Running from Tuesday 17 to Friday 20 April alongside Milan Design Week 2018, ‘architettura in Corto’, in Italy for the first time, is sponsored by the Spanish company Roca and offers a series of short films on trends and tendencies in contemporary architecture. The initiative was created by Barcelona communication agency B&S and is based on an idea by Andrea Sassi. Curated by Dario Furente and locally coordinated by Geo Lanza, ‘architettura in Corto’ is intended to promote video as a new narrative for architectural processes. Unlike still photography – for a long time the only non-verbal way of describing architecture – moving pictures allow us to show not only the end result of a project but also to examine the ideas behind it, its interaction with its milieu and its impact on society. With smartphones and social media, audio-visual technology is now more pervasive than ever, and the first Italian edition of this event seeks to stimulate discussion on this new way of looking at architecture. Each screening is followed by a debate, chaired by a leading figure from the worlds of architecture and design. To watch the films, visitors must register online at www.architetturaincorto.com. The screenings are taking place at the Xperience Hub (via Gaspare Bugatti 16/18, Tortona) and open on Tuesday 17 April with two short films on the subject of “Architecture: fitting in or standing out?” The screenings will be commented on by architect and designer Ramón Esteve and by photographer and film-maker Alfonso Calza. Wednesday’s film is “Unfinished Italy” by the young French-Italian director Benoit Felici, who travelled Italy in search of unfinished public buildings. Barbara Coppetti, a researcher in charge of the ‘Reforming Milan’ project at the Politecnico of Milan, and Giovanni Corbellini, an architect, critic and teacher of design and theory at the University of Trieste, will discuss Felici’s discovery of a new architectural style: Unfinished Sicilian. On Thursday the debate turns to the cities of the future with Paolo Carli, an architect and researcher with the department of architecture and urban studies at the Politecnico of Milan. The festival closes on Friday 20 April with two short films illustrating how images can transform the urban environment. The debate is led by Alessandro Manetti, director of the Istituto Europeo di Design at Barcelona. Thursday 19 April is dedicated to jumpthegap, a series of talks devised by Roca and held on a regular basis in venues around the world. The objective is to disseminate content and cultivate knowledge of architecture and design with contributions by leading figures from both disciplines. The event is hosted by award-winning Italian designer Sara Ferrari. The first Italian edition of ‘architettura in Corto’ is organized with the sponsorship of Roca, a Spanish company specializing in the design, production and sale of bathroom products, architectural flooring and wall tiles, construction and interior design. The company was founded in 1917 when the Roca family opened its first factory in Gavà (Barcelona). Today, a hundred years after its inception, the company employs 22,600 people, with 78 factories and a presence in 170 countries around the world.
