Giorgio Pettenò Architects is an architectural studio dealing with Urban Design, Architectural Design, Sustainable Design and Interior Design. The studio has extensive experience in the design and construction of accommodation facilities (hotels, spas, swimming pools, restaurants), industrial (logistics buildings), tertiary (office buildings) and residential (private homes) structures. Particular attention is paid to the interior design (custom design of shops, showrooms, kitchens, tables, sofas and chairs). Philosophy: Giorgio Pettenò Architects always explores new ways to integrate an architectural idea into the essence of the place where it is to be born. Rather than imposing a unique style on different places, cultures and climates, it is the site and the site's specificity that becomes the starting point for developing a new project - idea. In this context also the use of materials, exalted in their intrinsic beauty, become an integral part and stimulating experience of the new project. This integrated approach to the use of sustainable architecture (where energy savings and the reduction of air pollution are a key focus) leads to the realization of an architecture which is corresponding to the needs of the contemporary world. Biography: Giorgio Pettenò (Dolo, Italy 1963) is an Venetian architect. He graduated at University Iuav of Venice where he conducted research from 1996 to 2000 and was an assistant of Gianugo Polesello from 1995 to 2002. He worked for Canali Associated in Parma from 1996 to 1999 and then opened is own studio in Venice in 2000. In addition to the professional activity, Giorgio Pettenò has been involved in research themes as the Centuriatio in central Veneto and has edited publications on the work of Gianugo Polesello. Publications: 2015-Complex of Madonna del Carmine in Santa Maria La Carità, Naples, in “Chiesa Oggi. Architettura e Comunicazione” N.106 April 2015, pp.54-55. 2012-Relais Agriturismo Ormesani and Ormesani Logistics Srl in “Novecento. Architetture e Città del Veneto” a cura di D. Longhi, Il Poligrafo 2012, pp.335-338. 2009-Farmhouse in The Venetian Countryside in “Costruire in Laterizio” N.130 July 2009, pp. I-II. 2008-Industrial Building in Quarto D'Altino, Venice in “Almanacco di Casabella Architetti Italiani 2008” a cura di M. Mulazzani, Mondatori 2008, pp.204-209. 2002-Scandiano Exhibition Center, Reggio Emilia in “Area” N.65 2002, November/December pp.162-163. Writings: Simple Complexity. The Designs by Gianugo Polesello in “Iuav giornale dell’università” n.114 January 2012, p.16. Teaching: Between 1996 and 2002 assistant of Gianugo Polesello at the Course of Architectural Design held at the Iuav University of Venice List of Works: Winter Garden a Marcon – Italia 2017_Realized Work Centro Sportivo Nazionale di Nuoto a Tenero – Svizzera 2017_Competition Project Torri a Mestre – Italia 2015_Not Realized Project Ecole Primaire à Ursy – Suisse 2014_Competition Project Nuovo Edificio ad uso Uffici in Strada del Conservatorio a Parma - Italia 2014_Project Under Construction Nuovo Complesso Parrocchiale della Madonna del Carmine a Santa Maria la Carità – Italia 2014_Competition Project Nuova Sede della Scuola dell'infanzia di Tenero – Svizzera 2013_Competition Project Senior City Cortina d'Ampezzo – Italia 2013_Competition Project Appartamento SK alla Giudecca – Italia 2012_Realized Work Nuova Scuola dell'Infanzia a Lugano – Svizzera 2011_Competition Project Agenzia Viaggi OVV a Quarto d’Altino – Italia 2011_Realized Work Villa della Regina. La Nuova Manica di Accoglienza, Torino – Italia 2010_Competition Project Nuova Scuola Materna a Cazzago S. Martino – Italia 2009_Competition Project Relais Agriturismo Ormesani a Marcon – Italia 2008_Realized Work Ormesani Logistica Srl a Quarto d’Altino – Italia 2008_Realized Work Eth Zürich - Areal Hönggerberg - Studentisches Wohnen – Schweiz 2008_Competition Project Collège Primaire a La Neuveville – Suisse 2007_Competition Project Ampliamento del Museo dell'Automobile di Torino – Italia 2005_Competition Project Aerostazione Passeggeri dell'Aeroporto di Pantelleria – Italia 2004_Competition Project Riqualificazione del Quartiere Fieristico di Gorizia – Italia 2004_Realized Work Nuovo Polo Fieristico di Scandiano – Italia 2004 _Not Realized Project Torre delle Telecomunicazioni Sogliano al Rubicone – Italia 2004_Competition Project Nuovo Polo Scolastico di Casalserugo – Italia 2002_Competition Project Nuovo Polo Fieristico di Scandiano – Italia 2002_Competition Project Collaborators 2000-2017: Alain Keyrouz, Alberto Ceschin, Aleksandar Tkalec, Alessandra Mecchia, Alessandro Lenzi, Amedeo Monaco, Andrea Gioieni, Anna Fornasier, Antonio Lopez Gandana, Beatriz Jimenez Alcaide, Bernard Klein, Caterina Sguassero, Claudio Vianello, David Bernabe Machuca, Davide Del Favero, Davide Mazzucato, Denise Covassin, Eduardo Calbo Gonzales, Elena Cornejo Sanz, Elvis Paja, Emanuele Del Mondo, Enrico Felici, Federico Da Dalt, Francesca Zava, Francesco Tonizzo, Francisco Javier Soto Torrecilias, Francisco Javier Vizioso Hoyo, Francisco Leon Leon, Giacomo De Caro, Giorgia Tullio, Giovanni Sarandrea, Ilaria Ferraboli, Isabel Gonzàlez De Leòn, Ivan Olivotto, Javier Gomez Herrero, Juan Laborda Herrero, Kurt Raffeiner, Laura Moglie, Laura Stroszeck, Lorenzo Rigoni, Marco Barbato, Marco Rigo, Marcos Vicente Herranz, Maria Titos Sanchez, Marlene Elena