The seminar ‘Slow Kitchen Block’ was a research and design studio aimed at rethinking the design of the contemporary kitchen and its equipment.
The course was guided by Tim Power, with the participation of the Slow Food Studies and Research Center and Boffi s.p.a.
In the course, students analysed the methods of production and consumption of indigenous and traditional cuisine, the benefits of diversified dishes, and Slowness as a systematic approach to food. The “Slow” philosophy proposes an attitude of respect, which starts from the awareness of the fundamental importance of preserving the bio-diversity of the plant and animal world.
In the course, groups of students designed complete experimental kitchen environments, recreating circular micro eco-systems. The students were asked to question technological dependency in the kitchens processes, and to balance this dependency with the nutritional model of the past. Focus was placed on designing the elements and specific tools necessary for the preparation, transformation, conservation and consumption of food in an honest, elegant, and fair manner. The goal was to design and produce a contemporary, sophisticated and refined product, complete in its systemic awareness, responsible with regards to energy consumption, and respectful of the models of clean industry and the circular economy.

Following the industrial revolution, zoned planning in urban centres was introduced, in part to cure the ills of industry, following guidelines which separated our lives into discrete compartments of work, home, and entertainment.
This reality has deeply defined our contemporary perception of space, shifted our sense of individuality, and society, and altered both our impact and understanding of the environment.
This transformation, further increased in the age of globalisation, has also increased the potential and relevance of design and new approaches to respond to these transformations.

This workshop, entitled ‘Being Beijing – Eight Strategies for a New Millennium’  organised by IED and the Tsinghua University on their campus in Beijing, arises from these reflections.

Aimed at investigating a new model of the Hybrid City,  Eight Strategies for a New Millennium focused on the relationships and dynamics  between the environments where we live, where we work, and where we consume goods and services in the contemporary city. Led by Professor Tim Power, the course investigated strategies that aim to question, integrate and curate new spatial relationships between our homes, our workplaces, cities and the natural environment.

The students of the thesis level design studio investigated relationships between contemporary nomadic citizens and the increasingly complex territories within which we find ourselves in.
Today’s nomad moves and interacts within an ever increasing number of “host cities”. A new model and methodology of design for this scenario, and in particular, the role of urban design and it’s application and appreciation of this new inter-connected urban system, can lead to new interpretations of the concept of physical presence in interconnected cities.
The objective of the design studio was to research and question the qualities of physical objects, their technological and material innovation, but primarily to understand our behaviour and relationships within urban environments. The studio was based on the belief that successful design for hospital cities and territorial space will derive from new strategic design tools – proposed at the start of the course by the professor – and from the connection of relevant insights, for example: the understanding and interpretation of the characters of place, the value of the proxemic relational space, knowledge of the new scenarios created by our ubiquitous nature, the logic of social evolution, the attention of material and procedural research for production in the respect for the environment, identification and logic of identity, etc.

A famous line of the poem The Swan by Baudelaire says: “The form of the city changes more rapidly than the mortal soul”. This is exactly what is happening under our eyes over the last decades.

In the thesis level design studio 100 Virtuous Cities, the students will carry out research, programming and design of urban and territorial transformations in the contemporary city.
The urban planning discipline, which has was fully responsible for urban transformations in the years previous the recent  period, is being substituted evermore by urban design, which, due to its rapidity in reaction,  can be effective in adapting to modern (public or private) needs  of territorial development.

The studio intends to promote research and experimental actions in the following thematic areas: mobility, hospitality spaces, retail, new domestic spaces; urban exhibitions and  event design. These dynamic spaces will be analysed, and design strategies will be proposed and  eventually, evaluated, on how they interact and connect within the cities and territories they find themselves.
Technology, Youth Culture, and Ecology serve as fields of reference for the design studio.

The design seminar ‘New Domestic Seascapes’ is a masters level design studio aimed at rethinking and redesigning the sailing and power yacht. By employing systemic strategies, the students were asked to re-envision the yacht and to evaluate its current design trajectory, how the design and manufacturing processes can optimise technology, increase and advance performance,  and promote responsible practices regarding production processes and materials.

