From Wall to Skin

Collana Architettura e Complessità diretta da Pierfranco Galliani
Series Architecture and Complexity directed by Pierfranco Galliani

Architecture is increasingly called upon to invent new scenarios, ecology-friendly, energy-efficient and resilient, within which the dynamics between the built and the natural environments can unfold. The emphasis is being placed on the architectural envelope, as design continues to push the upper limit on its thinness, lightness and permeability, in a way that this particular component is progressively conceptualised as a breathing, living, active element. Moving between theory and practice, this book explores the instances where the architectural discourse and practice have intersected with the organic metaphor, with notions associated with the anatomy of the skin and the physiological process of breathing, exploring new connections between inside and outside, space and structure, nature and artifice. In this context, it conceives of the envelope as a complex architectural system – one that intersects with technological advances, with knowledge deriving from the sciences, with the changing climatic conditions – drawing attention to issues of mediation between architecture and the environment at large.

Stamatina Kousidi is senior researcher in Architectural and Urban Composition at the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU) of Politecnico di Milano, since 2018, where she teaches at the School of Architecture, Urban Planning, Construction Engineering (AUIC) and at the Doctoral program in Architecture, Urban and Interior Design. Between 2014 and 2017 she held postdoctoral fellowships at Politecnico di Milano, ETH Zurich, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin/Dessau Institute of Architecture. She holds an M.Sc. in Architecture from the University of Thessaly (2005), an M.Sc. in Architecture Design, Space, Culture from the National Technical University of Athens (2010) and a Ph.D. from Università di Roma “La Sapienza” (2013). Her research practice combines theories and projects of the modern and contemporary eras with an emphasis on the environmental aspects of the architectural organism.