A Safe Space. Architecture and preparedness in the era of uncertainty

The paper aims to trace the author's doctoral research structure presented at the CA2RE Conference held in Milan in October 2020. The research investigates how to design a safe space facing uncertain disastrous events. It considers the project of safe spaces that, by embodying a potential emergency are design for existing and resisting before, during and after a catastrophe. By focusing on those projects that address the design of critical infrastructures and investigating the relationship between design and uncertainty, safety and inhabitability, duration and transience, the work aims to study the design possibilities and methodologies that underpin the architectural project in vulnerable and uncertain conditions. The proposed intervention encloses a dual perspective between - into and - on the research. A first section draws the theoretical framework of the research, stressing the transdisciplinary approach and abductive methods adopted. A second section positions the work in the domain of research by design, discussing the relation between practical and experimental investigation.