DESIGN CONVERGE: Please briefly describe your attitude towards the occupation.
Alessandro Pepe: We have lost a fundamental dimension of human life which is mysticism. In this context, meaning is found in action: what we do for others, for those close to us, and within our broader sphere of influence.
For architects this responsability is amplified. Our work is material, tangible, enduring. Architecture is something we touch and inhabit, and therefore easy address it as a scope or a result.
For this reason, I see architecture as the concrete result of what I will have contributed during my lifetime.
DESIGN CONVERGE: What is your design concept? What do you think “good design” stand for?
Alessandro Pepe: Users need architects to compensate the needs life fails to provide, so many ask to introduce the vegetation that is missing in their cities, and the warmth that the productive envronment in which we leave can not provide. For Architecture to last longer than its generative contingency though, its significance should be broader than our contemporary incidental needs: beauty is the resume of all the needs and the language of beauty is proportion. So for me good design stands for proportion.
DESIGN CONVERGE: Many people say that architects can create value, please talk about the value of design?
Alessandro Pepe: People are willing to achieve what resonates with their aspirations. Architects exist to give form to those aspirations. When a built work reaches an high level of quality, time, recognition, or effective communication can elevate its cultural and economic value far beyond its construction cost. The quality of design is the primary generator of that value.
DESIGN CONVERGE: What are the important factors when a project impress the public?
Alessandro Pepe: If I take myself as an example, I would say that Architecture engages the public when it stimulates their intelligence. This often occurs through beauty, but it can also be triggered by a functional detail functionality or by specific contextual qualities of a project. At the same time, communication plays a significant role. Marketing and photography are influential in shaping perception, even if they do not directly affect the intrinsic quality of the architecture itself.
DESIGN CONVERGE: What kind of qualifications do you think a good designer should have?
Alessandro Pepe: Italian architecture schools tend to be highly theoretical. During my studies at the Politecnico di Torino, I felt that insufficient attention was given to the artistic side of architecture. The Faculdade de Arquitetura do Porto represents the opposite approach: artistic, and strongly focused on drawing and construction detail. The contemporary Portuguese architectural environment has been more influential than the Italian one, in the recent international stage. For this reason, I believe a pragmatic education is ultimately more effective.
DESIGN CONVERGE: What is your opinion toward the trend of the architecture?
Alessandro Pepe: I am optimistic. The professional environment I know is improving. Clients are becoming more culturally aware and sensitive, which makes it easier for designers to propose ideas with depth and receive genuine openness in return.
