What if you had to give a definition of “astonishment”?

/ Stu_pó_re /

The «amazement» it is that sensation that follows an unusual event, it is the effect of wonder that can lead us to an awakening, but also the stupor that follows the disruption of everyday life. Amazement is bewilderment, surprise.

And this year the VI edition of the is dedicated to the word «Stupore». Treccani Festival of the Italian Languagewhich is held in Lecco, from 21 to 24 September.

There are educational workshops, meetings, master classes, musical performances, and everything focuses on the theme of wonder, in all its nuances, ranging from philosophy to sociology, from poetry to literature, from science to architecture. Many people talk about it: the philosophers Donatella Di Cesare and Francesca Rigotti, the linguists Giuseppe Antonelli, Michele Cortelazzo, Valeria Della Valle, Andrea Moro and Giuseppe Patota, Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, the literary and historical critic of Italian literature Lina Bolzoni, the writer Paolo Di Paolo, the ethologist Enrico Alleva, the entrepreneur Oscar Farinetti and Laura TiburziBim Manager in the prestigious Mario Cucinella Architects studio, to whom we asked some questions in advance.

And already, as far as she is concerned, the amazement lies in her work: How do you become a Bim manager? What does a Bim manager do?
«The world of design is going through an important revolution, which puts information at the centre: every subject involved in the life of a work (designer, client, administration, etc.) works on a single source of information, modification and makes it available to others throughout all the phases ranging from conception, to construction, to management and disposal of a work. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is the method that allows this entire structure to function well, making people, technologies and standards collaborate in the most effective, efficient and harmonious way possible. In concrete terms, the BIM manager works with the Project Manager (and other specific figures), identifying needs and strategies, structuring contracts and teams, constantly monitoring the progress of the order, anticipating and solving management problems to support the work group . The challenge of BIM is therefore exciting and twofold: putting all these skills and sensitivities into a system, and having them communicate with external ones, including the customer, to respond to needs in the best possible way. Personally, I began to deal with these issues about fifteen years ago, approaching them as a student, and then making it a profession, convinced that architecture and engineering can give their best by enhancing communication between them with modern methods. As a professional figure, that of the BIM Manager is relatively new, but the most “classic” path is that which leads a specialist who works with the BIM method (structuralist, architect, installer, …), to want to become first BIM Coordinator, and then BIM manger, moving away a bit from the design detail and moving more into the world of management. It is an interesting area, where women are well represented and where there is still a lot to explore, creating bridges between the humanistic and the technological.”

You work in the Mario Cucinella Architects studio, one of the most committed to sustainability: what is the project you are working on now that makes you most proud?
«We approach each project with the awareness that sustainability is not only environmental but also social and economic: each project responds to places and people through a process that architect Cucinella defined as “creative empathy”. There is no “ranking” because each intervention therefore has interesting peculiarities: each team works with the same attention and passion, regardless of the surfaces occupied, the scale of the project or the intended use”.

The theme of this Treccani Festival of the Italian Language is amazement. What construction has most amazed you in recent years?
«Remaining within the scope of the creations of our studio MCA – Mario Cucinella Architects, I am happy to mention the museum of the Rovati Foundation, in Milan: it is concrete proof of the high quality that can be achieved when a particularly sensitive client meets a team that pushes the design towards new languages, respecting the function (museum in this case) and the historical value of the fabric in which the building is inserted. Materials, shapes, lights, settings, structural and formal choices are all in great dialogue with each other, in a whole that I would easily define as “surprising””.

The Festival’s hashtag is #leparolevalgono: in your opinion, what is the word we should give most value to today?
«Very difficult question for a person passionate about words, which I am! I recently reflected on the term “autotomy”: the ability that some animals have to voluntarily lose a part of their body and regenerate it. I wonder: just as lizards lose their tails to escape predators, giving themselves a new chance at life, what could/should we, as individuals and as a society, let go of to open up to a better future, to a new phase of renewal? Would it be a renunciation or an opportunity? In my opinion, the protection of the environment and mental health are two very contemporary areas, where we can express this concept in an interesting way.”