WHEN THE GREAT ARCHITECT BECOMES A DESIGNER. THE MULTISCALE FIRM BETWEEN RESEARCH AND MARKET

After a phase of separation between architecture and design, what we can see nowadays is a reverse movement. The large architecture firms, on the verge of becoming headquarters for the field of the archistars, have begun to design objects and equipment for the home, the city and the individual, in collaboration with big companies. Objects that mimic forms and approaches of architecture, according to the criteria of authorship, can be considered symptoms of different attitudes: the everpresent need to maintain an open and circular relationship between the scales of architecture and design according to the lesson of the «masters» or, more pragmatically, the response to market pressures that push for an expansion of the brand on the two levels. The paper sets out to explore these dynamics through a first survey of the relationships between architecture and design in the studios of renowned designers, with the aim of posing questions rather than providing answers, highlighting short circuits, and drawing up a scenario for the present.