Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Age: 38
Occupation: Architect.
Instagram: @architetti_artigiani_anonimi
Hometown: Amalfi.
Studio location: Milano and Amalfi.
Describe what you make: I design mobile and immobile architecture that intends to express the unique cultural identity of each place. The mission is to create projects that are born out of an intimate exchange between me and each local context/people. Drawing inspiration from this, I aspire to always deliver different results, becoming almost unrecognizable in the scope of my work… even “anonymous architect!”
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: I think the most important designs are those you wish to realize or accomplish someday. In my case, that would be the unbuilted or the unrealized ones. For example, the Proporzione Mediterranea vases are architectural models of a space where humans can feel protected and included in the nature system.
Describe the problem your work solves: Our responsibility as architects is to create environments that inspire the human being evolving into a better social animal, through Kalokagathia (the Greek concept of Beauty), which means “something good and beautiful.” We should remember that “beauty is also function and not only form,” as Gio Ponti says in l’Architettura è un Cristallo.
Describe the project you are working on now: A private manoir in Provence, a 1950s Ponti-style villa in Sorrento. I’m also designing a 150,000-square-foot residential and commercial building where I’m trying to experiment with a new idea of domestic space.
A new or forthcoming project we should know about: A beach club, a project between landscape and temporary architecture and design on the Amalfi Coast. I’m also working on a vademecum for my place, defining guidelines that will help to preserve the authentic architecture and landscape in a contemporary way.
What you absolutely must have in your studio: I need books, material samples, paper, pencils, and natural light. I usually prefer to work in a space without art or design influences.
What you do when you’re not working: I like discovering new things through long walks or losing myself somewhere. It’s a good way to meditate and clean my mind. I also like going to the cinema, theater, and spending time with friends.
Sources of creative envy: Carlo Scarpa, Luigi Moretti, Peter Zumthor, Tadao Ando.
The distraction you want to eliminate: Nowadays the production of new images, architecture, and interior design is growing so fast and it’s everywhere. It’s overwhelming! It can easily stick to your mind. I try to avoid this kind of mind pollution.
Concrete or marble? Local materials.
High-rise or townhouse? Wooden high-rise.
Remember or forget? Consciously preserve and design boldly.
Aliens or ghosts? Aliens.
Dark or light? Light.
