The relational space : designing new urban hinges in suspended edge places

Abstract

The research on tentative strategies for designing spaces which reveal themselves as relational, choral, shared, participated, gains new meanings and renovated urgencies under the changing conditions of contemporary architectures, landscapes and cities.Object of inquiry is the complex whole of transitional spaces, intermediate places,suspended fragments hovering among different morphological, historical, social contexts, expressing unexplored potentialities as new urban hinges. These mediatedjoint-spaces – acting as relational devices – provide the opportunity to reflect on theovercoming of the traditional theme of public urban space. Therefore the sustained hypothesis resides in the turning of the idea of "relation" from a conceptual device –for the interpretation of space quality – into a strategic tool with multiple methodological values, whose implications may be investigated through the concrete experience of the project.