pierandrei’s thinkfluid

As part of the program “Architecture, Engineering and Design at its best” to promote abroad the activities and courses of Politecnico di Milano, on last February 24th I was called to introduce the PSS Master Course in Belgrade.
The program of this initiative was including an evening lecture at the Ozone Gallery (http://www.o3.co.yu/srp) as well as a one-day-long workshop at the Faculty of Applied Arts.
Thanks to the precious support given by Ivan Mangov and Marko Stanojevic both these events turned into a great success.
The presence at the Ozone Gallery of many students from different faculties demonstrated the constant attention paid abroad to what happens in Milan as a Design Capital, as well as the consideration toward Politecnico di Milano as a unique reference for didactics.
The PSS approach to design - introduced as “the combination of product, communication, services and location through which a company or an institution presents itself in integrated form to its reference market” (L.Collina) – awoke a great interest as an innovation holistic approach demolishing the boundaries between disciplines, as needed by the speed and frenziness of the actual global market.
The day after the lecture a cluster of students divided into 5 groups took part to the one-day-long workshop at the Faculty of Applied Art, a sort of real time simulation of the PSS Final Design Studio I coordinate at the Politecnico, which topic was “Bridging Belgrade”. This highly experimental workshop – held for the first time ever in this form – had the goal to make the students test the steps and procedures of a proper PSS project which was to be developed around the concept “brandscaping”, as a PSS proposal to “bridge Belgrade” into the future (conceptually) as well to solve the critical aspect of crossing the Sava and Danube rivers which created in Belgrade a unique urban and naturalistic environment.
With incredible enthusiasm and in just a few hours any of the group succeeded into proposing innovative solutions, strictly connected with the local cultural background but also displaying those lifestyle features able to focus the attention of a global audience into what could be a new Belgrade.
Solutions included a sort of pioneering “see sighting weel bridge”, spinned by the river currents to become the Belgrade’s symbol and promotion tool (by BEONISM Group), or a proposal for using semi-destroyed buildings from the recent war as locations for cultural and social events – so transforming painful memories into a glorious present (by CHAOSPIRACY Group), or rethinking the traditional rafts into projecting systems to colour Belgrade (the white city) with interactive graffiti (by GET IT Group). Again a system of cable cars to connect the different parts of the city as well as the different souls – the past of the historical center, the present of new Belgrade and the future of the area across the Danube river – providing a mean of transportation and a new way of experiencing the city (by NO NAME Group),  or a multilayered PSS proposal inspired by the Monopoli game, here in a Belgradese version, which supplied a versatile communication tool both on a virtual level - the game as a promotion - than on a real one - real scale huts for tourist info, restaurants and cafes (by GREENHOUSE Group).  

Definitively: Belgrade is in the game!