Object and Territory. Drawing as a tool for the critical reading of architecture and landscape

Abstract

The contribution investigates the concept of “fitting” in architectural design, interpreting it not as a passive adaptation to context, but as the active construction of a situated measure. Within a framework marked by territorial fragility and the progressive contraction of resources, the research proposes to understand the rela- tionship between architecture and landscape as the outcome of specific design decisions, capable of operating through precise and calibrated interventions. Through a practice of selective redrawing applied to case studies, the analysis focuses on the devices that make this construction possible – ground, section, morphology, sy- stems of access and thresholds – showing how the project does not simply respond to given conditions, but actively contributes to redefining them. In this sense, the “right measure” does not correspond to an abstract principle, but emerges from specific operations that transform environmental, economic, and infrastructu- ral constraints into operative resources. The contribution suggests that drawing, understood as a critical and selective practice, constitutes a privileged tool to make the “fitting” between architecture and landscape legi- ble, allowing a distinction between secondary elements and structural devices. Within this framework, the reflection takes shape through a workshop for students titled “Object and Territory. Drawing as a Tool for the Critical Reading of Architecture and Landscape”, conceived as a device to test these hypotheses, opening towards the definition of a design sensibility oriented to precision, reduction, and adaptation.