PING PONG CONVERSATIONS #1 GIANCARLO MAZZANTI
Giancarlo Mazzanti is a Colombian architect who focuses on public architecture in the informal parts of Colombian cities. In his iconic work, symbolism and tradition not only involve aesthetics, but also the materiality of the building, the layout, the social climate as well as the project’s location. © photo by Jorge Gamboa
Giancarlo Mazzanti was invited for a ping-pong conversation involving students and teachers of Domus Academy and NABA.
He talked about a symbolic architecture which takes care of public and social aspects, able not only to face the spectacular South American scenarios but also to take possession and synthesize them in objects.
Three major compulsive elements characterize the Mazzanti’s architecture:
The first is the ability to relate his buildings to the spectacular geography of South America, to appropriate it and transform it into architecture.
The second is his obsession with detail, with the total control of technical architecture, the most obvious representation of which is expressed in the use of facades.
Finally, the third concern his passion for unfinished modularity, enabling, even encouraging residents, to be part of the design process and build iconography, which is always different, public and alive.
The meeting was moderated by Lorenza Baroncelli.