Workshop @ Expo Dubai / Italian Pavilion with Guendalina Salimei, Paolo Desideri, Cristiano Luchetti, Andrew Shaw, and Steven Velegrinis
Press; release: Italian excellence in architecture and engineering arrives at Expo 2020 Dubai, the Universal Exhibition scheduled from October 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022. From November 4 to 6, during the Urban & Rural Development week, the "Urban Renaissance" workshop will be held at the Italian Pavilion and at the Foundry, an art space located in downtown Dubai. It’s a project conceived and promoted by the Inarcassa Foundation with the support of the General Commissariat for Italy's participation in the Dubai Expo 2020 and EMAAR, the leading real estate developer in the Gulf region. The 30 participants will be 15 young Italian practitioners and 15 young architects who were selected in the UAE through an international call. The participants will work in teams led by renowned academics and practitioners both from Italy and the UAE: Steven Velegrinis, Andrew Shaw, Cristiano Luchetti, Guendalina Salimei, and Paolo Desideri will lead the urban regeneration workshop. The design ideas will focus on the Downtown Boulevard area. The workshop will start on November 4 in the presence of, among others, the Italian ambassador to the UAE, Nicola Lener, the co-designer of the Italian Pavilion Carlo Ratti, and the participants. On November 5, the program includes lectures focusing on urban regeneration given by Hussam Raouf and X-Architects. On the last day of the workshop, on November 6, Farid Esmaeil, Sumaya Dabbagh, Ahmed Al-Ali, Luigi Prestinenza Puglisi, and Fabio Grilli will attend as critics the workshop's presentations of the final projects at the Italian Pavilion. "The beauty that unites people, the theme chosen by the Italian Pavilion for Expo 2020 Dubai, also involves the enhancement of Italian excellence and its human capital” underlines Franco Fietta, president of the Inarcassa Foundation “The skills of Italian architects and engineers are recognized and appreciated worldwide and certainly represent an example in this regard. In this period more than ever it is necessary to focus on the value of the role played by these professionals. We are confident that the Expo can be an opportunity to relaunch one of the strategic production sectors of our country".
Inarcassa Foundation has continuously supported the younger generations of practitioners in building the necessary skills to face contemporary challenges. With this initiative, Inarcassa Foundation intends to bring the world’s attention to the talent of Italian architects and engineers who in recent years have distinguished themselves for merit and commitment to architecture and urban design and were inspired by sustainability criteria.
