Architectural quality and evaluation: A reading in the european framework [Qualità architettonica e valutazione: Una lettura nel quadro europeo]

Among the objectives of the conference “Evaluation in the architectural project” we find “the intention of promoting the development of legislative and operational tools capable of improving the architectural quality of works carried out, considering this as an essential component of the physical quality of territories and cities”. Such an intention cannot but seek to trace some essential points that characterise architectural quality, which, for some time, has been an object of attention for the European Union and many of its Member States (through laws and/or policies). This is an “open”, multidimensional concept, which assumes not only personal and subjective connotations, but also cultural and collective ones (the public interest in architectural quality). As such, it is necessarily the subject of an evaluation process which is already well established in various European countries. Therefore, starting from a European normative framework on the theme of architectural quality, and from some of the more recent state laws, this paper intends to study further the common traits that allow the identification of a number of essential criteria (the “minimum requirements”) for the evaluation of quality in the architectural project.