Archive
The Archive brings together projects and texts that function as conceptual and epistemic devices developed within an ongoing research on epistemic design. It is structured around four actions rather than project types:
DISPLACE — EXPOSE — MEDIATE — ACTIVATE (DEMA).
DEMA defines a set of epistemic categories; their configuration is project-specific. Within each project, these categories operate as epistemic actions, often simultaneously or across different stages of development. Works are grouped according to what they do to a problem, not according to their format, scale, or discipline.
DEMA is what takes form without being reduced to an object. It does not promise outputs, but conditions of thinkability. The work produces configurations that allow complex decisions to be understood, tested, and acted upon.
2025
Expose, Mediate, Activate
VERGANGENHEIT IM VORGARTEN.
Die Panzersperre als Relikt.
Museum Forum Schlossplatz, Aarau.
An exhibition that addresses Cold War–era tank barriers as relics whose original defensive function has collapsed. Through symbolic and mediatic exposure, these structures re-emerge as historical, symbolic, and cognitive conditions embedded in the everyday landscape.
2024
Expose
CORPUS TERRAE.
Unique artist's Book.
Corpus Terrae is a unique artist’s book composed of drawings that expose the earth as an unstable, stratified, and unknowable body. Through material accretion, erosion, and gesture, the work reveals drawing as a site where matter, perception, and introspection collide without resolution.
2024
Mediate, Activate
ASSEMBLEA.
An Open Infrastructure for Humans, Animals, Plants, and Insects.
Assemblea is an open ecological infrastructure conceived as a shared habitat for humans, plants, insects, and animals. The project operates as an open-ended spatial device that mediates ecological relations and activates collective processes of care and construction over time.
2023
Expose, Mediate, Activate
INCLUSIVE DESIGN.
ETH Exhibition at House of Switzerland,
Milano Design Week 2023.
Inclusive Design is an exhibition presented at Milano Design Week 2023, developed as an architectural prosthesis. By hacking existing Swiss products, the exhibition showcases research and development on inclusive design strategies and assistive technologies.
2023
Mediate, Activate
TEMPIETTO R.
Cork Oak Nursery for the Ramarro Association.
Caltagirone, Sicily.
Tempietto R. is a nursery designed to be built exclusively using roof battens, developed with architecture students to replace a greenhouse previously destroyed by arson.
Conceived according to the simple proportions of a “temple,” the structure celebrates the genius loci embodied by the volunteers of the Ramarro Association, who protect the cork oak forest from criminal fires.
The project was developed within Bosco Colto, an architectural and landscape laboratory promoted by Marco Navarra in the territory surrounding Caltagirone.
2023
Displace, Expose, Activate
OPERA APERTA, Countless Cities, Biennial of the City of the World", Farm Cultural Park, Favara, Sicily.
Opera Aperta is an installation designed together with Beatrice Fontana and Frank Dittmann, reflecting on the Baugespanne, a distinctive tool of the Swiss building process used to visualize architectural volumes prior to construction. By decontextualizing and stripping the Baugespanne of its original function, the installation reveals its sculptural potential, occupying and reconfiguring the exhibition spaces of Palazzo Miccichè.
2023
Mediate, Displace
IN PIÚ D'ORA.
Seven Drinks from the End of the Night.
In più d’ora is a collection of seven drinks that trace a journey through memory “to the end of the night,” borrowing a paraphrase from the title of Céline’s novel.
Composed and matured between 2019 and 2023, the drinks accompany a passage through a difficult period and are rooted in the peripheral landscape where the author’s studio is located. Each drink is named after a song, inspired by the taste and the situation each potion aims to evoke.
The recipes follow simple steps and allow for interpretative variations, including professional ones, while remaining conceived for domestic, informal, and open environments.
2022
Expose, Mediate, Activate
THE INNOCENT CHAIR (and Other Stories).
Installation and Instruction Book.
Konzepthaus Laboratorium, Thun, Switzerland.
The Innocent Chair (and Other Stories) is an installation and a book of instructions that reflects on design as a form of knowledge rather than product-making, imagining humble devices as tools for ethical, social, and spatial transformation.
2022
Displace, Mediate, Activate
TRANSFORMING SPACE.
Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS), Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK).
An advanced educational program focused on spatial transformation as an operative practice.
The course activates spatial thinking through design, artistic experimentation, and applied strategies.
2022
Expose
NO TO WAR DRAWINGS. (Series).
No to War Drawings is a series of 20 original drawings produced in 2022 for a fundraising auction of architectural drawings in support of humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
The works were presented during a public auction held in Zurich on April 30, 2022, bringing together architects, designers, artists, and photographers in a collective gesture of solidarity.
