Drawing as an act of knowledge. The exploration of MAAM in Flores and Prats’ Workshop

The MAAM (Museo dell'Altro e dell'Altrove di Metropoliz) in Rome, a site of spontaneous reappropriation and socio-cultural stratification, was the field of investigation for the “Seconda Mano” workshop with Flores and Prats. Described by Marc Augé as a “super-place” because of its density of identities and relationships, this context highlighted hand drawing as a primary cognitive tool for understanding its spatial dynamics. As Carlo Scarpa stated, “I want to see, and this is why I draw.” Through this process, the complex network of interconnections and historical sedimentations of MAAM was revealed, opening perspectives for its interpretation and redevelopment. The “Seconda Mano” workshop adopted a method based on direct immersion and understanding of MAAM through drawing. The teaching approach favoured observation and its graphic translation as tools for interpreting spatial, social and historical stratifications. Exploration took place through hand drawing, seen as a cognitive process to decipher the logics of place. The experience, focused on the reading of a specific architectural fragment - a solid volume in a structural mesh, observed in its vertical and horizontal tensions - is a concrete example. The application of hand drawing led to an interpretive reworking of MAAM's complexities, making tangible latent dynamics such as space appropriation and self-managed transformations. The graphic reading of the volume revealed its volumetric and material interconnections, culminating in a design proposal to reinterpret its spatial qualities. The workshop's emphasis on hand-drawing as a tool for understanding aligns with the philosophy of Flores and Prats, for whom the hand-drawn graphic gesture is a direct contact with design thinking and a method for unravelling the inherent complexities of a place, going beyond mere representation. The approach taken at MAAM reflects this belief in the power of drawing to decipher the specificities of a context and inform transformations that respect its essence.