“a quale casa tornare” (The home we are returning to) testo esplorare / ricerca

programme: “the home we are returning to” – webinar’s concept and organization

client: INBAR

team: sophia los, gianluca rosso, paola de rosso (grafica)

status: completed, 5th  May 2020

 

 

A conversation addressed to all the inhabitants.

The virus showed the frailness of our present way of life. The city streets, first half-deserted, then became occupied by animals, and nature started reclaiming its space.

Silence and starry skies, friendships between neighbours on facing balconies: suddenly, small communities became desirable to many. We think it useful to reflect on how we wish to experience cities and suburban areas. We wonder what shape should take a space to become suitable for a resilient lifestyle, the urgency of which is becoming apparent.

Webinar programme:

• Marco Guzzi – Poet, philosopher, founder of the “Darsi Pace” movement

• Sophia Los and Gianluca Rosso

with the participation of: Anna Carulli, INBAR national president, Marco Caserio, INBAR National Secretary, Cristiana Rossetti, President INBAR -Verona division, Federica Colpo, Estate Agent, Roberta Rocelli, General Director of Festival Biblico, Marisa Fantin Archistudio – Istituto Nazionale Urbanistica, Sergio Los once  professor of Architectural Composition at IUAV University – SYNERGIA progetti, Natasha F.Pulitzer, architect – SYNERGIA progetti, Marco Bussone – UNCEM president (National Union of Municipalities, Communities and Institutions of Mountain Regions).

 

programme: festival – co-creator, member of the board of directors, communication and setup project

client: ministero alle pari opportunità, italian government

team: logika, la piccionaia, sophia los

location: thiene (VI), italy

status: 2021, in progress

 

 

We live in an age that appears to have lost sight of the richness and beauty of an encounter with another. We deal with individualistic societies which are always more fragmented. We live disconnected – from ourselves and from others – in an age of hyperconnectivity. Based on these considerations and urgencies Passo a Due would like to invite the participants to explore the opportunities and richness of “being together” (doing, being and listening together). The keyword of the Festival is complementarity. Because “me” is the same as “us”: we are all different individuals, and it is this difference that is the “plus” that enriches us. The name “Passo a Due” (Duet – Pas de Deux) evokes the dance. The “dance” of opposites instead of a “war” between opposites. It is this common thread that will connect all the events and appointments: the participants will be called upon to experiment, think, experience recognising the right of the other to express themselves and interact. The other as object and not subject that questions us, forces us to look at ourselves, puts us in movement, and fulfils us. In reciprocity, obviously, because for others, “We are the others”. 

The project began in 2015 and was inspired by the concept of complementarity, the core topic of the book “Una vita in tandem”. The author, Sophia Los, will present the book during the course of the festival.

https://passoaduefestival.it/

 

 

programme: accessible communication system for parco rossi.

client: municip. of santorso, co-financed by FSC – veneto region, coop. “nuovi orizzonti”.

team: make it easy (sophia los, diana de tomaso), la piccionaia, agata keran, paola rossi

city/area: santorso (VI), italy

status: completed, 2015 – 2016

 

 

Parco Rossi is a romantic park at the feet of Mount Summano and is the cardinal element of a complex system. It comprises the villa with its park upstream and the model estate downstream. Founded by entrepreneur Alessandro Rossi and designed by architect Antonio Carregaro Negrin between 1865 and 1884, the park expresses a vision ahead of its time still relevant to sustainable development today. Alessandro Rossi sensed the value, currently defined Glocal, of consolidating the local culture and integrating it with the rest of the world. This tradition resulted from the Serenissima making the Veneto territory safe and accessible. Our project deals with the communication system and included 19 thematic audio stories with Bluetooth beacons. The approach was inclusive, aware that the lack of one ability is only an obstacle if the design makes no space for it.

  • Multisensory and multimodal map of the area:

1) functional orientation, 2) content communication, 3) visitor engagement, 4) best possible fruition.

  • Tools to find your way in the park: facilitating spatial cognition. In our search for a wayfinding tool, we started observing the park configuration. After drawing along its borders, a figure emerged as if waiting to be discovered all along. After all, the bestiary belongs to the educated people’s imagination of that era. ARAC, the little beast, accompanies and guides the visitors.
  • Inclusivity, participation and sharing: the empathic connection with the place generates a desire for knowledge, and it can make the space relevant to a diverse public, instilling the value of common good and activating a sense of belonging and care.

