Events

Fall 2018, BETWEEN TOWER AND RIVER workshop with Università di Firenze.

BETWEEN TOWER AND RIVER workshop.

1024 880 Kent State University, Florence Program | College of Architecture & Environmental Design

The workshop “Between Tower and River”, that will run from Monday 5 to Thursday 8 November 2018, continues the long-time collaboration between Kent State University Florence, College of Architecture & Environmental Design and DIDA, Dipartimento di Architettura dell’Università degli Studi di Firenze.
Previous experiences have seen students engaged in architecture workshops and studios focused on the reconstruction of the urban fabric in small Tuscan historical centers: Bientina (2008), San Miniato (2011), and Magliano in Toscana (2017 and 2018).

The workshop will be led by professor Fabrizio Arrigoni from the Dipartimento di Architettura dell’Università degli Studi di Firenze and professor Paola Giaconia from Kent State University Florence CAED, and will be tutored by Antonio Acocella and Milena Blagojevic.

12 students enrolled at KSUF CAED and 8 students enrolled at UniFi will work side by side to design a new community center next to the Torrino di Santa Rosa as well as the open spaces between the bank of the river Arno and the road.

Located between Ponte Vespucci and Ponte della Vittoria, the Torrino di Santa Rosa is a building that was part of the defensive system of the third and last circle of walls. It dates back to 1324. Coming from Lungarno Soderini you can recognize the nineteenth-century tabernacle built between the city gate and the tower; it contains a Pietà (with Saints John the Evangelist and Mary Magdalene) probably painted in the early sixteenth century and generally attributed to Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio. The work is what remains of the nearby oratory of Santa Rosa di Viterbo, demolished in the mid-eighteenth century. Today, in the garden surrounding the tower, a modest building houses the premises of a recreational club.

Fall 2018, lecture by Davide Tommaso Ferrando.

Lecture by Davide Tommaso Ferrando.

1024 600 Kent State University, Florence Program | College of Architecture & Environmental Design

Davide Tommaso Ferrando, architecture researcher and critic, will be at Palazzo Vettori on Tuesday October 30, 2018 lecturing on “Architecture into the Universe of Social Media”, as part of the “Theories of Architecture” course directed by Marco Brizzi.

M.Arch in Advanced Architectural Design at ETSA Madrid and Ph.D in Architecture and Building Design at Politecnico di Torino, Davide Tommaso Ferrando is Post-Doc University Assistant in the Department of Architectural Theory and History at the University of Innsbruck. He has been adjunct professor at Politecnico di Torino, Università di Ferrara and ETSA Madrid, as well as invited lecturer in several institutions among which Politecnico di Milano, Domus Academy, Kent State University Florence and Universidad de Alcalá de Henares.

Director of “011+” and vide-director of “Viceversa”, his writings are published in international magazines and collective books. In 2016, he is curator with Daniel Tudor Munteanu of the “Unfolding Pavilion: Curated Archives” exhibition, and scientific consultant for the “Meeting the Commons” section of the Italian Pavilion at the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale. In 2017, he is curator with Nina Bassoli of the Festival “Architettura in Città” of Torino. In 2018, he is curator with Daniel Tudor Munteanu and Sara Favargiotti of the “Unfolding Pavilion: Little Italy” exhibition and symposium.

Editor of several publications, in 2018 he publishes his first monographic book: The City in the Image.

Fall 2018, lecture by Camillo Botticini.

Lecture by Camillo Botticini (ARW).

1024 683 Kent State University, Florence Program | College of Architecture & Environmental Design

Camillo Botticini, founding partner at ARW, based in Brescia, will lecture on Tuesday October 30 at Palazzo Vettori. Marco Brizzi will introduce his presentation.

Camillo Botticini is currently professor at UEL University of East London. He taught architectural design at the Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona, at IUAV in Venice and at the Milan Polytechnic, where in 2003 he obtained his PhD in Architectural and Urban Design (“Relations, design and Identity in Contemporary architecture”).
After his PhD dissertation he developed a research about “relationships”, seen as the attitude of the project to transform the contexts starting from its structural comprehension.
With his studio, he won international competitions and also completed a series of buildings in Italy, Europe and around the world, highlighting the ability to combine theoretical research with a significant operational capability. He received important architectural awards such as the Italian Gold Medal (2012 special prize) and the first prize of the Italian institute of architecture InArch/ance (as best young Italian Architect 2006). He was selected for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award in 2007 and 2017.
He was shortlisted in international architectural prizes like the WAN Award, A prize, Copper Prize Batimat, Hauser and Ugo Rivolta. He was also selected to participate in the Venice Biennial of Architecture in 2000, 2010, 2014 and 2017. His works have been published in some of the most important architectural magazines (Casabella, Domus, A10, Mark, Detail, Hauser) and in the Phaidon Atlas of XXI Century Architecture.

