We Are Out of Time is a project born from the idea of the curatorial team, composed of Daniele Menichini, Benedetta Medas, Alessandro Melis, Jesus D’Alessandro and supported by the research programme ASX_Sustainable Architecture for the Places of Culture, promoted by the Contemporary Creativity Directorate General of the Ministry of Culture, which aims at the international promotion of Italian sustainable architecture, the activation of research networks, training and dissemination of qualitatively significant projects on the themes of eco-sustainability in cultural places in Italy in collaboration with international cultural and/or scientific institutions.
The project and the launch of the Call for Design and Research can be summarised as follows: For a long time, civil society, enterprises, professional associations, politics, as well as the world of architecture, have been questioning what is the right way to achieve the 17 goals of the UN 2030 Agenda. The scientific community is unanimous on the climate crisis as a result of human activity and that the latter has been able to generate an unprecedented amount of greenhouse gas emissions, touching the 400 ppm no-return threshold. It is necessary to work on adaptation and mitigation strategies by enhancing the resilience of ecosystems and the organisms that inhabit them, and by limiting the CO2 emissions from which global warming originates as much as possible. Architecture that espouses the principles of sustainability has ambitious goals. However, in the knowledge that some of the processes triggered by the action of greenhouse gases are indeed irreversible, time remains the pivotal factor that must guide the actions of designers and stakeholders. We are out of time: this is the motto that guides this project proposal. The first purpose is to compare the good architectural practices produced and promoted so far for a sustainable future, to analyse them through a life cycle assessment of materials and structures and to start a census. The aim is to create a database that can be easily transformed into guiding recommendations capable of combining the needs of protecting biodiversity and ecosystems with the regulatory apparatus. The second objective, which develops in parallel with the first, concerns the theme of disseminating the culture and concepts of eco-responsibility, circular economy, and the strategic objectives of the 2030 Agenda, through a cycle of seminars, conferences and workshops involving not only the specialised public, but also the broader public, including students of all levels.
For more information visit www.weareoutoftime.com.
