SOS among the best architectural firms for temporary projects

Pollution 2018 and Arcipelago Italia were selected for the Best Italian Exhibition Design

Platform presented the 48 temporary architecture projects of Best Italian Exhibition Design, an editorial initiative of Publicomm that brings together in an exhibition and a volume the best museum installations, exhibitions or exhibition stands made in Italy and abroad. More than 150 applications have arrived but only 48 have passed the selection. Among these Pollution 2018 – RefleAction, installation presented in Bologna in September 2018 and born from the collaboration between SOS, Mario Cucinella Architects and Iris Ceramica Group.

In 1972 the event Pollution “per un’estetica dell’inquinamento” (for an aesthetic of pollution) transformed Piazza Santo Stefano into a theatre of critical reflection on the contradictions hidden behind the environmental “fraud”. Pollution 1972 was a radical event that made the visitor aware of the ecological paradox; Pollution 2018 focuses on concrete action for which the spectator can be a herald.

The space in piazza Santo Stefano has been redesigned both in functional and aesthetic terms and promotes a brand-new spatial experience. The geometric construction guides the movement of visitors, transforming the diverse buildings into a formal unity and directing the gaze beyond the centrality of the square into the narrow lanes of the city and towards the monumental complex of the “Sette Chiese” (Seven Churches).The square is seen as a social device and a place for people to meet. Its flows, axes of crossing and stopping points have been observed, understanding the tendency of users not to stop in the square, but to cross it or to observe its beauty from the sides, where there are mostly tourists or citizens walking around, also due to the sun that makes a large part of the square unusable in warmer weather.

SOS was also Knowledge Partener of another winning exhibition: “Archipelago Italia” presented at the Italian Pavilion on the occasion of the 16th. Venice Architecture Biennale, of which Mario Cucinella was curator in 2018.

With these words Simona Finessi, Publisher of Platform Architecture and Design, describes the Best Italian Exhibition Design Selection project: “Temporary architecture is generally considered by national and international publishers as a sort of design cinderella; while instead, it represents a very important part of the design expression both in terms of quality and of productive opportunity for many small professional realities”.

The Best Italian Exhibition was presented at the Casa dell’Architettura in Rome in conjunction with the inauguration of SPAM DreamCity, the first architecture festival in Rome conceived and conducted by the Order of Architects of Rome, which will be held in the capital until October 18, 2019. The exhibition will be open to the public free of charge from 10 to 19 October 2019. Then the show will have other important stages such as the Design Week 2020 at the Open Space and will end its journey during the Miami Archweek in November 2020.