Trailer Place Matter Memory

Not eligible for AIA CES Credits

Place, matter, memory are the themes of a journey that winds through the re-invention of rural architecture, at times a journey into the past, recovering a building tradition and the use of materials typical of a context.

The work and reflection of architect Alfredo Vanotti, with his firm EV + A lab, takes shape here, on the terraced slopes of Valtellina, among woods and vineyards, historic centers and vernacular architecture. A course of action and way of narrating that follows a trajectory typical of the place, based on sobriety and reduction, simplicity that is not only formal but also a building value: the few available tools are recombined with care and respect for the territory.

The “bare minimum” as a leitmotif, a ridge that holds together tradition and innovation, respect and recovery, technology and craftsmanship, mimesis and materiality. A transformation attentive to the various aspects of the project, listening to the place and requests of the client, pre-existing traces and future needs.

The work of architect Alfredo Vanotti unfolds through his drawings, tailor-made projects, interacting with the landscape and a broad context made of references and exchanges, details and materials, handcrafted solutions and colors.

All this takes place in the double perspective of the laboratory and of time. On the one hand, an approach consisting in manual skills and experimentation, on the other hand the awareness of a continuous relationship with time, perception and practice, choosing "real" materials that change as days go by, imagining spaces that can be transformed over the years.

Living as the fulcrum of narration and the pivot of architectural production, staging and analyzing in depth the most important projects by EV + A lab: Casa G, Ca 'Giovanni, Casa VI, as well as projects under way that shift attention towards extreme conditions, towards mountain lodges.

The site and the development of life within spaces, the emphasis on the solutions adopted both in terms of design and execution on site, the initial conditions - the existing - and the proposal for recovery and mending, following the path of a careful way of "doing", integrating light and exposure, uses and experiences.

The itinerary of the ArchiTALKS puts into relation the territory and the mountains, view and projection, the earth and the horizon, elements of a balanced, essential alchemy.

Learning objectives

• Analyze the issues related to the relationship between architecture, landscape and construction through the theme of living, studying construction and planivolumetric complexity in its relationship with the context and the territory;

• Highlight possible responses to the relationship with the existing heritage, reinterpreting architecture in the rural and mountain landscape in a contemporary key, proposing recovery strategies or new constructions that focus on the architectural project as a mending element, as well as an approach attentive to the settlement issue of the new intervention within the landscape;

• Explain the themes of the profession, the role of the architect in listening and translating requests, needs, resources and energies, in addition to the close relationship with the client and teamwork in the different phases of the project;

• Illustrate the projects by EV + A lab, studying their compositional language and how they fit into the context, evaluating technological and constructive aspects, as well as the formal-compositional experimentation in research between place, matter and memory.