Low Cost Design (Silvana Editoriale, 2010) by Daniele Pario Perra is based on the principle supported by the greatest protagonists of design and architecture: the best project is not necessarily the one that goes through the patent office, that originates in studios or in front of computers in large companies, but rather the one that springs from the simplicity of everyday life.

Starting from this concept, the author presents a survey with more than 7,000 images carried out between Northern Europe and the Southern Mediterranean, during which he documented thousands of examples related to the transversal use of objects and the modifications of the territory through the daily actions of its inhabitants.

Low Cost Design is a project born on the boundary between architecture, urban planning, design and their connection with the disciplines of social studies, which assert the urgency of a shared “lateral vision” based on the analysis of needs, but also on the study of artisanal skills, customs and intangible heritage without limits between practices.

Low Cost Design is a visual dictionary of design, in constant balance between “poetic ability” and “technological ability.” The correlation between these values generates an extraordinary ability to adapt to experiences, capable of solving the needs of daily life with the visionary intelligence of a child and the technical planning skills of an engineer. These are experiments that take place in a parallel world, through alternative economies and legislations, where precariousness and the art of knowing how to do become creative engines to make local resources flourish. Removed from the expertise of professionals, design can become a story of humanity, because it is the melting point between ideas and technological knowledge. A simple use of objects can solve complex needs, possibly without losing the magical, invisible and elusive sense of its fantastic heritage. For this reason, we will discuss it together with Francesco Morace, expert in transversal research and the creative process, who starts from the concept of the different to arrive at the new – and thus to innovation.

The publication is accompanied by three important reflections on the theme: Il Progetto è ovunque by Beppe Finessi, Low Cost Design by Francesco Morace and La modificazione come scultura sociale by Pier Luigi Sacco.

With the contribution of Fondazione Cariplo and Fondazione Banca del Monte di Lombardia

Low Cost Design
Daniele Pario Perra
Silvana Editoriale
2010
216 pages, 320 color illustrations
bilingual edition Italian/English
35.00 euro