Italian Design Day 2020
The Italian Design Day is an initiative promoted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, together with all the Italian Embassies, Consulates and Cultural Institutes around the world. The Italian Design Day features events celebrating Italian design and its creativity and innovation potential in different fields (cultural and economic). The 4th edition this year is "Drawing the Future. Development, Innovation, Sustainability”. In South Africa the Italian Cultural Institute, the University of the Witwatersrand and the Embassy of Italy will present the online exhibition and conference by Italian Architect, Irene Giglio, from Mario Cucinella Architects (MC A) titled “Architecture in the Time of Climate Change”.
For many, especially in the architectural community, the rapid spread of COVID-19 has caused them to reevaluate what it might mean to design for a world that will never be quite the same, especially when it comes to how we gather or use public spaces. If seen as a creative opportunity, together with other global challenges like climate change, this tremendous event can lead to a brand-new architectural language. MC A has been carrying out extensive research over the years, on the elements we can derive from our vernacular knowledge, and on the adaptive capacities of plants, able to create a deep empathy with their surroundings. The presented projects, selected from those located in Africa, are able to showcase this research and its variegated outcomes.
Irene Giglio is an experienced architect, specialised in integrated environmental design, after graduating with an M.Arch in Sustainable Environmental Design from the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. She is International Account Manager at MC A (Mario Cucinella Architects), while she keeps returning to the AA as a lecturer and external reviewer. Registered as an architect in Italy, and member of the Architectural Association in the UK, Irene is also Visiting Professor in many national and international universities, while also giving a large number of lectures and conferences all around the world.