Date and time
5 November 2020
12pm - 1pm PST / 9pm - 10pm CET
The Consulate General of Italy in Vancouver, the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Canada-West, and ITA – Italian Trade Agency Toronto are organizing a free webinar featuring a world renowned Italian designer that will take place on November 5th, a date dedicated to the yearly celebrations of Italian design all around the world by all Italian institutions.
Online Webinar “Proximity vs Social Distancing” – A conversation with Arch. Francesco Fresa of Piuarch
PROSSIMITÁ VS SOCIAL DISTANCING
Architettura secondo noi è lo spazio che si crea tra un edificio e l’altro. Anzi, ciò che è più importante è quanto questi sia capace di generare con la sua forma, ombra e sagoma in uno spazio urbano. Quest’ultimo è tema cruciale del futuro del design, contraddetto però dal Covid-19 che ha sancito un nuovo verbo, la distanza sociale: vivere lo spazio urbano per misure. Ora che siamo tornati ad abitare la città ma sotto l’egida delle restrizioni, quali saranno i nuovi “rituali” di vita condivisa? Sarà necessario ripensare le città ridefinendo il concetto di prossimità come alternativa al social distancing. Anche nella progettazione, crediamo sia giusto ripartire dall’interazione umana, un valore imprescindibile delle nostre vite, per quanto smart le si voglia immaginare.
PROXIMITY VS SOCIAL DISTANCING
According to us, architecture is the space that is created between one building and another. Indeed, what is more important is how much it is able of generating with its shape, shadow and shape in an urban space. The latter is a crucial theme for the future of design, however contradicted by Covid-19 which sanctioned a new verb, social distance: living urban space by measures. Now that we have returned to live in the city but under the aegis of restrictions, what will be the new “rituals” of shared life? It will be necessary to rethink cities by redefining the concept of proximity as an alternative to social distancing. Even in design, we believe it is right to start from human interaction, an essential value of our lives, no matter how smart we want to imagine them.
Founded in Milan in 1996 by Francesco Fresa, Germán Fuenmayor, Gino Garbellini and Monica Tricario, Piuarch today has over 40 collaborators. The studio deals with architecture, ranging from the design of office buildings to retail, up to the development of residential complexes, recovery and regeneration interventions on an urban scale, with a constant attention to the values of environmental quality and relationship with the context.
Francesco Fresa
After graduating in Architecture from the University of Rome, in 1986 he moved to Berlin, where he worked until 1991. From 1991 to 1996 he worked with Gregotti Associati, for whom he was responsible for projects and construction sites in Germany and managed relations with German clients and government, in particular those based in Berlin, Hamburg and Leipzig. He founded Piuarch in 1996 together with Germán Fuenmayor, Gino Garbellini and Monica Tricario. As a partner of the firm, his work focuses primarily on the management of international projects, with particular regard to urban regeneration plans, residential complexes, office and retail buildings.