2020
Displace, Activate
JERICHO ROSE.
Modular Event Infrastructure for Festspiele Zurich.
Jericho Rose is an event concept developed to involve the public during the Festspiele Zurich.
The project consists of mobile and modular grandstands that can be assembled into an arena for performances or used independently as urban furniture, hosting workshops and temporary programs beneath.
2020
Mediate, Activate, Expose
DIGITAL WALDEN.
Resilient Strategies in the Digital Forest.
A Pavilion Built with “As Found” Materials by BA Design Students.
Digital Walden is an educational and experimental spatial project that translates the literary archetype of Walden into a contemporary reflection on digital labor, autonomy, and resilience. Through the transfer of construction knowledge across contexts and the activation of hands-on building practices, the project exposes the conditions of work and independence in the “digital forest” of our time.
2020
Expose, Activate
TENUN IKAT SIKKA.
Fashion Booth — Empowering Sikka’s Weavers Community.
Indonesia.
Tenun Ikat Sikka is a fashion booth conceived as an exhibition and scenographic device to store, transport, and showcase Ikat textiles from Sikka in multiple locations.
The project supports the association Tenun Ikat Sikka, which protects the practice, knowledge, and intellectual rights of the Ikat technique from Sikka, recently acknowledged as a Geographical Indication (GI) in Indonesia.
2019
Expose
LE CONFESSIONI DI CAGLIOSTRO.
Moleskine Foundation Collection Acquisition.
Le Confessioni di Cagliostro is a notebook-based contribution reflecting on creativity as a tool for social change and on the culture of sharing and giving.
The work is part of the Moleskine Foundation Collection, which gathers notebooks created by authors and thinkers and donated to the Foundation in support of its cultural and social activities.
2018
Displace, Expose
ARTS AND SPACE.
A Study Program for the Education of Spatial Agents.
Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK).
An institutional project that reconfigures arts education as a device for spatial agency. The program activates new forms of spatial practice by interweaving existing disciplines, curricula, and infrastructures.
2018
Displace, Expose, Mediate, Activate
LA CITTÁ LIBERA.
Off-Grid Participatory Design City Making.
La Città Libera is a performative installation that explores participatory architectural forms of “off-grid neighbourship”. The project consists of a toolbox designed to stimulate the public imagination toward participatory and self-sufficient urbanization. The toolbox includes 1:50 scale architectural elements used to assemble a hypothetical housing concept hosting eight people according to “Swiss living standards”.
2018
Expose, Activate, Displace
JUNGFRAU PAVILION.
Temporary Pavilion, Steffisburg, Switzerland
The Jungfrau Pavilion is conceived as an architectural contribution to the iconographic tradition of the Jungfrau, initiated by Paul Klee, Arnold Böcklin, and Ferdinand Hodler, and continued by many artists to this day.
2018
Displace, Expose, Mediate, Activate
THE LIVING ARCHIVE.
Strategic Design Workshop for the Activation of Olivetti’s Heritage.
Officine ICO, Ivrea, Italy.
A participatory workshop conceived to operate on heritage as a living condition.
The project frames the territory as an active archive, enabling the transfer of knowledge across places, practices, and generations.
2017
Expose, Mediate, Activate
HIC ET NUNC III.
ZHdK, Interdisciplinary Module. Activation of an Asylum Seekers Camp, Zurich.
HIC ET NUNC (Here and Now, in Latin) defines a design attitude grounded in immediate, situated action within fragile contexts. HIC ET NUNC III, developed with the Zurich University of the Arts and AOZ Zurich, focused on mediating practical and ethical knowledge to activate semi-private and protected spaces within an asylum seekers camp.
2017
Mediate, Activate, Expose
LANDWORKS CALABRIA/ COSENZA (SELVA OSCURA).
Landscape installation for the Activation of the Historical Center of Cosenza, Italy.
Cosenza Selva Oscura is a landscape installation developed within the Landworks Calabria workshop series, conceived for the reactivation of the historical center of Cosenza.
The project is based on the participatory involvement of international architecture and landscape students and local inhabitants to upgrade a degraded public square through a temporary spatial intervention.
2017
Expose, Mediate, Activate
EDIBLE EDEN.
Edible Eden is a small-scale installation developed for the 100c Wastewater Bottle Art Exhibition at K11 Design Store in Hong Kong. Using a mineral water bottle as a hydroponic vessel nourished with diluted human urine, the project exposes hidden nutrient cycles, mediates alternative forms of knowledge transfer, and activates a radical reflection on consumption, branding, and fertility.