Fall 2018, lecture by Elisa Cristiana Cattaneo.

Lecture by Elisa Cristiana Cattaneo.

1024 718 Kent State University, Florence Program | College of Architecture & Environmental Design

Elisa Cristiana Cattaneo, scholar in Landscape Urbanism, will be at Palazzo Vettori on Tuesday October 23, 2018 lecturing on “Loaded Void. Falling Modernism, Arising Landscape Urbanism”, as part of the “Theories of Architecture” course directed by Marco Brizzi.

Elisa Cristiana Cattaneo researches experimental ecological design and its theoretical implications, to generate new territories of imagination. In particular, considering the design as a “weak” field evolvable and renewable through new trans-disciplinary approaches, based on paradoxes as cognitive method.

In 2004, after a degree cum laude in Architecture and Urban Planning, she attended the Third Level European Master in Strategic Planning for Architectural, Urban and Environmental Resources. In 2009, she completed a PhD with Merit in Architectural and Urban Design, defending the thesis “Void Density: a Relational Approach for Urban Design”. In 2010, she was Visiting Scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, developing the research project: “Space, Place, Context, Landscape: the Hermeneutical Circle US-Europe since 1956”. In 2011-2012, she was Visiting Scholar at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, developing the research project: “WeakCity: Notes on Landscape Urbanism”.

She is founder and director of an independent research agency Weakcircus, active in studies, research, and project development in contemporary urbanism within the Theory of Weakness. She is co-founder and co-director of B.L.U.E. (Building Ecological and Landscape Urbanism), international platform of research on landscape as new strategy for contemporary cities. She is co-founder with R. Ingersoll of Terraviva and Earth Service program for ecological and agricultural developing in urban contexts.

She is Adjunct Professor of Landscape Design at the Politecnico di Milano and Politecnico di Torino.

Fall 2018, lecture by Paolo Brescia.

Lecture by Paolo Brescia (OBR Open Building Research).

1024 680 Kent State University, Florence Program | College of Architecture & Environmental Design

Paolo Brescia, founding partner at OBR Open Building Research, based in Milan, will lecture on Tuesday October 23 at Palazzo Vettori. Paola Giaconia will introduce his presentation.

OBR Open Building Research was established by Paolo Brescia and Tommaso Principi in 2000 to investigate new ways of contemporary living, creating a design network between Genoa, Milan, London and New York, further extended to Mumbai and Accra. The founding partners Paolo and Tommaso worked together with Renzo Piano. OBR was awarded with the Gold Medal for Italian Architecture at the Milan Triennale in 2009 and received an honorable mention for Emerging Architecture at the RIBA Royal Institute of British Architects in London in 2007.

Fall 2018, lecture by Gabriele Mastrigli.

Lecture by Gabriele Mastrigli.

1024 683 Kent State University, Florence Program | College of Architecture & Environmental Design

Architect and critic Gabriele Mastrigli, professor of “Theory and Design” at University of Camerino, will be our guest at Palazzo Vettori on Tuesday October 2, 2018. He will deliver a lecture, titled “Archive S, M, L, XL”, as part of the “Theories of Architecture” course directed by Marco Brizzi.

Gabriele Mastrigli is an architect and critic based in Rome. He teaches “Theory and Design” at University of Camerino. He has also previously taught Architecture Theory and Studio at Cornell University and the Berlage Institute of Rotterdam. His articles and essays appeared many magazines including “Domus”, “Log” and “Lotus international”. He edited Junkspace, a critical anthology of Rem Koolhaas’ seminal writings (Quodlibet, 2006, Payot, 2011). He recently curated “Superstudio 50”, an extensive exhibition about the Florentine radical group, held at the Maxxi in Rome. In this occasion he published the volume Superstudio Opere (1966-1978), (Quodlibet, 2016).

Fall 2018, lecture by Gianluca Peluffo.

Lecture by Gianluca Peluffo.

1024 683 Kent State University, Florence Program | College of Architecture & Environmental Design

Architect Gianluca Peluffo www.peluffoandpartners.com will be our guest at Palazzo Vettori on Tuesday September 25, 2018. He will deliver a lecture, titled “Blessed are those who have an identity”, as part of the “Theories of Architecture” course directed by Marco Brizzi.

Founder of Gianluca Peluffo & Partners Architecture in 2017 and previously founding partner of 5+1AA (Italy-France 1995-2017), Gianluca Peluffo is Professor and Researcher at IULM University in Milan where he explores the relationships between Art and Architecture, Architecture and Cities, the role of Public Architectural works, Beauty as a creation of poetic space, dialogue between differences, the relationship between Architecture, Literature, Poetry and Visual Arts.