The project was presented during the workshop “Il turismo per tutti – strumenti per l’accessibilità e la fruibilità di spazi e contenuti” (“Tourism for All. Tools for accessible and usable spaces and contents”) on 6th  May 2016 in Santorso.

The project was introduced during the conference “Accessibilità per le disabilità sensoriali nei musei e in ambito culturale” (“Cultural sector and museums accessibility for people with sensory disabilities”, on 18th  November 2016 at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice.

 

 

cardinaletti 11-2016 locandina

The project was presented during the conference organised by AIAPP TER and titled “Oltre lo standard: come rigenerare il parco pubblico” (“Beyond the standard: how to regenerate public parks”, on 31st January 2020, in Bologna, sala Biagi.

The project can be found in INU’s atlas of accessible cities available at http://atlantecittaccessibili.inu.it/la-mappa/

libero accesso in villa – visit for all testo esplorare / ricerca

programme: inclusive multisensory and multimodal communication of a villa of the veneto region.

client: istituto regionale ville venete, confartigianato vicenza

team: libero accesso/confartigianato vicenza, sophia los

city/area: villa venier – mira (VE), italy

status: completed, 2014

 

 

A Multidisciplinary project on the “visit for all” system for the Ville Venete Institute in Villa Venier. Creation of a multisensory and multimodal map. Libero accesso – Confartigianato Vicenza and Regional Institute Ville Venete. with: E.Cunico, M. Tomasin, F. Barufatto, M. Stocco. With the professional support of P. Barcarolo, Ca’ Foscari University (Venice) and Associazione Lettura Agevolata (Association for Accessible Reading). Presentation event at Villa Venier, 19th June.

Presentation of the Free Access to the Villa project at the Ville Venete Festival held at Villa Manin in Passariano (UD), 16th September.

Libero Accesso® is a project aiming towards economic growth promoted by the trades association Confartigianato Vicenza. The programme stimulates the creation of innovative products through a contest for teams who will follow the rules of participatory design, engaging end-users in the process itself.

This system centres users as per the principles of “design for all”: the goal is devising relevant and innovative solutions that are geared towards a broad audience, and as such, suitable for a large number of consumers. 

The multidisciplinary project on the “visit for all” system for the Ville Venete Institute in Villa Venier includes creating a multisensory and multimodal map.

The 2013 edition of Libero Accesso® takes up the challenge and embarks on  the creation of a “visit for all” system for a heritage site, thus responding to our consultants and social reps’ desire for better orientation systems in public spaces.

The shared goal of this experimentation is to think and interpret the Villas of Veneto as “inclusive spaces” that are open and responsive to diversity, comfortably and safely welcoming people with various kinds of needs and degrees of freedom.

The commissioners, represented by IRVV’s president Giulia Fontanella, requested a simple enough plan to be replicated elsewhere as well. The team prepared a multisensory and multimodal orienteering map, following the “design for all” principles, facilitating visitor interaction and understanding of the Villa. We identified several hypothesis and tools. Still, the central question driving the whole project was: who are the people visiting Villas? And more importantly, what are they expecting to see and why? The answer we picked as a guideline for this task was: the visit can offer the experience of living in the style of the Veneto region.

Presentation: Villa Venier, June, 19th

Presentation of the Free Access to the Villa project at the Ville Venete Festival held at Villa Manin in Passariano (UD), 16th September.

Project presentationduringthesymposium “Accessibilità per le disabilità sensoriali nei musei e in ambito culturale”(Museums and cultural sector accessibility for sensory disabilities), Ca’ Foscari University, 18th November 2016.

programme: communication of furnishings for assisted living facilities

client: cit-malvestio

team: sophia los

collaborators: MMBF (graphic design), studio visus (photography), studio pitari (photography), nude design studio (rendering)

city/area: padua, italy 

status: completed, 2007-2010

 

 

Project related to the communication of furniture for assisted living facilities for Alzheimer patients. Collections: “Rialto”, “Domino”, Taiga”, “Agorà”. The catalogues of furnishings for assisted living facilities embodied the uselessness of the elderly: sad spaces, lacking in vitality, empty. The new catalogues are the first in Italy and perhaps Europe to frame the guests’ everyday experiences in the facilities in a welcoming yet realistic way. This approach rejects the usual trend of swaying from fake hotels to desolate nursing homes.

