The workshop “Capturing Construction” was a two week long conversation. In line with Tim Ingold’s concept of conversation as the essence of knowing “from inside”, it was characterized by being processual, open-ended, and dialogical (2020). The exploration of different Milanese contexts and encounters with people, places and things, revolved around an understanding of construction sites extended to complex urban continuous transformations. Investigating the intricate relationships and prevailing conditions that shape spatial production, the construction site proved as a pivotal ground for architectural research and design endeavors.

With a group of ten people, we threw a look behind the barriers and at different scopes of ongoing construction sites in Milano. The physical conditions under which architectures are produced (the material making of architecture) are to my knowledge little considered in terms of their spatial potential, political relevance and timely duration within architectural conception. Only through the engagement with spaces under urgent and immediate transformation – e.g. actual construction sites and the related sites of production and accommodation of materials and workforce, but similarly places that are threatened by eviction, refurbishment and abolition, such as temporary cultural uses, informal dwelling or decaying building substances – can we understand the forces at work during Construction.

Text by Mascha Fehse & Marianna Frangipane