Soft ArchitectureSoft Architecture

Architects Marco Ferrari and Cristina Gallizioli are working on a research project that re-imagines an architecture in which walls and floors are replaced by textile surfaces, challenging solid building conventions and exploring soft spatial possibilities. In textile architecture, construction logics and principles are inverted to provide warm feelings, flexibility and plasticity in living spaces; between the surfaces, air becomes a building material, a floating volume that frees space and movement.

Developed during an art residency at the Danish Art Workshops in Copenhagen in 2019, with the support of Statens Kunstfond and Kvadrat, the project was further developed at Lottozero Textile Laboratories in Prato in 2020 using fabrics from Prato textile district. It focuses on storytelling and on proposing a set of soft imaginaries and applying them to real buildings, with a particular focus on using textiles in decommissioned industrial buildings. The talk includes a short visual tale by Cristina and Marco and a discussion with the architects moderated by Lottozero art curator Alessandra Tempesti and textile designer and co-founder of Lottozero Arianna Moroder.

Marco Ferrari is an architect and researcher in contemporary architectural theory with a focus on landscape and spatial concepts. He studied in Aarhus and Valparaiso, and holds a master in architecture from Ferrara University (Italy, 2016). He has worked as architect for Dorte Mandrup, Cassina and Sou Fujimoto. Since 2018, he has led a SAT project about alpine landscape heritage. He teaches contemporary architectural research theory at Ferrara University, and previously worked in the architecture engineering department of Trento University. He is member of Artesella and is on the editorial board of In_Bo and A_Architetti Trento.

Cristina Gallizioli is an architect and artist. Her work focuses on forms of materiality and on body interaction with the built environment, with a special interest in forms of inhabiting and understanding space through artistic practices. She has been artist in residence in several European institutions and has received various grants for the arts. She studied in Oslo and Valparaiso and holds a master in architecture from Ferrara University (Italy, 2016). She is currently finishing a postgraduate specialisation in performing arts and community spaces at Roma Tre University.

Arianna Moroder is a textile designer and co-founder of Lottozero Textile Laboratories, an international centre of textile art, design and culture based in Prato. She studied in Milan, Amsterdam and Berlin, returning to Italy to work as part of the research and development team at the silk manufacturing company Mantero Seta. In 2016, she left the Como silk district to move to Tuscany and dedicate all her time to Lottozero. In addition, she continues her personal research as an artist, showing her work in various museums and galleries.

Alessandra Tempesti graduated in contemporary art history from the University of Florence. Since 2016 she has been the curator of the Kunsthalle of Lottozero. Her interests are mainly focused on the study of the textile medium in contemporary art, and its multiple meanings from an anthropological, social and historical point of view. In parallel, she developed her own artistic research as a sound artist and curator for sound projects. Under the name Gea Brown, she has performed in experimental music festivals and cultural spaces linked to contemporary art.