While collaborating with Cit-Malvestio, a leading company in hospital services in Italy, in 2012, I worked as a consultant for grants on the furnishing of assisted living homes and proposed some custom solutions.

Una città da abitare  – An exchange between dwellers and architects testo esplorare / direzione creativa

programme: silent play

client: ordine degli architetti P.P.C. of vicenza. 

director: carlo presotto

production: la piccionaia

speakers: marisa fantin – angelo zanella – liliana dal toso – sophia los – agata keran – tommaso dolcetta – marco boaria – carlo presotto – paola rossi.

argentine tango dancers: sophia los and stefano gambarotto

filming: miriam marini e walter ronzani

city/area: vicenza – italy

status: completed, 2015

 

 

Three architects (Liliana Dal Toso, Sophia Los, Angelo Zanella), an urban planner (Marisa Fantin), an art historian (Agata Keran) and an anthropologist (Tommaso Dolcetta) confront a significant and problematic area of Vicenza between Via Torino and Viale Roma. One by one, voices relay suggestions on ways to experience places and buildings. In their narration of the city and contemporary architecture, the shadows and lights of recent history – one often plagued by cliches – become visible. “Silent Play” is a project by Carlo Presotto: in these experiential walks, the whisper-radio system generates interactive conversations, using, in this case, pre-recorded materials.

A video of this event, curated by Walter Ronzani, will be presented to the audience by the Ordine degli Architetti P.P.C. of Vicenza during a public event in 2021.

http://www.piccionaia.org/dettaglio.php?type=eventi&typecat=3&id=828

programme: silent play and talk

authors: carlo presotto, sophia los, giovanni traverso, paola rossi

supported by: WeDo

in collaboration with: ordine degli architetti P.P.C. of vicenza

production: la piccionaia

city/area: vicenza – italy

status: completed, 2017

 

 

A walk at sunset, accompanied by a soundtrack of tales, sounds and evocative subjects, is the space to uncover the interactions between energy, life, light and darkness. A journey in various stages, starting from perceiving the transformations of light in the urban space, where relationships live, and changes in perception unfold – all the way to an exploration of the exchanges between nature and human artistry, between our senses and our thoughts and feelings. “Silent Fireflies” is a 60-minute long experience designed for a small group of people.

Carlo Presotto himself conducts the event: thanks to a whisper-radio system, he will transform the walk into a nomadic and interactive conversation, spanning from evocative variations on the theme of light in myths and the discovery of fire and moving shadows to the way our gaze adapts to light, the fear of the dark, light pollution and experiencing starry skies, circadian rhythms, led image-like illumination.

http://www.piccionaia.org/_files/eventi/allegati/821/scheda_artistica_completa.pdf

Programme: instant silent play – art direction and co-presenter

Client: Vicenza’s Order of Architects / Festival Biblico

Team: Sophia Los/OAPPC Culture Commission, La Piccionaia , Festival Biblico

City/area: Vicenza, Italy

Status: completed, 2019

 

 

In my institutional activities as manager of the Culture Committee of Ordine degli Architetti P.P.C. of Vicenza. 

I have collaborated with Festival Biblico. The festival is a lay experience of notable cultural and spiritual impact. The 2019 edition focused on the delicate subject matters connected to contemporary cities and was titled “Polis”. 

The Architects Association of Vicenza was asked to organise a series of events alongside the Festival runners. The team’s cultural goal was to involve citizens in architecture-related questions. 

We entrusted the association La Piccionaia – Centre of Theatrical Productions with three paths across the city with related activities. 

These included: spontaneous gatherings, social animation and social street projects called collectively “Plurimi Orizzonti” (“Plural Horizons”). Presenters: Sophia Los and Matteo Balbo.

