Lacaton & Vassal’s innovative architecture on display in Cagliari
“Free space, transformation, habiter”: thirty years of projects by the Pritzker Prize-winning studio, on display until 28 December. The starchitects collaborate with the University of Cagliari on workshops for the Einstein Telescope
24 December 13:19 Francesco Riccardi, edited by Damiano Marcialis
Thirty years of architecture at the service of living: at the Exma in Cagliari, until 28 December, you can visit the exhibition Lacaton & Vassal. Freespace, Transformation, Habiter, dedicated to the studio founded by Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal. Winners of the 2021 Pritzker Prize (considered the Nobel Prize of architecture), Lacaton & Vassal are one of the most influential figures in international contemporary architecture.
What emerges is the central role of the theme of living in their research and projects, which include private and social housing, cultural institutions and public spaces. On 19 December, Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal also met with architecture students in Cagliari, while a dialogue was initiated with the municipality for a possible urban redevelopment project. According to the exhibition coordinator Massimo Faiferri (architect and professor at DICAAR – University of Cagliari), ‘their works have demonstrated how important it is to listen to places and communities, working patiently and tirelessly with residents to create architecture that provides freedom, opportunity and comfort, designed to improve people’s quality of life’.
The exhibition is part of the ‘Beyond Underground’ programme, one of the workshops for the Einstein Telescope’s bid to locate at the disused mining site of Sos Enattos in Lula, which saw around a hundred future architects engaged in studying the inland areas of Italy: a reflection on the relationship between underground infrastructure and surface architecture, with a view to integrating the telescope into the local landscape and context.
The report includes interviews with Jean-Philippe Vassal and Anne Lacaton (Pritzker Prize-winning architects).
Link to the video