2017
Mediate, Activate
HESJE.
Temporary Pavilion Participatory Process with Kaspar Asylum Seekers Centre and Norwegian Theatre Academy Scenography Students.
Hesje is a temporary pavilion developed through a participatory design–build process in an asylum seekers centre in Norway. By translating a vernacular fishing structure into a collective construction, the project mediates the transmission of cultural and constructive knowledge and activates a shared space for gathering and celebration.
2016
Expose, Mediate, Activate
HIC ET NUNC I.
Interdisciplinary Workshop on Spatial Activation in an Asylum Seekers Camp, Zurich.
HIC ET NUNC (Here and Now) defines a design attitude focused on immediate, situated action.
HIC ET NUNC I is the first workshop of a series developed with the Zurich University of the Arts and AOZ Zurich, in which students activated small-scale spatial interventions to improve everyday life in an asylum seekers camp.
2016
Mediate, Activate, Expose
HIC ET NUNC II.
ZHdK, Interdisciplinary Module Activation of an Asylum Seekers Camp, Zurich.
HIC ET NUNC (Here and Now, in Latin) defines a design attitude grounded in situated action under constraint. HIC ET NUNC II, developed with the Zurich University of the Arts and AOZ Zurich, mediated the transfer of practical and ethical knowledge required to enter, read, and act within an asylum seekers camp through small, realizable interventions.
2016
Expose, Mediate, Activate
HOW TO: EASY HYDROPONICS.
Instruction Manual for the United Nations World Food Program.
How to: Easy Hydroponics is an instruction manual commissioned by the United Nations World Food Program to promote accessible hydroponic farming practices in South American favelas.
Designed to support bottom-up food production, the manual translates hydroponic techniques into simple, low-cost instructions adaptable to informal urban contexts.
2016
Expose, Activate
CAMPO LIBERO (The Innocent House).
Off-Grid Pavilion for the Reactivation of Lands Confiscated from the Mafia.
Campo Libero (The Innocent House) is a mobile off-grid pavilion designed to reactivate agricultural lands confiscated from the mafia in southern Italy. Conceived for the organization Libera, the project exposes the hidden conditions of illegal exploitation and activates concrete forms of use, training, and occupation through spatial presence.
2015
Expose, Activate
T(h)UN.
A Shadow Line Pavilion.
T(h)UN is a lightweight landscape pavilion designed around the projection of a shadow line onto a thin wooden structure. Conceived as outdoor furniture for informal social use, the installation translates a specific landscape feature into a spatial and perceptual experience.
2015
Activate
ALTARI UMILI.
(Humble Altars, For Lay Religions). Street Food Furniture for Milano EXPO 2015 (with Gianmaria Sforza).
Altari Umili is a street food furniture project developed for the common areas of Milano EXPO 2015.
It operates as an epistemic activation of lay food rituals, celebrating the shared spirituality of food production and convivial consumption.
2015
Displace, Expose, Activate
FARM-X.
Vertical Urban Farm — Feasibility Study.
Farm-X is a modular vertical urban farm concept that displaces the historical separation between food production and consumption. By bringing large-scale food production back into the city, the project exposes the infrastructural implications of urban agriculture and activates abandoned industrial sites as productive, social, and energetic systems.
2014
Mediate, Expose, Activate
ORTO PERPETUO.
Orto Perpetuo is a reflection on the colors and textures of vegetable gardens translated into a contemporary domestic environment. It is an indoor edible garden that brings the countryside into the home through out-of-soil cultivation methods and artificial light, adapting food production to the scale and constraints of urban living.
2014
Displace, Expose, Mediate, Activate
ELIOOO.
How to Go to IKEA and Build a Hydroponic Device to Grow Food in Your Apartment.
ELIOOO is an instruction manual that transforms an affordable IKEA product into a domestic hydroponic device, enabling users to grow food at home. By doing so, the project displaces conventional production and distribution models, exposes hidden supply chains, mediates technical knowledge through design, and activates users as manufacturers of an idea.
2013
Mediate, Activate
BRICK OF MARSEILLES.
A Participatory Landscape Infrastructure.
Brick of Marseilles is a participatory landscape project that develops a constructive system for dry walls functioning as ecological corridors and plug-in public infrastructures. Through the transfer of artisanal knowledge and on-site prototyping, the project translates territorial conditions into an operable system that activates inhabitants and students as builders of their environment.
2013
Displace, Expose, Activate
HOTELLO.
Somnia et Labora.
Portable Office / Hotel Room for Das Konzept.