In partnership with the festival, we also planned the closing event: a conversation between the architect – anthropologist Franco La Cecla and the bishop Gianfranco Ravasi, president of CEI’s Culture Office. 

 

 

Moderator: Armando Torno. 

Concept and coordination: Sophia Los – Culture Committee of Ordine degli Architetti P.P.C. of Vicenza. 

Presented by Sophia Los and Matteo Balbo.

Walter Rozani curated the video presenting a synthesis of the whole project.

Abitare con il legno (Designing living spaces with wood) testo esplorare / formazione

programme: a cycle of seminars and final event

client: confartigianato vicenza

authors: sophia los, marina zaccaria

with: loriana martin (graphic design), paola de rosso (villa fabris event), marta stocco

city/area: vicenza, thiene (VI) – italy

status: completed, 2013

 

 

Craftspeople, designers and clients often speak different languages. As we deal with the current market, bridging the gap between the three main actors of the living industry is our goal. We aim at highlighting the characteristics of craftwork compared to industrial production since the former better allows the promotion of a culture of sustainability. We seek to ease the passage from one generation to the next.

For this project, we created three dedicated meetings geared towards craftspeople and professionals and organised a final event open to the public with the participation of craft businesses at Villa Fabris in Thiene.

programme: catalogue art direction and branding for Casa&Go

client: abitare italiano society by fenestra veneta

team: sophia los, loriana martin

city/area: veneto – italy

status: completed, 2014

 

 

In 2017, a group of woodwork businesses, forming a consortium under the name Fenestra Veneta, asked me to repurpose a trading name I had proposed years before to Confartigianato Vicenza (2008), Casa&co. From its conception, the brand focused on promoting eco-compatible architecture, so I was asked to design a mobile exhibition stand with Luca Fattambrini, eventually never realised. The Fenestra Veneta Consortium bought the trading name, inherited by Loriana Martin, with whom we created a dedicated catalogue. Through the new Casa&co branding, the group’s philosophy extended to the home, always within the woodwork sector. The catalogue’s purpose was to highlight made-in-Italy production and some peculiarities of the Veneto region. The brand would become a means to mark the businesses’ collective presence in the national and international market.

 

programme: triennal communication and education programme

client: confartigianato verona

team: sophia los, confartigianato verona, davide charlie ceccon, alchimia degli eventi, teresa piardi

guests: ernesto sirolli, the sirolli institute

city/area: verona, italy

status: 2018- 2020, in progress

 

 

The project is dedicated to the constructions sector, and it addresses all the professions and designers, architects in particular. The aim is to systemise a struggling industry that affects all sectors of economic, social and political life profoundly. The building sector transforms the territory into an environment. Every human experience in an anthropic landscape is influenced by the space built within which it develops.

project Structure:

“Abitare a regola d’arte” (“State-of-the-art Living”) is a project organised in 3 phases. Each phase can give rise to other in-depth projects like transversal spinoffs.

1) 2018 – project presentation: on the one hand showing the importance of organising one’s company efficiently and, on the other, introducing a systemic approach to constructions, starting from a vision of built spaces and their design.

2) 2019 – Focussing on entrepreneurship through the Sirolli method. Workshop with Ernesto Sirolli aimed at artisans and architects.

3) 2020 – Exploring concrete applications of design and production through the CASA Vesta method.

Place Marketing for the Mountainous Region in the Vicenza Province testo paesaggio / esplorare

programme: “New place marketing for SMEs based in the mountainous region in the Vicenza province” – exhibition and seminars.

client: confartigianato vicenza

team: sophia los, luca fattambrini, massimo meggiolaro

collaborators: renza mara calabrese, matteo pollani, paola de rosso

city/area: asiago (VI) – italy

status: completed, 2008

 

 

The Craft Workers Association for the Vicenza Province launched a project titled: “New place marketing for SMEs based in the mountain region in the Vicenza province”. The initiative was backed by the Eu regional development fund to promote economic growth and entrepreneurship within businesses in the mountainous areas.

The plan included activities aiming at boosting productions and local source materials from the Asiago Plateau, particularly marble and wood. With this goal in mind, the program featured a small exhibition dedicated to this topic and three supporting seminars to get a deeper look.