The students investigated the relationship between efficiency, weight, form and space in what many consider to be one the most sophisticated of all design challenges: re-envisioning the modern sailing yacht.

The course was guided by Tim Power of Studio Power and  Sebastiano Rech Morassutti of Trimarine s.r.l., with the participation of the Azimuth Yachts

The design studio, Brand Diversity: Evolution, Variety and Variability of a Global Brand, for the Domus Academy Master program with the  participation of the French Fashion brand Louis Vuitton, focused on analysis and revisiting the brands evolutionary process.
The students were asked to analyse relationships and similarities between the natural world ( Bio-Diversity ) and the contemporary economic system of commerce and branding ( Brand-Diversity ).
In a globalised systems of Large brand dominance, youth culture is rediscovering the value of smaller brands, in part, due to their authentic approach and honesty. We studied this phenomenon critically and looked closely at the genetic structure which defines the Louis Vuitton Brand. In a world where the interconnected principles: good, clean and fair, co-exist with: seduction, desire and the influencer, we asked the questions “what is the role of a brand in the contemporary landscape?”  and  “can a big brand respond to environmental and social concerns”
As audiences become increasingly frustrated and skeptical of advertising claims, what is the role of ‘Honesty’, ‘Attitude’ and ‘Value’ in the marketplace (yes, even in the luxury marketplace)? How and why can brands with traditional techniques and messages thrive in a modern world, a world sensible to modern problems and contemporary values?

The course Rethinking Hospitality presented an overview of the extensive and complex field of Interior Design within the hospitality industry, with each student developing a strategic project focused on  new strategies of rethinking Hotel Design.

Students conducted in depth analysis of contemporary hotel typologies, recent hotel design trends and historical information and archives regarding typology, operations, atmospheres, materials, furniture, and lighting.
The historical evolutions that the course investigated were both social and environmental.
Social changes , driven by the increases in travel by nomadic citizens, will focus on the desire of authentic experiences and local identity.
Environmental issues, of increased importance to offset the carbon footprint of the global traveller, sensitivity to the use of natural resources  were considered during all design decisions in relation to the impact of the construction industry.
Authenticity and cultural identity were considered  with regards to building techniques and materials.
Today’s guest is demanding change: hotels must update, renovate or invent new and appropriate ideas to keep up with requirements of evolving lifestyles and environmental responsibilities.

The planetary trajectory growth towards urbanisation in the third millennium is transforming the ways in which the we inhabit our territory, our buildings and our homes: The abandonment of small towns, ‘the countryside’, and rural areas by young people, families and immigrants looking for a ‘better life’ and improved living conditions in large urban environments has been a major social trend of our era. Such changes increase the potential and relevance of the a new design approach to respond to these transformations.
Given this paradigm, the need for re-thinking our relationship with our surroundings and the territories we inhabit is fundamental.
The complex economic and social transformation which has struck industrialised and transforming countries at the end of the second millennium lays ground for the current need to organize, convert, develop, design and administrate urban territory with positive and experimental approaches, rooted in timeless patterns.
The thesis level design studio took these observations as the starting point, and aims to produce results which replace nature at the center of the world, exploring methods of creating a built environment for human environments in symbiosis with the natural one, with the understanding that we are part of the web and flow of a complex and delicate eco-system.

The planetary trajectory growth towards urbanisation in the third millennium is transforming the ways in which the we inhabit our territory, our buildings and our homes: The abandonment of small towns, ‘the countryside’, and rural areas by young people, families and immigrants looking for a ‘better life’, and improved living conditions in large urban environments has been a major social trend of our era and forces us to consider rural and urban areas of the globes industrialised and transforming countries. Such needs increase the potential and relevance of the a new design approach to respond to these transformations.
Given this paradigm, the need for re-thinking domesticity is top priority.
Our contemporary dynamic condition of urban spaces and places calls the need to identify and propose new ways of living, of inhabiting our homes and our domestic environment.
Changes in technology create new ways of working and shopping, and these changes offer the need to re-evaluate the domestic environment, how it is built, how it will be used, and how it will effect the environment and society at large.
The thesis level design studio took this as the starting point, and aims to produce results which explore urbanity and rurality, and to propose balancing strategies which adapt to and increase the qualities of both.

