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        • Marialessandra Secchi, Marco Voltini
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        • They Do It with Layers
          How Design by Layers Is Killing Urban Complexity

        Abstract
        Design by layers is no longer a surprise. The spread of this pervasive narrative strategy can be traced back to diverse possible discourses within architecture and urbanism. While it has become common praxis, the use of layers has partially lost the capability to produce a significant new knowledge of the inhabited environment. The repetition of the very same categories, families and names, reveals that in most cases, layers are not but a symptom of a deterministic way to conceive architecture and urbanism. The present paper traces some critical considerations about the contemporary layering strategies. By investigating recent outstanding experiences, we will point at the possible re-emergence of a strong reductionist and functionalist approach. This is paired with the overwhelming presence of organisational and procedural concern, at the loss of the figurative content of urbanism and its channelling into an exclusive relation with landscape. But what is left behind?
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        Citation
        Secchi, M., & Voltini, M. (2020). They Do It with Layers. How Design by Layers Is Killing Urban Complexity. The Drawing in Landscape Design and Urbanism, OASE, (107), 74–79. Retrieved from https://www.oasejournal.nl/en/Issues/107/TheyDoItwithLayers

        Download PDF (1.92 MB)

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