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“this is the reason for the term weak architecture. it allows a diagonal and oblique cut. not exactly chronological and not generational. its purpose, in situations apparently different, is to reveal the constant that, in my opinion, lights in a particular way contemporary conditions.”

De Solà-Morales, weak architecture, 1996.

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the weakcity research starts from the analysis of the word weak (etymologically: in-firmitas) and through its factoring and conceptual transposition, it intends to delineate a specific and alternative theoretical approach to the project.

rooted in the philosophy of “weak thought” as conceived by Pier Aldo Rovatti and Gianni Vattimo (1983), and identifying in critical positions with the modern movement a specific disciplinary etymology, (such as the avant-garde movements of the sixties and in Andrea Branzi’s research) the aim is to experiment how, in the ‘construction’ of the contemporary project, a weak approach may be able to oppose the architectural event design and the synthetic methodologies of urban studies. in this direction, the research method focuses on transdisciplinarity as an agent for the transformation of design codes and tools (Nicolescu, 1994).

the weakcity research is set up as an open research platform and has been presented in several exhibitions, biennial architecture, publications, conferences at national and international level. didactically, it has been tested in about one hundred and thirty researches carried out at the Politecnico of Milan, involving more than three hundred students since 2013, and has examined and compared about a thousand places and themes in the world.

in particular, the themes of the opacity’s right (E. Glissant), of the “fields” as understood by Giorgio Agamben, of the ephemeral cities, of the liminal areas, of the “minority”, of calligraphic architectures were discussed.

the research is also the leitmotif of the series of publications zeroenne_weakness theory, founded by Elisa C. Cattaneo in 2013-in progress (Maggioli publisher, Milan).