Globalisation in the third millennium is transforming the ways in which the we inhabit our territory, our buildings and our homes: Technology has revolutionised how we build and inhabit ours cities, it regulates our movement and travel, indicating nomadism as one of the major transformative forces of our era.
We are permanent tourists, travelling endlessly to discover ( and with discovery, contaminate ) every corner of the globe. We move with ease, but with consequence.
Our system could best be described as ‘The Age of infinite Possibility’, and inherent to this range of infinite possibilities is the consequence of ‘Unprecedented Risk’.
Such changes increase the potential and relevance of the a new design approach to respond to these transformations.
Given this paradigm, the need for re-thinking our relationship with how we move through our surroundings and the territories we inhabit is fundamental.
The thesis level design studio took these considerations as the starting point, and aimed to produce results which explored differences between cultures, identity, positive and negative aspects of travel upon our increasing globalised environment and introduced strategies on how to balance a ‘universal language’ with autochthonous and authentic local ones.

A contemporary dynamic condition of urban spaces and places calls the need to identify and propose new ways of inhabiting our domestic environments, workplaces and commercial spaces.
The design studio will consider how these spaces can overlap, and how in this process of hybridization, they can be shared.
Domestic environments constitute the majority of the built space in both rural urban environments, and their morphological dynamics and relationships to the other primary functions of a city is key. Work Environments are where we spend most of our ‘collective time’ during waking hours, and with this, the trend in the contemporary office of working is focused on teamwork and collective space.
Commercial Space is where the greatest change in collective and public space is currently transforming the urban environments.
The relationships between these Private and Public space and how they can be transformed into Shared Spaces will define the cities of tomorrow.
The course program, entitled ‘Shared Territories’ arises from these reflections.
Within the course, each student, with the guidance of the tutor, will establish a specific project program, which entails determining a brief, defining domestic typologies, locating a site, and prioritising strategic, conceptual and functional requirements.

The decay of continuity caused by abrupt dynamic conditions in contemporary urban spaces calls for the need to identify and propose new ways of inhabiting our domestic environments, workplaces and commercial spaces.
The design studio Hybrid Environments considered how these spaces can overlap, and how in this process of hybridization, they can be shared.
The design studio focused on a a case study analysis of how live, how we work, and how we consume goods and services in contemporary urban environments and investigated possible combinatory strategies for how to improve these relationships and environments.
The course program arose from these reflections.
Within the course, each student, with the guidance of the tutor, will analysed objects, spaces, constructs and territories and the relationships between nature, city, building. Further analysis and research of historic typologies focused on workplace, public space and the domestic environment.
The thesis projects proposed new typologies on how these functions and integrate and overlap, with the focus on which of our behaviours can share resources, and which require privacy and personal contemplation.

Todays youth are unable and unwilling to continue thinking of ‘economic growth’ as the only acceptable model. While they appreciate that the well-being generated by modern mechanisms such as industrialisation and capitalism, they are also equally aware that the downside of these models has caused the disintegration of the ‘social contracts’ that held previous generations together, as well as wreaking environmental havoc that threatens the fragile planetary ecosystems and perhaps, even the basis of life itself.
Although we have become acutely aware of the damage we are inflicting on our planet, ecological destruction is in escalation rather than decreasing. In our Antropecene era, the mechanisms which we have put into place are evidently so powerful that we are unable, or unwilling, to stop them. The course program, entitled ‘New Responsibility’ arises from these reflections.
Within the course, each student, with the guidance of the tutor, analysed objects, spaces, constructs and territories and the relationships between nature, city, building. The course intended to promote research and experimental: the student was asked to investigate possible futures, without certainties, within the realm of error. The final thesis of each student proposed, in either incremental steps or radical overtures, projects which took these observations as the starting point.