The talks sought to bring private and public entities’ experiences in the realm of regulations and entrepreneurship to professionals from the sector and local organizations’ representatives, thus aiding the community’s economic growth.

Both industries, wood and marble, represent two areas with great potential for economic growth in the Asiago Plateau, but they are currently in a crisis. The competition is intense from raw processing, making it hard to employ local resources. The lack of syndicates limits the scope of shared policies, while the loss of identity of the cityscape enables the spread of incoherent stylistic features and materials.

It is not just about boosting entrepreneurship but also about acting to safeguard the environment by increasing the appreciation of the local materials’ specific qualities, using them in the community, coordinating and grouping the entire supply chain. This approach would help recover the historical architecture typical of this area, returning the Plateau and its landscape to its original appearance.

The exhibition titled: “Notes for a Portrait. Architecture in the Seven Municipalities” presents a preliminary examination of stylistic features, now almost completely gone, typical of the local architecture, to make them recognisable to locals and foreigners alike.

The implementation of incentives for sustainable construction in building regulations could affect not just energy-saving technologies, bio-compatible materials, bio-climatic design but also reward the use of local materials as an ecologic action (it would reduce transportation-related pollution).

Appunti per un ritratto – Testo

Appunti per un ritratto – Mostra

sr11 – a state of the art territory testo rigenerazione / esplorare

programme: “a state-of-the-art territory” – a multidisciplinary project for the definition of urban guidelines

client: confartigianato vicenza

team: sophia los, sergio los, claudio bertorelli, centro studi udine

collaborators: n. covre, e. lorenzetto, l. parolin, e. bottin, f. dal toso, c. dal molin, daria petucco, i. visentin

city/area: sr11 – Vvcenza, italy

status: completed, 2012

 

 

To mark the new provincial urban plan, Confartigianato commissioned a pilot project to devise strategic guidelines for sustainable environmental, entrepreneurial and urban development. The Regional Road 11, as a case study, is the only portion of territory for which the Provincial Plan has considered a dedicated masterplan. 

actions:

– Pursuing the multifunctionality of the land while gradually weakening the market street quality.

– Seeing the SR11 territory no longer as a linear element of separation but a sequence of nodes. The act of giving it back to the dimension of living, or in other words, “re-integrating” it into the wider environment to which it belongs.

– Re-building a latent landscape through the continually balanced inter-relation between human settlement systems and agropolitan and periurban agricultural systems.

– Granting agricultural territories and their related activities a fundamental role (currently very limited) in the process of land re-qualification.

– The substantial collaboration between municipalities and the constant involvement of social actors.

– Activating strategic planning tools across municipalities while evaluating the use of the new set of instruments as provided by the regional law 11/04 (equalisation, credit and compensation). 

Presentation at the Villa Cordellina Lombardi.

programme: co-artistic director, displays, furniture design

client: morelato

team: sophia los

city/area: salizzole (VR), italy

status: completed 2007-2016

 

 

Our collaboration with Morelato cabinetmakers began in 2007, and, for about a decade, I helped the company in all their activities and initiatives: from marketing consulting and the artistic direction of their catalogues, to planning the displays of their merchandise at various national and international fairs, planning showroom out-fittings, displays for the MAAM museum. Moreover, I also designed some furniture pieces, like the “Maschera” system and the four poster bed “Nomade”, still produced today. 

The company combines its production with a rich cultural activity partnering with the Triennale Milano. Every year Morelato launches a design competition and other initiatives through the Aldo Morelato Foundation, based in Villa Dionisi, home to MAAM – Museum of Applied Arts and Contemporary Furniture.

I invited them to create a suite for the Benè fair, introducing the “Nomade” bed. The bookshelf “Maschera” resulted from our collaboration during the 2007 Luxury Expo in Verona.

The MAAM catalogue design and the logos restyling are the work of my brother Pietro Los whom I involved in 2010.

Damir Jellici curated the catalogues featuring photography by Alberto Sinigaglia and subsequently by Emozioni studio.

https://www.morelato.it/ita/list/cataloghi

http://fondazionealdomorelato.org/pages/73

 

 

 

2005 marks the beginning of a ten-year collaboration with Studio Event, creator and organiser of an innovative trade fair: Benè Wellness expo, at the Vicenza Expo Centre. We worked side by side to organise the whole fair, and I personally curated the architecture section. I experimented with an innovative and effective communication strategy to attract a diverse public. The content was in tune with the target/interests, and it provided information they wouldn’t otherwise seek out on their own. We maintained this approach over the following years, variating the themes.

