Traffic, safety, weather. Three concepts that we know very well in the Western world, but which are even more felt in emerging countries and which are changing the way of conceiving design and architecture, creating a new economy and new opportunities for Italians abroad as well.
In Brazil for example, where does it come from the young architect Camila D'Agostini Martins, graduated from the University of Sao Leopoldo (Rio Grande do Sul) and who in 2008 obtained a Masters in Interior Design at the Milan Polytechnic (where she returns every two years for the Salone del Mobile), the The sector is booming thanks also to the new concept of corporate architecture, which takes into account the dynamics – especially typical of large cities – such as unsustainable mobility, growing crime and time which is getting shorter and shorter with the widening of distances and working rhythms.
In fact, it is especially in the large centers that an avant-garde design culture is being created: “Sao Paulo in primis – explains Camila -, but also Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Salvador. The areas of excellence are outdoor furniture, ceramics and bathroom accessories. And now, indeed, corporate architecture”.
To be clear, that of the all inclusive: buildings of at least 20 floors divided into three parts connected in the shape of a "U" with the base occupied by a large shopping center where you can find everything close at hand (gym, swimming pool, spa, shops, etc), an office building where you can easily go to work without taking the car, and another building where you can live . And, as it happens more and more often, where to live alone (especially in Porto Alegre, where Camila lives and works, the majority are single): "This too is an aspect that is changing the interior concept, with increasingly smaller and functional objects for the use of a single person”.
The so-called “smart buildings“: mostly studios and two-room apartments, for a revolution of spaces that is still little conceived in Europe but which is taking shape in Brazil. But are such areas really built and liked? “Yes, where I live in Porto Alegre it is like this and it is changing my life. We don't have the infrastructure and public transport you are used to across the ocean, and crime is very high: better to avoid too many trips”.
Movements that could now appeal to Italian designers and entrepreneurs, from one side of the Atlantic to the other looking for new opportunities. “The crisis here is there and felt – reveals the creative of Venetian origins -: every time I come to Milan there are fewer and fewer new things to discover, especially at the Fuorisalone”. So more and more Italians in Brazil? “There are still a few but they are coming – says Camila – also because in Italy there is less and less work, even in a sector of excellence like this. There are more and more Italian creatives and companies present in South America and the arrival time of a product from Europe is now very fast. Before, if I saw a lamp in Milan I could wait 3 years to buy it in Porto Alegre, but now it arrives in 6 months".
Therefore export, local production but also and above all know-how. “Yes – confirms the young gaucha architect -, the real opportunity for Italians is represented by the dissemination of the concept, the ideas and the intellectual competence that have made Made in Italy famous”. Which could then also come in handy for the growing corporate architecture. "Exactly, that's exactly what is needed here." Although in reality also from the point of view of formation and preparation things are slowly changing: “When I came to Milan to do the Masters, six years ago, there was nothing in Brazil. But now there are excellent design schools and the same Polytechnic of Milan is now present with a course in Porto Alegre and in other cities. So by now we train directly at home, thanks to the Italian know-how that comes to teach us directly here, and at the most we come to Europe for events such as the Salone and to keep up to date with the latest news”.
And on the realization, however, can the Italians say something? "Now only on high technology, on which we are a little behind, but for the rest we are good at manufacturing too, all the design companies are absolutely Brazilian and, after all, we have a lot of natural materials to exploit". Already, because the future instead is that of eco-design, on which Brazil is moving forward: “In addition to wood, which we have in large quantities, we are starting to make objects by recycling plastic, or by exploiting the many natural resources we have, such as coconut fiber, the great variety of minerals and natural rubber”.
Finally, a consideration on the next major events that will be hosted in Brazil, the World Cup next year (there is already a starter with the Confederations Cup in June) and the Olympics in Rio in 2016, that they too are somehow creating opportunities and changing the face of the host cities' urban planning. “As always – admits the architect – when there is restructuring and innovation it is a positive aspect, but unfortunately, as often happens, there are those who are marching in it”. That too is probably part of Western know-how.
