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- Alessandro Porotto
Alessandro Porotto
Chercheur visiteur
Alessandro Porotto, PhD is postdoctoral fellow at the Université catholique de Louvain in Brussels. His mobility postdoc project European Cities: Referential Housing Type, supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, investigates the urban housing in Brussels from a morphological and typological point of view.
In July 2018, he earned his PhD at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland. His research focused on the Interwar housing accomplishments in Vienna and Frankfurt through a comparative approach.
In November 2019, he authored the book L'intelligence des formes, which published novel documents and methodology about the Viennese and German case studies.
In the Spring 2020 semester, he was visiting postdoc researcher in the Art History Department at the Emory University in Atlanta, U.S. The Scientific Exchange project Collective Housing Atlanta-Vienna: Mapping Interwar Connections examined the first American social housing inititatives realized in Atlanta in the Thirties.
- Current Research ProjectEuropean Cities: Referential Housing Type
Major European cities are characterized by an implicit architectural and socio-cultural identity. Today’s urban developments, urban densification, demographic growth, increasing housing demand, and social changes have to negotiate with this implicit knowledge.
The main hypothesis of the proposed project is that such specific urban identity can be traced back to the most common spatial forms of the city: its residential spaces. Through a study of these spaces, local uses can also be informed. This project provides an innovative approach that can investigate and reflect more explicitly on the transformations and identity of European cities. The new concept of referential housing type, defined as the archetypal and most ordinary residential type in a specific place throughout urban history, is the most suitable tool to disclose the identity of cities. Firstly, it aids the identification of changes to dwellings in a place. Secondly, it can accommodate a series of socio-cultural codes. Thirdly, it can interpret new housing forms and provide new perspectives for future design.
This research project aims: a) to develop a rigorous methodology regarding the concept of ‘referential housing type’, which could be applied to different urban contexts in Europe so as to increase knowledge and architectural, cultural, and social richness; and b) to standardise existing research in Europe in order to gather the most comprehensive picture possible. Correspondingly, it will seek to answer the following research questions: how does housing contribute to and catalyse the process of transformation of urban areas? Can the architectural identity of European cities persist in a time of globalisation and future changes? How can referential housing type guarantee a better understanding of European cities and face future urban challenges? Specifically, this project aims to focus on the urban area of Brussels and extend the study to several European cities through the collaboration with other European institutions.
From a methodological point of view, raw material (local archives, contemporary architects’ archives, interdisciplinarity collaborations with other scholars) will be collected to define essential documents that will set the foundation of the project. New graphic documents will be produced that support this research project’s hypothesis. Based on archival items, selected housing types from Brussels will be re-drawn using CAD software, in order to achieve the highest graphic homogeneity and comparability. A comparison between the standardised housing types will shed light on the specific characteristics and uses of the referential housing type. Through this investigation, a typological genealogy will be developed, which displays changes in characteristics according to the variations in housing type.
Thus, for the first time, the concept of referential housing type will provide a systematic relation between housing and social practices. This knowledge is valuable for both scholars and policymakers to ground their positions in an effective understanding of the built environment. In addition, the results of the proposed project aspire to provide new suggestions to political strategies and housing design, concerning, for instance, urban densification and living quality. In this sense, the investigation of urban identity plays an important role in practice and future design.
Early Postdoc Mobility Fellowship – Swiss National Science Foundation
Title: European Cities: Referential Housing Type
Applicant: Alessandro Porotto
Amount: 71,650 CHF
Link Fellowship Swiss National Science Foundation
Achieved Research Project
2020 Scientific Exchange Grant – Swiss National Science Foundation Page 6
Title: Collective Housing Atlanta-Vienna: Mapping Interwar Connections
Applicant: Alessandro Porotto
Amount: 4,200 CHF
2019 Open Access Book Grant – Swiss National Science Foundation Page 7
Title: L’intelligence des formes
Applicant: Alessandro Porotto
Amount: 25,000 CHF
2014-2017 PhD Research Project – Swiss National Science Foundation Page 8
Title: Logement collectif – Vienne et Francfort
Applicants: Prof. Luca Ortelli, Dr. Elena Cogato Lanza
PhD Candidate: Alessandro Porotto
Amount: 184,250 CHF
2021
Porotto, Alessandro ; Ledent, Gérald. Crisis and Transition: Forms of Collective Housing in Brussels. In: Buildings, Vol. 11, no. 4, p. 1-33 (2021). doi:10.3390/buildings11040162.
2021
Porotto, Alessandro ; Ledent, Gérald. Referential housing type for the 21st century city: new typo-morphological strategies in Brussels. In: ISUF 2020 Virtual Conference Proceedings, p. 1-10 (2021). doi:10.26051/0D-C0N0-4A31.
2020
Porotto, Alessandro. Discreet Aesthetics: Notes on Heinrich Tessenow’s Architecture and Collective Housing. In: studies in History & Theory of Architecture, Vol. 8, no. 1, p. 31-48 (2020).
2023
Ledent, Gérald ; Porotto, Alessandro. Brussels Housing. Atlas of Residential Building Types, Birkhäuser, Birkhäuser: Basel, 2023. 978-3-0356-2550-9. 352 p.
2023
Ledent, Gérald ; Porotto, Alessandro. Brussels Housing: A Typology. In: Gérald Ledent, Alessandro Porotto, Brussels Housing. Atlas of Residential Building Types, Birkhäuser: Basel, 2023, p. 8-13. 978-3-0356-2550-9. doi:10.1515/9783035625530-002.
2023
Porotto, Alessandro. The Search for Quality Housing: From 2000 Onwards. In: Gérald Ledent, Alessandro Porotto, Brussels Housing. Atlas of Residential Building Types, Birkhäuser: Basel, 2023, p. 238-253. 978-3-0356-2550-9.
2021
Porotto, Alessandro. Vienna's Höfe: How housing builds the collective. In: Penny Lewis, Lorens Holm, Sandra Costa Santos, Architecture and Collective Life, Routledge: London, 2021, p. 170-181. 9781003118985. doi:10.4324/9781003118985-18.
2021
Crawford, Christina ; Porotto, Alessandro. From Hof To Homes: Interwar Urban Design Exchange between Vienna and Atlanta. International Conference ‘Histories of Urban Design: Global Trajectories and Local Realities’ (ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, du 15/11/2021 au 17/11/2021).
2020
Porotto, Alessandro ; Ledent, Gérald. Housing Facing Transitions: Domestic Spaces and Uses Build Brussels. 17th AHRA International Conference – Housing and the City (University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK, du 19/11/2020 au 21/11/2020).
2020
Porotto, Alessandro ; Ledent, Gérald. Referential Housing Type for the 21st Century City: New Typo-morphological Strategies in Brussels. XXVII Conference of the International Seminar on Urban Form – ISUF 2020 The 21st Century City (University Of Utah, Salt Lake City, US, du 01/09/2020 au 04/09/2020).