Smartness Architectural Indicators. Identificazione di indicatori propri dell’Architettura Smart per la gestione della complessità contemporanea nel settore delle costruzioni

Architects, as directors of the design and construction process, often finds themselves confronted with the task of interpreting social and human needs. The designers’ context interpretation is further complicated in today’s society, which is increasingly characterized by a multitude of crises leading to paradigm shifts in lifestyle and perception of reality. The complexity of contemporary challenges, as reflected in the realm of construction, underscores the growing importance of achieving architecture that, as Mies Van de Rohe believed, embodies a quest for truth and clarity in construction brought to its precise expression. On the other hand, the advent of the 4.0 revolution has facilitated the development of new digital technologies. While these technologies provide new tools to address contemporary challenges, they also introduce a plethora of variables that the designer must navigate. Starting from the concept of Smart Architecture, this contribution outlines the methodology employed in an ongoing research endeavor – conducted within the Department of Architecture at Ferrara – aimed at identifying the specific indicators of such architecture. These indicators could thus form the basis of a decision support matrix capable of interpreting design requirements by harnessing an increasingly vast and dynamic flow of information. This, in turn, would streamline the architect’s role as an intellectual tasked with overseeing the evolution of a multidisciplinary process across various scales of detail. The outcomes of this research effort thus far consist of defining four key categories’ indicators of smart architecture (Dynamicity, Sustainability, Controllability and Coherence), the significance of which have been elucidated through the analysis of three architectural examples considered smart, belonging to different historical periods.