Interior Sights

open lecture series: a comparison of approaches

The architecture doesn't consist in the sum of the width, length and height of the structural elements which enclose
space, but in the void itself, the enclosed space in which men live and move. [Bruno Zevi]
Interior Architecture focuses on conceiving, designing and creating not only spaces where to reside, but places to inhabit [from
the Latin habitare, "to live, dwell", frequentative of habere, "to have, to hold, possess"], be it on small detail scales or in urban
contexts. This discipline is not a completion, nor an accessory of the architectural design, neither a matter of decoration or
furnishing, but rather a design approach, a method, and a particular "sight" of the architectural project. In Italy, Interior
Architecture identifies a theoretical, historical and critical field of research and professional practice, that encompasses interior
design, furniture design, exhibition design and museography, and which is characterized by a long and outstanding tradition.
Along with architectural composition and urban design, it substantially contributed to the rise of the Italian architectural culture,
fostering the birth and growth of the industrial design, and playing a crucial role in the schools of architecture and design of the
country. Today Interior Architecture is an emerging academic area of interest in many European Universities and overseas as
attested by the increasing number of specific university courses, publications and conferences on the subject as well as one of
the most promising and strategic professional fields.
The open lecture series Interior Sights is organized within the course in Interiors Architecture of the School of Architecture
and Society. Invited teachers will offer different sometimes conflicting, overlapping or complementary points of view on the
discipline of Interior Architecture, with the aim of providing a variety of critical perspectives on both theory and practice, and
offering an insight of todays diversities and commonalities in teaching, practicing and researching in Interiors Architecture.

Wednesday, 11.15, room N.2.1, Campus Leonardo

* Aula De Donato

13 November * Suzie Attiwill, RMIT Melbourne (Australia), School of Architecture & Design
20 November Edoardo Narne, Universit degli Studi di Padova (Italy) >> Shared Dwelling Imma
27 November Elena Montanari, Politecnico di Milano (Italy) >> Urban Interiors
4 December

Marie Frier, Aalborg University (Denmark)>> Interiority as a Critical Theory of Architecture

8 January *

Penny Sparke, Kingstone University (United Kingdom) >> The Modern Interior

15 January

Forino, Politecnico di Milano (Italy) >> The Office as an Interior

Course of Interiors Architecture

School of Architecture and Society
Politecnico di Milano a.a. 2013-2014
Prof. Francesca Lanz, PhD