Design for public space. Materials and surfaces between tradition and innovation

The regeneration of public spaces is one of the central themes of contemporaneity linked to sharing and new social needs. The current vision introduces playful elements between figurative arts, design and communication into the traditional concept, making the transition between in and out fluid and informal. Figurative registers have expanded to include landscape, with projects that blur the boundaries between arts, architecture and landscape, according to a renewed relationship between nature, culture and the artificial. The creation of urban scenes that recall phenomenal reality through organic and atmospheric shapes, is experimented with by modifying the landscape and interpreting historical sites and contexts with graphic and symbolic elements. In this renewed dimension of urban design, the light stratification of design is becoming increasingly important, with surfaces and objects helping to define the identity of places. Due to the urban, historical, orographic and symbolic characteristics of the Zayenderud river, the workshop “Rethinking the river Zayenderud” is an example of great interest in the renewed reflection of the relationship between nature and artificial, in order to give back, through small interventions, the full possibility to experience this unique place of the city of Isfahan. The contribution is a sort of journey on the surface of things and has a twofold purpose: on the one hand to stimulate sensitivity and associative skills, and on the other to introduce a fundamental theme of design: the “mise en oeuvre” of matter.