The Berlage

The philosopher Roberto Esposito argues in the Living Thought (2010) that Italian thinkers have always been deeply engaged with the concrete reality of life, looking for contemporary answers in the origins of their own historical roots. Borrowing on this notion, the lecture will address the possible relationship between a theoretical project and the actuality of architectural ideas. The lecture will present a number of historical prerogatives for tackling contemporary conditions of living through the lens of Dogma’s recent work. The aim will be to reveal the way in which forms, ideas, and categories survive in their immediate present and continue to cast light on our attempt to build the future. The lecture will explore how a “genealogical vocation” towards concepts such as privacy, dwelling, and domesticity are instrumental to tackling the ongoing transformations of domestic space and today’s evolving living conditions.

Martino Tattara is the cofounder of the Brussels-based architecture office Dogma. After graduating at the Università Iuav di Venezia, he obtained a postgraduate diploma at the Berlage in Rotterdam and obtained a PhD at the Università Iuav di Venezia with a dissertation on Lucio Costa's project for Brasilia. He currently teaches at KU Leuven and is the former Head of Research at ETH Studio Basel. His theoretical and design work focuses on the relationship between architecture and large-scale urban design and he has widely published and lectured on topics related to the city.