Spring 2018, lecture by Carsten Primdahl.

Lecture by Carsten Primdahl (CEBRA).

1024 681 Kent State University, Florence Program | College of Architecture & Environmental Design

Carsten Primdahl, founding partner at CEBRA, based in Aarhus, will lecture on Tuesday April 17 at Palazzo Vettori. Paola Giaconia will introduce his presentation.

CEBRA was founded in 2001 by the architects Mikkel Frost, Carsten Primdahl and Kolja Nielsen. In April 2017, architect MAA Mikkel Hallundbæk Schlesinger entered the group of partners. Based in Aarhus in Denmark and in Abu Dhabi in the UAE, CEBRA employs a multidisciplinary international staff of 50 architects, constructing architects, urban planners and landscape architects, who all share a strong passion for architecture. CEBRA has gained recognition through award-winning projects in Scandinavia and a growing international portfolio in Europa and the MENA region. Most CEBRA projects are within the fields of education, culture and housing –  thought, designed, and built in line with their mantra – Architecture with attitude.

“At CEBRA we want to change the way to think, design and build architecture. We are always pushing artistic and architectural boundaries – pushing these boundaries with a CEBRA attitude and a Nordic mindset that combines our artistic approach to architecture with an understanding of its cultural context. We design architecture by listening to and understanding our users and clients and studying their context, culture and climate. Our services cover all project phases – from client advisory and user involvement and concept and project development to project and construction management as well as technical supervision.“

Squint/Opera - Flooded London (Office)

Lecture by Jules Coke (Squint/Opera).

1024 512 Kent State University, Florence Program | College of Architecture & Environmental Design

Jules Coke, co-founder and CEO at  Squint/Opera  based in London, will lecture on Tuesday April 10 at Palazzo Vettori. Marco Brizzi  will introduce his presentation.

Squint/Opera are a creative company, a large and talented team crafting extraordinary and unique work across many disciplines – from video content and animation, to interactive exhibitions, branding, websites, design, games and strategy. We work across different sectors, from the built environment, to arts and culture, children’s entertainment, events and placemaking. Our goal is to always produce great work, and to have fun.

Spring 2018, LOOK AT ME NOW! workshop at Kent State University Florence CAED. (Photo: Anna Positano).

LOOK AT ME NOW! Spring 2018 workshops.

1024 720 Kent State University, Florence Program | College of Architecture & Environmental Design
The week after midterm reviews (March 19 – 22, 2018), students enrolled in the Architecture and in the Interior Design programs at Kent State University in Florence attended the fourth edition of the LOOK AT ME NOW! workshop.
Instructors were two architects, photographers and video makers who are especially talented in portraying contemporary architecture in photography and in video and who have extensive experience running workshops: Anna Positano and Davide Rapp.
The Photography workshop was run by Italian architect and photographer Anna Positano (http://theredbird.org). Anna is a photographer and an artist, with a background in architecture. She graduated in Architecture at the University of Genoa, then obtained her MA in Photography at the London College of Communication. Her work encompasses the reciprocal influence between landscape and society and explores everyday places. Her projects have been exhibited internationally, in art galleries and public institutions, such as La Triennale in Milan, the Venice Architecture Biennale, Cornell University, and Villa Croce Museum of Contemporary Art in Genoa. She works on commission for architects and public institutions. Her work is regularly published in international architectural magazines.
The Video workshop was run by Italian architect and video author Davide Rapp (https://vimeo.com/daviderapp/videos). Davide holds a Ph.D. in Interior Design from the Politecnico di Milan.  He collaborated for 5 years, between 2008 and 2013, with architect Stefano Boeri on urban, architectural and interior design projects including – among others – “Sustainable Dystopias”: a research project that explores different ideas surrounding the reconciliation between cities and nature, exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2008. participated in the 14th International Architecture Exhibition – Fundamentals (Biennale Venezia, 2014) with ‘Elements’, a movie montage of short architecture-related clips, conceived specifically for the introduction room of the exhibition ‘Elements of Architecture’, curated by Rem Koolhaas, the Office for Metropolitan Architecture and the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He has been published in national and international architecture magazines such as Abitare, Icon Design, and The Architectural Review. He is co-author (with Alberto Iacovoni, Rome) of the graphic novel / architecture essay Playscape (Edizioni Libria, 2009), exploring the public space as an exciting and promising testing ground of possibilities.
On Thursday March 22, 2018 the students made a final presentation of the works produced in the course of the workshop in the lecture hall at Palazzo Vettori. Paola Giaconia, professor and Kent State University Florence CAED coordinator, offered a critical commentary on the students’ works.

A selection of the photos made by the students under the guidance of Anna Positano can be seen here below:

Some of the videos made by the students under the guidance of Davide Rapp can be seen here below: