Our Eclectic Architecture. Interview with Artribune
A conversation with Valentina Silvestrini about urban regeneration, social housing, and public space, as well as “lost projects” and an emotional form of “accompaniment” for architecture.
“Never before have I seen such a strong demand from students and younger generations for a higher and more widespread quality of public space in cities. There is a very urgent, no-longer-postponable need for a qualitative improvement everywhere. For me, this is the great challenge of tomorrow. Our cities are far behind, including Milan.” Gianandrea Barreca
“At least in theory, urban regeneration involves working not only on places, but also on actions, communities, social housing and its maintainers, open spaces and their managers. There’s a different focus than completing a piece of architecture in a given area—think of the large social housing neighborhoods that arose in the 1970s. This is where what we call ‘accompaniment’ comes from.” Giovanni La Varra
The Monograph (THE PLAN editions)
“It’s a sort of ‘return treatment’ that extends over time, because even once completed, we feel the buildings are ours, as if they were children. They don’t belong to us, but we always maintain an interest in following their developments. We return to them, observe how they change, and suggest solutions to the client if necessary, even after the project is completed.
We do this with a view to sharing our experience with the studio’s architects, who thus realize that every piece of architecture is always a living entity: it ages, it changes, and it must be cared for.”
