Co-curated by Ena Lloret-Fritschi, Silke Langenberg, Selen Ercan Jenny, Orkun Kasap, Francesca Mirone together with Graziella Zannone Milan
Modellare il futuro / Shaping Tomorrow, the latest issue of espazium quaderni, addresses the theme of the past as an active resource and critical tool for understanding and transforming the present. Drawing on contributions by participants in the third edition of the symposium Making the Past Productive, held at the Teatro dell’architettura of the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio in November 2024, the journal expands and extends the discussion initiated during the conference, while also anticipating the fourth edition of the Future of Construction Symposium 2026, scheduled to take place at ETH Zurich from May 20–23, 2026.
Starting from an observation of the contemporary context, marked by increasing environmental pressure and the urgent need to radically rethink construction practices, the issue reflects on the role that material and cultural heritage can play within ongoing processes of transformation. As co-directors Stefano Milan and Andrea Nardi write in the editorial: “The construction industry, to use an already overused expression, must halve its emissions by 2030: in Switzerland alone, around seventy million tons of materials are processed every year, while a similar quantity is discarded. On a global scale, by the middle of the century the demand for new housing will exceed one hundred thousand units per day in order to keep pace with urbanization. In this scenario, the question concerns how to look at the past, without naivety.”
The contributions collected in the issue outline a framework in which circularity, digital innovation, and human-centered approaches converge in redefining the ways we design, collaborate, and build under conditions of growing uncertainty. The past emerges not as a nostalgic repository, but as an operational field from which to learn strategies, processes, and forms of adaptation capable of addressing contemporary challenges. Through theoretical essays, research projects, and case studies, the issue develops a broader reflection on the transformation of the built environment, with particular attention to sustainability, circular construction, and regenerative approaches.
Co-curated by Ena Lloret-Fritschi, Silke Langenberg, Selen Ercan Jenny, Orkun Kasap, Francesca Mirone — organizers of the 2024 edition of Future of Construction — together with Graziella Zannone Milan, Modellare il futuro / Shaping Tomorrow proposes a space for collective reflection on the current state of the construction sector, questioning established principles and standardized models in order to open up new perspectives on the built heritage and its potential for future transformation.