Here we present a selection.

 

The Bioclimatic Barchessa – benè 2005 testo abitare / allestimenti

Concept, art direction and organisation of a special event: “La barchessa bioclimatica”, within Fiera Bené. Sentieri di Benessere. 

 

 

The bioclimatic barchessa provided the expo with a module of the typical vernacular architecture of Veneto. The goal was highlighting the bioclimatic qualities of rural construction. 

The event included a symposium and a related book with the patronage of Ordine degli Architetti P.P.C. of Vicenza. 

The speakers invited included expert historians (Lionello Puppi and Giuseppe Barbieri) alongside Sergio Los, a pioneer in bioclimatic architecture.

The speakers’ panel included Lionello Puppi and Giuseppe Barbieri, who addressed the historical issues, alongside Sergio Los, a pioneer of bioclimatic architecture, highlighting the environmental aspects.

“Architettura per il Veneto verso uno sviluppo sostenibile” – Fiera Bené, Vicenza, 5 novembre 2005

Organizzatore e moderatore: Sophia Los

Speackers: Prof. Lionello Puppi, Prof. Giuseppe Barbieri, Prof. Sergio Los, Arch. Giuseppe Pilla. with the patronage of Ordine Architetti P.P.C.  di Vicenza.

 

 

 

 

A Garden in the Room testo abitare / allestimenti

programme: co-artistic direction, displays, furniture design

client: benè sentieri di benessere, morelato srl

team: sophia los

city/area: vicenza – italy

status: completed, 2006

 

 

The suite belongs to the broader project for the whole Benè – Sentieri di Benessere expo, which in 2006 included a pavilion called “Bené Wellness Resort, il Benessere Oltre la Spa”, curated by Stefano Pediconi. On that occasion, various architects designed a range of suites, unveiled at the expo.

The concept for the project comes from the desire to present hosts with a room including a small garden acting as the cardinal symbol of wellness.

The suite is a large bedroom placed between the volume of the bathroom and the winter garden.

The bathroom volume appears like a full-height wooden tapestry, hiding the sliding door that makes it possible to access the room from the shower.

The bedroom’s central element is the natural cherry wood four-poster bed, Tobia bed, designed by Sophia Los for Morelato. The bathroom is in white stone, and it features a panel made of multiple agate round pieces, acting as a backdrop to the shower. The panel is backlit, thus resembling a thousand eyes gazing at the room when the sliding door is open. The piece recalls Klimt paintings and has a remarkable chromatic effect.

Morelato Arredamenti created the wooden tapestry after a custom design, a reinterpretation of the “Zero” series, conceived to produce a dynamic wall. The effect is achieved by placing wooden laths according to an irregular pattern. The four-poster bed was presented as a prototype during the expo and was dressed with textiles by Dominique Kieffer for Rubelli, here proposing a dedicated eco-friendly line. The materials used to paint walls were eco-friendly products supplied by Spring Color. Mandruzzato Marmi made the bathroom, and Punto Verde provided the plants for the veranda. Porceilain sets by l’IDEA – Vicenza.

interni in verde – green interiors testo allestimenti / paesaggio

Benè Wellness Expo – 2005 Edition

Concept, project and organisation of the special event “Interni in Verde (published project).

Related symposium organised by Sophia Los.

First time event in Italy for Patrick Blanc. With the collaboration of Ordine degli Architetti of Vicenza and AIAPP.

 

 

“Interni in verde. The art of designing spaces with plants” – Flavio Albanese meets Patrick Blanc. Moderator: Sophia Los. Guest speakers: Marco Ferreri, Natasha Pulitzer, Martin Pontgraz, Alexis Trecoire (simultaneous interpretation: Miuccia Breda).

The possibilities offered by plants as architectural elements can help achieve a higher quality of living. Exploring how greenery can affect interiors is the central theme of “Interni in Verde”, part of the special event “Abitare Bio” by Benè, focused on highly comfortable relaxing spaces and work environments.