Lopez Gandara, Marta Izcue Lasheras, Marta Manca, Marta Valdivieso, Matteo Salviato, Michele Perissinotto, Miguel Ternero Gil, Nadine Wunschel, Nazaret Torres Heredia, Nicola Brembilla, Nicola Pellegrini, Noelia Manzano Fijò, Nunzia Di Molfetta, Ottavia Manzo, Rafael Hidalgo Soria, Roberto Chamorro Blanco, Roger Carrera Català, Rossella Pedà, Samuele Xompero, Sandra Leythaense, Sante Battistuzzo, Silvia Alvarez Gomez, Sofia Bertoldi, Valentina Trombini, Virginia Hernàndez Alonso, Zhang Junrui, Zhen Yuan. Interview by Divisare - 5th November 2015: 1) Can you tell us about your relationship with Polesello? Which elements of his architectural approach have you retained, which have you rejected? I’ve retained a great deal! For me, Gianugo Polesello was a true master in the sense that he had a decisive influence on the development of my approach to architecture. He taught me how architecture should be perceived as “timeless,” in the sense that even contemporary architecture must preserve the spirit of the great monuments of antiquity. Looking at his projects, despite the fact that his stylistic idiom was always far from traditional, it is indeed difficult not to recognise references to Graeco-Roman cities, and as in classical architecture, his aim was always to achieve clarity which, once attained, must enable us to see the simplicity of the idea – even in projects of great complexity. He made me understand that we must use the achievements of contemporary culture to rethink our notion of architecture as an ancient process. I’ve rejected little! Perhaps his “courageous intransigeance” in conceiving projects out of context and without making any compromises, to the extent of frequently refusing to occupy himself with the realisation or even the viability of his projects. 2) Of the various educational possibilities – in an architectural practice, on building sites, at university – which do you consider the most effective? Being an architect is a complex occupation that implies interdisciplinary knowledge and requires a great deal of experience – as well as many “experiences.” Architects are not allowed to be “specialists,” because if that were the case, their activity would be reduced to an insignificant phase of the project. Therefore, as I always tried to do during my training, working in a practice, gaining experience on building sites, and academic studies must all be considered equally important. They must be combined and superimposed to create the “single entity” that an architect needs in order to adopt a holistic approach to his profession. 3) To sum up the history of architecture in two buildings, one old and one new: which two would you choose, and why? I would choose the Parthenon in Athens and the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, because they sum up the way architecture is able to be radically innovative while preserving its own DNA. Analysing these two buildings helps us to understand how an ancient monunment can produce a modern work, just as a modern work can be understood as the solution to an ancient problem. With the Neue Nationalgalerie, Mies van der Rohe eloquently showed us the relationship that architecture must have with history. Today, on the other hand, it seems to me that architecture is becoming an extraordinary collection of design objects which, parading before our eyes as buildings, inevitably go out of fashion within a few years. It seems to me that the architecture of today no longer has a theoretical, historical or critical basis. The new attitude seems to be that a project must appear as something unprecedented, something that has never been seen before. Obviously, every project must have a certain modernity about it, but it must be a modernity that accommodates the values and forms of thousands of years of building. 4) Do you believe in architecture competitions? Increasingly, architecture competitions are becoming characterised by the cultural uncertainty of many juries, who end up pinning their hopes on the trends of the moment without taking into account the relationship between their own transience and the permanence of the works that they select. It follows that competitions are becoming a real problem for architecture today, which confuses design with project, creativity with peculiarity, and formalism with form. Having said that, I believe in architecture competitions insofar as entering them, besides being a way to meet specific requirements, has become a pretext for conducting my own architectural research. I then always deploy this research, these experiments and experiences in the projects that I realise. 5) Alberto Savinio once wrote: “Architecture is reflected in time; the face of every era is reflected in its architecture; relations between time and architecture are similar to those between the sea and the sky. Why do we continue to say that architecture is an art?” Do you think that today’s architects are still capable of performing this public role? I think so, although it seems to me that today’s architecture sometimes serves the sole purpose of celebrating public triumphs or of imitating the behaviour of society, for example, of the avant-garde, who are constantly preoccupied with establishing a new cultural order. However, the purpose of critical theory is to construct buildings, and not merely to complain that they are impossibile.