The lectures will propose an interpretation of the architect’s work on the existing city in its manifold manifestations, placing at the center all those artifacts and spaces which, despite not being recognized as conventional “monuments” worthy of conservation and protection, nevertheless provide a fundamental meaning to contemporary citizens. The goals of this work consist in proposing ways of preserving the urban and architectural identity of the modern city, restoring or enhancing its vitality, or providing an altogether new life where unfinished architectures have prematurely acquired the dimension of ruins.

Simona Salvo will speak of the issues of the conservation of modern architectural heritage, particularly in relation to 20th century public housing estates in Italy.

Federico De Matteis will address the topic of the human dimension of transformation, and of how this can become part of the architectural redesign.

Alfonso Giancotti will conclude by zooming in on the landscape of unfinished architecture, and the ways to lead these abandoned territories into the domain of contemporary life.

Simona Salvo (1967) is an architect, M.Sc. and PhD in Architectural Conservation, and tenured Assistant professor at Sapienza University of Rome. She is member of the Doctoral Board of Architecture. Theory and design, of EXTRA - Laboratory for Design in Extra European Countries and of the Department of Architectural History, Survey and Conservation and visiting professor at the Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo, Universidade de São Paulo and at the and at Arkansas University Rome Centre. She is responsible for cultural, scientific and academic international cooperation in the field of architectural conservation with several international academic institutions in China, Brazil, USA and Europe. Her fields of interest are focused on theoretical and methodological issues concerning architectural conservation, especially of modern and contemporary architecture, and on the dissemination of restoration principles and theories in today's globalized culture. She is also a registered architect and has practiced professionally in the field of architectural conservation, also taking part to research campaigns among which the restoration of the Pirelli Building in Milan (2002-2004). She has authored a number of articles and essays on architectural conservation on scientific reviews, encyclopedias and books, among which Restaurare il Novecento. Storia esperienze e prospettive in Architettura, 2016.

Federico De Matteis (1975) is an architect and teaches design at the Faculty of Architecture of Sapienza University of Rome. He has received his education from that same university and from the University of Pennsylvania. His main research focuses on the transformation of the city and of architecture, a topic on which he has extensively published. His most recent work is dedicated to the regeneration of modern public housing in Italy, Il secondo progetto. Interventi sull’abitare pubblico. In 2013 he was visiting professor at the Lebanese American University of Beirut.

Alfonso Giancotti (1970) studied at the Ecole d'Architecture de Paris-La Villette and at the Faculty of Architecture of Sapienza University of Rome, where he graduated in 1994. At Sapienza he teaches architectural design and is director of a Master degree. He has trained and later collaborated with Maurizio Sacripanti, whose work he has published and exhibited. His architectural works and projects are published in architectural magazines and books and have received several awards. A residential building, winner of an international design competition, is currently under construction in Pesaro. He is editor of two journals: Controspazio since 1995, and (h)ortus, since 2007, together with Federico De Matteis. His latest publication include a monograph on his architectural work in 2008, in 2012 a volume entitled Autocostruzioni. O degli ultimi spazi del progetto, and in 2014 La biblioteca. Progettare biblioteche, mediateche, centri culturali. Since 2012, he is Director of Casa dell'Architettura di Roma.