ph.D. in Architecture, Urban Design and Conservation at the Polytechnic of Milan with a thesis (partly developed at the University of Melbourne) which explored the potential for urban intensity in low-density urban areas. The research she has been conducting since 2012 investigates the implications of systemic thinking for spatial design practice, with a focus on theories of Complex Adaptive Systems, emergence, self-organization, autopoiesis, resilience and assemblage. In particular, she explores the role of spatial design in triggering processes of spontaneous self-regeneration in cities.
Her research has been published in international peer-reviewed journals, and presented at international seminars and conferences in Europe (Architecture, Education and Society, Barcelona, 2012; Cosmos+Taxis Conference, Milan, 2016; New Science and Actions for Complex Cities, Florence, 2017; Open City Forum, Berlin Science Week, 2018), Russia (Moscow Design Week, 2014) Indonesia (Bazaar Art Jakarta & Casa Jakarta, 2014), Colombia (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotà, 2014) and Santo Domingo (UNIBE, UNPHU, 2014-2015).
She is a Senior Lecturer at the Marangoni International School of Design in Milan (2010-current) where she teaches Design Methods, Project Development, and Architectural Design both for undergraduate AFAM courses and Master’s courses. With Marangoni’s students and colleagues, she developed a wide range of projects for external companies (among others Valentino, Cappellini, Park Hyatt Hotel, Vibram, Flaminia, Starbucks and Victoria Arduino), in which she experimented heterogeneous forms of adaptive design.
She was also an Adjunct Professor at Polytechnic of Milan (2006-2014), teaching in Architectural Design Labs for both undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
As an architect, she has a history of designing at different scales. As a senior designer at Cecchi&Lima Architetti Associati (2003-2009) she worked on projects for housing and public spaces in Milan, following different design phases, from concept to construction. As a freelance architect (2012-current) she mainly develops interior design projects for the renovation of existing spaces, enhancing their adaptive capacity through minimum progressive interventions.
Her research on spatial design is also nourished by a multi-year practice of Contemporary Dance and Yoga (1st level instructor), and by a strong interest in participative performing art. This parallel research on movement and body awareness led her to investigate architecture as a relational art.
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Papers by Elena Porqueddu
as an emergent system, cannot be designed from the top down, it needs some direction as it can also spontaneously veer towards its decline and turn into a closed system. What, then, is the role of (spatial) design in setting the conditions for the emergence of the open city and in preventing its self-destruction? By presenting two case studies, the present paper attempts to frame a design approach that can direct emergent changes without trying to formally predetermine their outcome.
form cannot be predicted in advance, emerging as it does from the bottom-up interaction between human and material
components. Despite this awareness, the current practice of planning and urban design often tends to predict and control the
future development of pre-defined areas by proposing top-down comprehensive master plans over emergent orders rather
than cooperating with place-specific emergent dynamics. In order to foster the development of a design approach which can
instead become an integral element of emergent dynamics, the present paper proposes a Multi-Scale Atlas as a tool: (1) to
detect and explore the multi-scale nature of emergent urban systems; and (2) to identify the site-specific spatial conditions
which can encourage (or discourage) their positive evolution.
Book chapters by Elena Porqueddu
as an emergent system, cannot be designed from the top down, it needs some direction as it can also spontaneously veer towards its decline and turn into a closed system. What, then, is the role of (spatial) design in setting the conditions for the emergence of the open city and in preventing its self-destruction? By presenting two case studies, the present paper attempts to frame a design approach that can direct emergent changes without trying to formally predetermine their outcome.
form cannot be predicted in advance, emerging as it does from the bottom-up interaction between human and material
components. Despite this awareness, the current practice of planning and urban design often tends to predict and control the
future development of pre-defined areas by proposing top-down comprehensive master plans over emergent orders rather
than cooperating with place-specific emergent dynamics. In order to foster the development of a design approach which can
instead become an integral element of emergent dynamics, the present paper proposes a Multi-Scale Atlas as a tool: (1) to
detect and explore the multi-scale nature of emergent urban systems; and (2) to identify the site-specific spatial conditions
which can encourage (or discourage) their positive evolution.