"Multitasking" is a concept taken from computer science which probably represents the biggest impact of the digital era on our everyday life's behavior: 

If a classic icon of efficiency in the mechanical (industrial) era could be the swiss knife and its ability to do different things "one after the other", the symbol of the "multitasking era" could be the iPod with which you can manage your favorite playlist while playing "Angry Birds" (actually, this very possibility is not yet available - but just take it as an example!). 

So, "multitasking" is doing different things "at one time", a bit like playing ping-pong with five balls.

Said in general terms, multitasking could be perceived as a very positive factor, enhancing productivity and socialization: but the reality is a little more complex. 

Multitasking depends on computational power. In spite of the fact that the fastest computer in the world - the Chinese Tianhe-1A (2.5 petaflops) - and the human brain are supposed to have more or less the same computational power the way they manage information is completely different.

While multitasking in a computer is synonymous of speed and efficiency, recent studies defined multitasking for human beings as the “continuous partial attention syndrome caused by multiple use of digital technologies” or a "schizoid tendency of modern man completely immersed in the technology ecosystem, which tracks and manages several communication tools, overwhelmed under the enormous amount of data, information and incentives". 

Researchers at the MIT-Cambridge and some experiments conducted by Michigan University and the Federal Aviation Administration added that "it is very difficult to do two or more activities simultaneously because the brain only takes into consideration a second task it must perform only after it has already solved the first task...". 

The fact is that in nature there is no brain yet able to perform several activities simultaneously, with maximum results and - much more importantly - without stress.

We all experienced the stress of being always connected - working much more over the working time - or of being disconnected - feeling lonely when not able to get or share information. A contradiction that could be considered as an update version of the Georg Simmel's "blasé" attitude, but a typical "urban" condition that design and architecture could contribute to resolve.

The question is: can we imagine a "multitasking building", - or a "multitasking swiss knife", able to open a bottle of wine "while" cutting a piece of cheese, according to an ironic Federico Soriano's suggestion - where different actions and actors could play contemporarily in harmony?

Cross- fertilization and hybridization of functions, services and spaces could be a reply, arriving to promote a multitasking environment enhancing even a more relaxed lifestyle.