MSc1-2/MSTAA Social Architecture. Guest Lecture by Duccio Fantoni

Architecture of Proximity. A Yardology of Tbilisi

Guest lecture by Duccio Fantoni

Tuesday October 7, 2025, 10:50 a.m.
Palazzo Canavée, Hall C0.63

This research presents a genealogical investigation into the architectural and urban phenomenon of the Yards of Tbilisi, threshold spaces mediating domestic dwellings and the public realm through balconies and verandas, examining their critical role in the formation of the modern metropolitan condition of the city. The study frames this urban phenomenon in relation to three interconnected processes: the construction, which reveals a diffuse authorship beyond the figure of the architect, the ownership, which delineates the legal and spatial configurations of density and collective life; the inhabitation, which unfolds through appropriation, alterations and adaptations.
Central to this inquiry is the understanding of these Yards as latent spaces, interstitial, often hidden domains that operate as what Louis Pratt defines as contact zones, places of proximity and encounter. Across periods of imperial hegemony, Soviet transformations, and post-Soviet tension, these architectures nurture the presence of a peculiar form of tacit knowledge at work in the city within a profound asymmetry of power. The methodological framework for unpacking this complexity is a polygraphic mode of inquiry, assembling the Yard's trajectory from a constellation of multimedia and fragmentary sources. This includes architectural plans, legal frameworks, photographic surveys, paintings, movies and oral histories, which together provide evidence of the role of architecture as a social actor in the form of spatial recurrences and unscripted transformations of the material and narrative dimension of a metropolis.
This study is part of the doctoral research “Unscripted Architecture. The Yards of Tbilisi” developed under the supervision of Prof. Fabrizia Berlingieri within the AUID program, DAStU, of Politecnico di Milano.

Duccio Fantoni (b. 1994) is an architect and researcher operating between Italy and Georgia. After graduating with honors from the University of Ferrara in 2018, an experience complemented by an exchange at Waseda University in Tokyo. In 2020, he co-founded NOIA, an architecture and research studio.
He is currently a PhD candidate at Politecnico di Milano (DAStU), where he explores transient spatial phenomena as transcultural agents. Alongside his research, he works on professional projects addressing heritage transformation, strategies for inclusive educational spaces, and new architectural approaches to landscape.
His academic appointments include roles as a Teaching Assistant at Politecnico di Milano, a Visiting Lecturer at the Free University of Tbilisi, and a Visiting Researcher at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts and Georgian Technical University, where he has led workshops and international collaborations. In 2024, he co-founded the educational platform Lands on the Move, which focuses on experimental teaching at the intersection of the built environment and mobile territorial phenomena.

__________
Guest Lecture
MSc1-2/MSTAA Social Architecture
Lecturer: Sonja Hildebrand
Assistant: Lisa Henicz