RUBINI, CLAUDIO1

1) Architect, PhD candidate on landscape architecture, Politecnico di Bari (Italy), ICAR Department, rubiniclaudio@libero.it, c.rubini@poliba.it

This paper intends to illustrate part of the result of a PhD research focused on the “designing thought” of XVI century Central India. The objective of this contribution is the illustration of the traditional masonry stone structures of Mandu historical buildings. The study is based on accurate and unedited architectural surveys and on the analysis of materials, elements and aggregates of stone structures interpreted as the result of the dialectical relationship between material objects and designing thought. The last is the original contribution to the study of a civil identity according to Saverio Muratori’s effort to the achievement of a qualitative understanding of a cultural reality. The interpretation of the human artefacts as pivotal elements of a conscious move towards the study of history and society introduces to a revised concept of sustainability, where a wider and holistic approach overcomes a constricted technical point of view.

Keywords: India, Stone, Muratori, Sustainability, Designing Thought