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Note from the Director

Ilaria Valente
p. 5-6
Translation(s):
Nota della direttrice [it]

Editor's notes

DOI: 10.17454/ARDETH14.01

Full text

1With issue #12 of “Ardeth,” the Editorial Board, along with guest curators and authors, initiated a process of reflection on the key words that define the themes – or rather, the set of issues – that design practice encounters today. We used these words as indicators of the paradigm shift that has been gradually emerging in recent years. The focus of issue #13 was on “Energy Landscapes,” specifically addressing the “spatiality of the energy transition.”

2“Ardeth” issue #14 revisits a foundational concept: Time. This term is not merely a buzzword in contemporary architectural discussions. Rather, it is a crucial notion that underpins the roots of contemporary design practice, beginning with the critique of the modern paradigm.

3The theme is complex and profound, encompassing multiple philosophical, scientific, and disciplinary implications. Curators Manuela Raitano and Pavel Kuznetsov have established a framework that clearly outlines the scope of what they mean by discussing “Time,” starting with heritage. In their call for contributions, they have suggested several areas for reflection: the ambiguous boundary between historical and present time, the design as an “inter-temporal” practice, and the various ways to envision the future through design.

4The volume’s articles and visual essays reintroduce reflection into the practice of design research, presenting a perspective that is inevitably partial yet rich in insights. In the introduction, the Editorial Board draws on Latour’s work and addresses the theme of the dual temporality of built works and architectural design, proposing a classification that highlights the various ways in which design practice incorporates time into its process.

5As it should, reading the articles opens up multiple fields of inquiry. The contributions on design practice in China introduce us to a civilization that has a radically different concept of time compared to ours. As François Jullien reflects in his exploration of this topic, he poses the question, “Should we think about time?” He suggests that we can gain new insights by “passing through Chinese thought to escape the great fold of time. In fact, China has reflected on the seasonal ‘moment’ and ‘duration’, but has not developed an abstract, homogeneous concept of time that encompasses both” (Jullien, 2002: 7).

6The theme of duration is a central topic in the debate sparked by this issue of “Ardeth,” and brings attention back to a key question: the relationship between architectural design and architectural outcomes, and the role of technique, defined as “the competence to build’according to Françoise Choay (1995). This concept serves as the “stone guest” at the table of the studies collected in this volume.

7The profound transformation of production processes in architecture brings to the forefront the concepts of time and duration in relation to architectural production. This transformation is increasingly shaped by the interplay between production and consumption. As a result, the contemporary design process explicitly incorporates a forecast of the entire life cycle of a building. This includes everything from the production of materials and components to construction, as well as extending the building’s life through maintenance, reuse, recovery, and conservation. The process also considers the building’s “end of life,” which involves the disposal and recycling of its components and materials. This represents a significant paradigm shift, challenging the notion of the “eternal” durability of architectural outcomes.

8The counterbalance to heritagization, as clearly described by Choay, seems to serve as a “reassuring” mechanism in today’s context, which is characterized by rapid space-time compression (Harvey, 1989) and an unprecedented climate and environmental crisis. It is indeed a mechanism capable of “warding off the uncertainties and anxieties of a society that cannot master either its transformations or its accelerations” (Choay, 1996: 162).

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Bibliography

Choay, F. (1992), L ’Allegorie du patrimoine, Paris, Seuil. [It. ed. (1995), D’Alfonso, E., Valente, I. (ed.), L’allegoria del patrimonio, Roma, Officina].

Harvey, D. (1991), The Condition of Postmodernity, Oxford (UK), Blackwell.

Jullien, F. (2001), Du “temps”: Éléments d’une philosophie du vivre, Paris, Grasset, 2001. [It. ed. (2002), Il tempo. Elementi di una filosofia del vivere, Roma, Luca Sossella Editore].

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References

Bibliographical reference

Ilaria Valente, “Note from the Director”Ardeth, 14 | 2024, 5-6.

Electronic reference

Ilaria Valente, “Note from the Director”Ardeth [Online], 14 | 2024, Online since 01 December 2025, connection on 13 March 2026. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/ardeth/4815

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About the author

Ilaria Valente

ilaria [dot] valente [at] polimi [dot] it

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Copyright

CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

The text only may be used under licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. All other elements (illustrations, imported files) may be subject to specific use terms.

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