“Why are you doing this?” Here is why.

On the 31st of December 2022, I put an end to an important chapter of my career as educator and professor.

In fact, after 6 years of intense dedication, I decided to step back from my position as Director of Design by Data, the Executive Master in Computational Design for Architecture I have founded at Ecole des Ponts ParisTech.

Quitting one of the most prestigious school of Europe while letting go a series of incredible adventures and relations with my students was not an easy decision to make, but I had important reasons to do so.

A few days ago, I published on Linked-in a post to explain and disclose the story of the Master, and also to share which projects I am focusing next: directing Volumes company to expand worldwide, bringing back Villa Buonaccorsi to the commons, and founding a startup studio for the construction industry and supporting independent education.

Below is a copy of my post – you can also find the original one here


Somewhere in 2015, while having a drink with my friends Aldo and Minh after one of our computational design workshops in Paris, Aldo declared it was time to stop running workshops and to launch a master program in computational design, the first of its kind in France.

When Aldo Sollazzo says something, you’d better execute it.

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workshops en ligne dreamhamar : inscriptions ouvertes

Pendants ces derniers mois, j’ai dédié une grande partie de mon activité professionnel au projet dreamhamar, un processus de création participative et network design de Ecosistema Urbano.

Avec le but de redessiner et de revitaliser la place principale de Hamar, en Norvège, Ecosistema Urbano a proposé, au lieu de développer un projet d’architecture traditionnel, de mettre en place un processus transparent et ouvert basé sur un réseau participatif local et international. La principale difference de cette methodologie (dénommée network design) par rapport aux autres projets participatifs est que, au lieu de chercher un consensus generale autour d’une seule proposition, elle encourage la multiplicité et la non-linéarité des differentes propositions, permettant aussi une expérimentions à l’échelle 1:1 par la realisation de constructions temporaires (mock-ups).

Depuis Ecosistema Urbano, nous invitons les étudiants, les architectes et les créatifs de tout le monde à participer au processus de création collective dreamhamar, en s’inscrivant aux workshops en ligne que nous décrivons par la suite.
Continue reading workshops en ligne dreamhamar : inscriptions ouvertes

What is Network Design Methodology?


Image: Creative Networking by Amber Case (Flickr)
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The article begins by explaining a networked-learning project carried out at Ecosistema Urbano, called Urban Social Design Experience, and explains how this project allowed to define network design methodology. At Ecosistema Urbano we are actually applying network design in the project dreamhamar.
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The article has been originally written in Spanish for La Ciudad Viva and then it has been translated by @la_madalena for dreamhamar blog
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“Learning is not a product of schooling but the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” – Albert Einstein

For several months we have been developing in Ecosistema Urbano a project focused on expanded education. These last few weeks, we gave it a close look and we would like to share our thougths with you.

The project in question is Urban Social Design Experience (USDE) and we presented the first session – which ended recently – as a series of online courses (experiences). During these experiences innovative approaches and lines of work in urban culture and urban management were presented.

Continue reading What is Network Design Methodology?