Umeå School of Architecture warmly welcomes students, staff and the public to the fourth UMA Talks event for the fall semester 2024, with invited guest Simone Sfriso, architect from Italy.
About the lecture: Through the mirror of recent global events (pandemic, wars, climate crisis) we can observe how the world economy is the most fragile it has been in recent memory. Many people who were already marginalized or living precariously are now at high risk of being completely left behind. As architects and designers, what does our profession mean in today’s world?”.
In this context the need to reconsider architecture as a collective effort capable of taking care of “common goods” at the service of the community emerges strongly. The process of generating and implementing inclusive processes must therefore be structured in such a way as to involve designers, institutions and users in the construction of commons capable of transcending the mere utility or aesthetics of architecture object.
Architecture concentrated on society can curb marginalization and exclusion and become a driving force for new visions, a powerful medium for communicating, an instrument through which many boundaries can claim rights, progress, opportunity and inclusion.
About the lecturer:
Simone Sfriso is an architect graduated at IUAV Venice. From 2019 to 2020 he has been visiting professor at ENSTP Yaoundé Cameroon and at UTPL Loja - Ecuador. In 2019 he has been appointed Italian Design Ambassador by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2020 He has joined the University of Portsmouth - UK as Visiting Professor and in 2023 the New York Institute of Technology as Guest Professor.
Simone is co-founder of TAMassociati, a team of architects and researchers, whose building solutions worldwide improve lives, strengthen communities and provide creative responses to climate change: combining high quality with affordability. The firm has won widespread recognition and numerous prizes: In 2013 the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, the Ius- Capocchin prize and the Curry Stone Design Prize; In 2014 the Zumtobel Group Award; in 2014 the Italian Architect of the year Award; in 2017 the Lafarge-Holcim Acknowledgement Award; in 2023 the Biennale di Architettura di Pisa Award. TAM has curated the Italian Pavilion at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia 2016. TAMassociati is currently working in Sudan, Kenya, Rwanda, Togo, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Italy.
The lecture will be followed by a Round-table discussion moderated by Amalia Katopodi and Maria Luna Nobile from Umeå School of Architecture. The event is held in English.
About UMA Talks:
The UMA Talks are a free and accessible series of events. The series is devoted to advancing architectural discourse from both an international perspective and local perspective, and strives to enable the public, students, teachers, and researchers both within architecture and from other fields to get insight to and participate in the educational activities and academic research taking place at Umeå School of Architecture. Theorist, practitioners, artists, and other relevant guests are invited to speak or to participate in roundtable conversations or similar formats.
Read more about UMA Talks here.