For the 40th anniversary of its foundation, the studio opens its new headquarters and presents its first monograph
26 November 2024 - Open Project inaugurates its new headquarters in Bologna, after completing a major restyling that lasted a year. A relocation of headquarters that is not intended to be a point of arrival but a stage in the evolutionary path and continuous growth that has accompanied the firm for four decades and that falls precisely in the year of the celebration of 40 years since its foundation.
For Open Project, the headquarters in via Dolfi is not only its new headquarters but also a place where talents in the fields of design, art and innovation can meet. Events, exhibitions and talks are planned for 2025, which will make the new headquarters a creative hub, where it will be possible to continue the path of confrontation and crossing different disciplines that began in 2024 with the meetings of ‘For someone it can be space’, with the aim of expressing a transversal and multiple thought on the current reality and the challenges that the future holds.
OFFICE OPENING AND PRESENTATION OF THE FIRST MONOGRAPH
On 22 November, the opening of the new offices was held with a studio visit dedicated to journalists.
This was followed by a talk moderated by Prof. Aldo Norsa, during which the studio's first monograph entitled ‘Imagining, Designing, Building’ was presented, published by Danilo Montanari Editore and available in selected bookshops.
Together with Maurizio Piolanti and Francesco Conserva, respectively President and Vice-President of Open Project, and the authors of the book, Maria Beatrice Bettazzi and Piero Orlandi, the four-decade-long path was traced, which has led the firm, from the time of its foundation by Silvio Antonio Manfredini and Romano Piolanti to today, to be among the leading names in architecture and engineering in Italy, thanks to its modus operandi, the strength of a large and multidisciplinary team of over 50 professionals, and an open approach to research and innovation.
During the talk, the great focus on research and sustainability was emphasised, which has allowed the firm to be a forerunner in the use of technical tools and pioneering results, and to have to its credit some of the first realisations in Italy with international certification.
THE PHOTO EXHIBITION
On the occasion of the inauguration of the new headquarters, the photographic exhibition ‘Frames of Identity: 40 Years of Architecture’ was also presented, bringing together some of the most iconic images of Open Project's work.
The large central hall on the second floor of the new headquarters has been set up with an exhibition of author's photographs, each of which gives a new point of view of the studio's most representative projects, realised over four decades, which have created a new identity for the neighbourhood and the city in which they are inserted, grafting themselves onto the urban skyline, of which they are now a fundamental part and element of recognition.
On display are photographs by Giacomo Albo, Andrea Brintazzoli, Luca Capuano, Daniele Domenicali, Juergen Eheim, Open Project, Beppe Raso, Vincenzo Ruocco and Ingrid Taro.
Not only photography. Accompanying the group exhibition with the photographers' shots are also the art and graphic design works of Cesare Lavel Francia with his “Torre Unipol”, Paolo Ventura with “La Torre” and Francesco Amura, in art Creating Monkey, with “The Bologneser No94” as well as renderings by Studio Engram. With ‘Frames of Identity: 40 Years of Architecture’ Open Project also inaugurates the new premises as a space open to exhibitions and cultural events, confirming its desire to make the new premises a meeting point and creative hub open to the city.
The exhibition is open to the public from 25 November until 28 February every day from Monday to Friday from 10 am to 5 pm.
Links to other related news
Per qualcuno può essere lo spazio
https://www.openproject.it/en/news/per-qualcuno-puo-essere-lo-spazio
First event
https://www.openproject.it/en/news/per-qualcuno-puo-essere-lo-spazio-primo-appuntamento
Second event
https://www.openproject.it/en/news/per-qualcuno-pu-essere-lo-spazio
Third event
https://www.openproject.it/en/news/per-qualcuno-pu-essere-lo-spazio-terzo-appuntamento