Charrette: note sulla forma laboratorio e il modo architettonico di produzione

Recently, the introduction of digital technologies, new processes in the building industry, as well as the lack of explicit funding for architecture on the EU level, have led to the a crisis in architecture, at least following how it has been defined since the Renaissance. In this context, many efforts have been devoted in the attempt to define the specificities of architecture, and what is architectural research. As part of these, the concept of research by design and action-research were developed in order to link design thinking with research. One of the main tools of design action-research is the charrette, or the design workshop. This contribution gathers some preliminary notes on the archaeology of the architectural workshop, and its meaning within architectural design, contemporary forms of education, and its role in the new participative forms through which production the city is produced today. How can the architectural workshop become a tool for regaining bits of research autonomy within the few spaces left open by the neoliberal education and planning system?