The “Interni in Verde” project, curated by architect Sophia Los, alongside landscape designer Luca Parolin, represents a unique mix of natural science and design. Furniture, accessories, lighting and plants are used as elements of a composition, allowing the architect to improve indoor spaces.

Greenery, outside its more evident decorative function, takes on a significant role in the distribution and organisation of spaces, becoming a green wall. Besides the known positive effect on mood and microclimates, studies led by NASA show the air-purifying properties of some species, like those used for the expo. They include smog and formaldehyde-reducing plants, like Dracaenas, Ivy, Ficus trees, and Tillandsias, which can filter several polluting particles.

The exhibited project extends across 160 sq. m, divided into an office area and a hotel suite, to better exemplify all the different plant uses in lived spaces. The display begins with the office area, moving to a living area, and ends with the hotel suite.

The symposium was recorded and distributed as an eponymous DVD produced by the Benè Wellness Expo. https://www.studiosol.it/stampa/interni-in-verde/

Published on “Interni”.

EWR – Eco Spa Suite testo abitare / allestimenti

programme: concept, artistic direction, displays, eco-wellness resort event and eco-spa suite

client: benè wellness expo

team: sophia los

with: tiziano marchetto, loriana martin (graphic design)

city/area: vicenza – italy

status: completed, 2008

 

 

The 5th  edition of the Bené expo presents 1300 m2 of space dedicated to the Eco-Wellness Resort, curated by Sophia Los. A journey across technologies, materials and settings revolving around environmental sustainability. Core themes were, on the one hand, energy-saving for a more rational source management that respects the environment, while on the other, the use of natural, safe and healthy materials from the construction process onwards, and the creation of a glossary to fully appreciate all the faces of ecology.

Four elements are the protagonists and symbols of the Eco Wellness Resort: water, wood, earth and plants. The journey starts with a large area dedicated to water, dealing with the element combining wellness and ecology in their various forms. Greenery is a constant element throughout, from the bio-lakes in the water section to the ancient fruit sold in the green lounge, a winter garden. Earth is the foundational ingredient of a spa room, The suite results from a thinking process that sees the hotel room as the privileged space for wellness. No longer a box to be filled with furniture, but rather a three-dimensional room split into two levels dividing the living area with the seats and writing desk obtained from a gap in the platform, from the bath and bed area, protected by natural hemp/silk curtains. The futon on the upper level can be moved to the bedroom for a massage, while on the opposite side lies the fitted juniper wood tub. The private oudoor space, complete with vertical garden and greenery, is placed at a similar height. On the lawn, we positioned a wooden one person sauna for outdoor relaxation. 

Organiser and presenter of the talk “Ecologia per Piacere”.

 

 

Photos: Carlo Panizzolo

Il molo restaurant testo abitare / interni

programme: interiors for a restaurant in the historic centre of vicenza 

client: il molo restaurant.

team: sophia los

city/area: vicenza, italy

status: completed, 2011

 

 

The project relates to the interiors of a small restaurant in the historic city centre of Vicenza. The budget available was rather limited. The two owners – a Sicilian Chef and his partner – actively worked on the construction site, carrying out some works themselves. The furniture realised by 101 – Alberto Beggio, a carpenter and yoga teacher, was built almost entirely on-site. The construction site turned into a workshop throughout the fitting-out processes that included the careful selection of bio-compatible materials. The restaurant – rather unique in town – is highly appreciated by a wide, heterogeneous public made of students, families, tourists, office workers on lunch break, professionals and the upper class.

A central feature in the project is the bench, designed with uneven bands showing the classic colours of inland Sicily to visually reduce the perception of the restaurant’s considerable length while also increasing the space’s acoustic comfort. A strip of backlit photos showing Sicilian landscapes gives the place a typical taste of the island, welcoming the guests in a unique way. Several were Federica Agnoletto – Freaks of Nature’s interventions, some of which were included in the initial project (a door, the ceiling and stairs, linen), while others were added on the commissioners’ request some years later when they decided to renovate the interiors.

©2024 Studio Sol - Sophia Los | P.IVA 03004690248