Ingegneria meccanica e architettura: una sinergia verso nuove frontiere dell’abitare

Applied mechanics and machines is one of the oldest and broadest sectors in the whole of engineering. If from a disciplinary point of view this discipline had been always considered very far from architecture and civil engineering, from an applicative point of view it has a key role in construction, infrastructures and maintenance. This paper aims to analyze the role of applied mechanics and machines in civil and building project planning, by underlining its contribution in different project elaboration phases through the analysis of significant objects, as for instance moveable bridges, petrol platforms, and some reflections about the newest and advanced buildings plant equipment. Particularly interesting is the relation between mechanics and architecture, whose synergy has brought in the last years new guidelines in living, which has determined more flexible, dynamic and sustainable scenarios. The critical analysis dwells particularly on mechanics components in big high-tech buildings, within the so-called “Dynamic Architecture”, like the “Rotating Tower”, designed by David Fisher, which is one of the main examples: the shape of this ultramodern skyscraper is ever changing thanks to the steady and differential motion of its stories, and the building is self-powered thanks the motion itself.