Rogers, E. N. (1997), Esperienza dell’architettura, Milano, Skira.
Wittgenstein, L. (1958, published posthumously), The Blue and Brown Notebooks, New York, Harper and Row.
A magazine on the power of the project
DOI: 10.17454/ARDETH12.02
“Think of words as instruments characterized by their use, and then think of the use of a hammer, the use of a chisel, the use of a square, of a glue pot, and of the glue.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein
1The epigraph chosen to open the 12th issue of “Ardeth” is from the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, who reminds us that the significance of words in human existence lies in their practical use – and use means action, namely the power to change the current state of affairs. Wittgenstein’s thought can prompt us to imagine even the transformative potential of hammers, chisels, squares, and glue pots in altering the status quo. If we shift from glue pots to the artefacts that make up the fabric of daily human existence, what can we imagine to be the degree of their transformative power? The answer might unsettle any designer – indeed, the designer wields tremendous power to shape daily human existence. Through the words of Ernesto Nathan Rogers, we could say that “getting a design wrong would mean condemning thousands of individuals to endure their lives in the confines of an ill-suited space” (Rogers, 1997: 52, translated by the author) in terms of human existence. Thus, why should a high school student assume the aforementioned risk? In other words, why would they choose to become a designer and take the chance of “condemning thousands of individuals” to live in an uncomfortable space?
2The answer that issue 12 of “Ardeth” seeks to give is that opting to become a designer entails not only the power to negatively impact the quality of human life but also, and perhaps more importantly, the power to change it for the better. In fact, a designer has the ability to foster the development of an individual by shaping their potential evolution. This occurs, for instance, when the aesthetic appeal of a living space prompts its inhabitant to care more for themselves, others and even things, by fostering a heightened appreciation for the significance of details.
3Returning to the epigraph, we can see that one of the prerequisites for the positive scenario described above involves effectively harnessing words, especially those that guide a designer’s work. Our contemporary era is marked by extreme acceleration, which raises the risk of transitioning from a thoughtful use of words that captures their complexity to an abuse that results in superficial slogans, particularly when relying too heavily on keywords. Employing words constructively demands time – both the time to contemplate their meanings and the time to envision potential scenarios before moving from the flexibility of imagination to the irrevocability of reality. However, our age often pushes us into a hurried pace that undermines both reflection and experience.
4As a consequence, words risk losing their role as essential checkpoints in understanding the intricacies of their meanings. Conversely, they also risk becoming hastily consumed slogans, relinquishing complexity in favour of superficiality. Keywords, in particular, are even more at risk as by definition they are extracted from the multifaceted contexts from which they derive their argumentative significance (if such contexts exist).
5In the backdrop of the New European Bauhaus, our time presents the European designer with three pivotal keywords: beautiful, sustainable, and together. The central question that issue 12 of “Ardeth” seeks to address is how to employ these three keywords in the best possible way. In essence, it grapples with the question of how to use but not abuse the checkpoints they provide us with to truly grasp the intricacies of their intended applications. The aim is to prevent hastening the transition from words to designs and, ultimately, from designs to the artefacts that make up the space of our day-to-day human existence.
6For instance, what does the word “beautiful” mean, and how can we translate its essence into various uses and spatial configurations after experiencing a two-century-long crisis in our understanding of beauty itself? How can we prevent it from being degraded into mere self-referential and narcissistic forms, which fail to serve the enrichment of human existence? These forms often prioritise showcasing the designers’ signatures, sometimes through eccentricities that clash with the natural ways humans inhabit space and time. Furthermore, how can we reestablish the intrinsic link between aesthetics and ethics? This connection implies that the aesthetics of objects shaping our everyday environments profoundly influence our spatiotemporal and existential identity. It also emphasises that this process is inherently ethical, serving the expression and even evolution of our human identity.
7What does the word “sustainable” mean, and how can we translate its essence into various uses and spatial configurations? This question is particularly urgent in a time when the hierarchy of our values often places instant profit ahead of the well-being of future generations, prioritises “our rights” over other peoples’, and gives precedence to “I” over “we” and especially “they.” How can we avoid distorting the true meaning of sustainability by falling victim to businesses that engage in greenwashing? And how can we shift from mere slogans to a genuine upholding of individual responsibility? This responsibility entails recognizing that space is not evenly distributed among all individuals and must be redistributed, along with its consumption.
8Lastly, what does the word “together” mean, and how can we translate its essence into various uses and spatial configurations, after the millenary ascent of individualism, primarily within Western cultures? How can we avoid distorting the concept of acting together and prevent it from becoming a way to dilute individual responsibility once again? How can we harness the positive potential of sharing spaces? Can we utilise the notion of communal space to encourage a substantial increase in the care and maintenance of public areas? Can we catalyse an exponential growth in the number of individuals who engage with shared spaces, applying the same level of care that they extend to their private spaces?
9The work of a designer, which is fundamentally ethical as elucidated earlier, demands an extraordinary level of courage in the current era: the courage to confront profound uncertainty, stemming from a reality characterised by an unprecedented world population of eight billion individuals, shaped by globalisation, and influenced by climate change, pandemics, and conflicts. In this environment of heightened unpredictability, the task of a designer, whose work is to shape the future, is exceptionally challenging.
10However, greater unpredictability also means greater opportunities. While today designers need unparalleled courage, they also gain access to a broader range of unforeseeable possibilities for learning and reshaping the fabric of our daily lives in more promising ways. Indeed, this unpredictable uncertainty also presents another valuable opportunity: the opportunity to delve into the realm of design research with unprecedented vigour. When the questions raised by a shifting reality fail to find sufficient solutions within history, design research ceases to be a mere choice and transforms into a pressing necessity. This urgent need is by definition one of the most potent catalysts of human ingenuity, igniting the courage not only to imagine but also to shape the future.
“Pensa alle parole come a strumenti caratterizzati dal loro uso, e poi pensa all’uso di un martello, all’uso di uno scalpello, all’uso di una squadra, di un barattolo di colla, e della colla”.
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Rogers, E. N. (1997), Esperienza dell’architettura, Milano, Skira.
Wittgenstein, L. (1958, published posthumously), The Blue and Brown Notebooks, New York, Harper and Row.
Simona Chiodo, “Editorial”, Ardeth, 12 | 2023, 26-30.
Simona Chiodo, “Editorial”, Ardeth [Online], 12 | 2023, Online since 01 March 2024, connection on 23 March 2025. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/ardeth/3652
Top of pageThe text only may be used under licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. All other elements (illustrations, imported files) are “All rights reserved”, unless otherwise stated.
Top of page