Distance or proximity

CYCLE: Italian architecture in Africa for a new cultural alliance
SPEAKER: Emilio Caravatti
DATE: Thursday, October 15, 6:00 PM

The construction of a place is a political act. Every transformation of space produces social, cultural, and symbolic effects; designing means, first and foremost, questioning the purpose of an intervention and its consequences. From this perspective, architecture cannot disregard the social context in which it operates, nor can it avoid taking a stand: deciding which side to be on. The account of our design experiences carried out over the last twenty-five years in rural areas between the Republic of Mali and Burkina Faso moves within a delicate balance between civic responsibility and professional expertise. Rather than offering definitive answers, we believe the quality of a project lies in the ability to formulate appropriate questions and in calibrating distance and proximity relative to the communities involved, defining the degree of involvement one is willing to undertake. Maintaining a research-oriented gaze, it remains crucial to always keep one question open: to build what?

Emilio Caravatti is an Italian architect and designer. Along with Matteo Caravatti, Chiara Gugliotta, and Elena Verri, he is a member of caravatti_caravatti architetti (Monza), a working group that intertwines professional practice with social commitment. He coordinates processes of community regeneration in marginalized contexts and promotes projects supporting rural communities in West Africa. The firm’s works—ranging from civic infrastructure to interventions on historical and cultural heritage in Italy—have been exhibited and awarded internationally, including the Italian Architect Prize in 2017. For over ten years, he was a lecturer at the Politecnico di Milano, where he explored themes of prison space, and served as Visiting Professor of Architectural Theory and Criticism at EPFL in Lausanne.