Hotello is a portable living–working unit designed to temporarily inhabit vacant interiors of the contemporary city. Conceived as a minimal and reversible spatial device, it enables the temporary occupation of empty lofts by condensing work and rest into a compact, deployable structure.
2012
Expose, Activate
HARVESTING STATION.
Community Gardening Micro Pavilion.
Harvesting Station is an urban device designed to activate interstitial spaces of the city by transforming them into protected sites of food production. By addressing pollution, accessibility, and scale, the project exposes the constraints of urban agriculture and activates micro-infrastructures for collective cultivation.
2011
Displace, Expose, Mediate, Activate
READYKEA.
Revolution to Smash Global Capitalism - Exhibition Design at Cabaret Voltaire Zurich.
Readykea is an exhibition design project developed for Revolution to Smash Global Capitalism at Cabaret Voltaire Zurich.
By hacking IKEA’s customer satisfaction policy, the project achieved a zero-cost and zero-waste exhibition scenography, using temporarily assembled IKEA components that were returned after the exhibition.
2011
Displace, Activate, Expose
HEDRON.
Fish From the Sky With Diamonds. Geodesic Hydroponic - Aquaponic Farm.
Hedron is a geodesic aquaponic rooftop greenhouse designed to relocate food production onto generic flat roofs. By redistributing structural loads and integrating closed-loop farming systems, the project displaces agriculture into the vertical dimension of the city, exposes the constraints of rooftop cultivation, and activates buildings as productive infrastructures.
2011
Displace, Expose, Activate
MALTHUS.
A Meal a Day. Aquaponic Home Device.
Malthus is an in-home aquaponics unit conceived for the next-generation kitchen or living room.
The system produces one meal per day—a portion of fish and a side salad—by combining fish farming and vegetable cultivation in a closed-loop symbiotic ecosystem. Designed using components commonly available in DIY stores, the project reflects on domestic food production, self-sufficiency, and everyday environmental practices.
2009
Displace, Mediate, Activate
WIRED (UNPLUGGED).
How to Destroy the First Issue of Wired UK and Make Something with It.
A collection of everyday objects produced by dismantling and reassembling a printed magazine. The project displaces editorial content into material practice, exposing new forms of circulation, value, and use.
2009
Displace, Expose, Mediate, Activate
JUST UNDO IT.
How to Transform a Hoodie Into (Nearly) Anything.
Just Undo It is a collection of everyday objects generated by folding a hoodie.
The project reflects on design as a form of information and narrative capable of transforming what already exists, proposing a “product less” rather than a “product more”.
2008
Displace, Expose, Mediate, Activate
RIKEA.
Community Project, Flea Market Turin, Italy.
RIKEA is a community-based project developed for the Ballon flea market in Porta Palazzo, Turin, conceived as a system of microstructures for instant urbanization.
Developed through a participatory process with local merchants, IKEA, and Italcementi, the project proposes a modular and reversible infrastructure addressing everyday spatial needs within an informal urban context.
2005
Expose, Mediate, Activate
ITALIA IN FUMO.
In Defence of the Italian Constitution, Participatory Installation, Milano, Italy.
Italia in Fumo (in Italian, Italy up in Smoke) is a participatory project for the promotion and cultural defence of the Italian Constitution, developed in collaboration with graphic designer Peppe Clemente.
The project frames the Constitution’s fundamental articles and civic duties within the visual language of the EU non-smoking policy, transforming citizens into active media for constitutional awareness.
2004
Expose, Mediate, Activate
RE-USE.
Sustainable Behaviour.
Re-Use is a design project conceived to empower users to become “anticonsumers” by transforming already-used A4 office paper into a personal notebook. Initiated in 2004, the project proposes a tangible, everyday tool for practicing environmental sustainability through reuse rather than replacement.
The project started in 2004 to offer a tool to implement tangible ways of approaching environmental sustainability.
2004
Displace, Activate, Expose
DREAMING WALL.
Public Installation, Milano, Italy.
Dreaming Wall is a vertical public space conceived as a real-time information forum, where messages appear and disappear through a light-based chemical process. By displacing communication from screens to architecture, the project activates collective expression and exposes the city’s subconscious as a transient, shared condition.
2001
Displace, Expose, Mediate
HUMAN WORLD.
A Demographic Atlas of Politics of Culture.
Human World aims to display the world’s political and cultural information on a population basis.
The project raises the question of understanding the politics of culture as a demographic challenge. In these cartograms, each country is scaled proportionally to its population: 1 pixel = 1,000 people.































































