Imagining spaces for independent culture with thesis projects

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from February 21st to March 22nd, 2025

Limonaia di Villa Saroli, viale Stefano Franscini 8, Lugano

An exhibition showcasing the thesis projects of SUPSI's Bachelor of Arts in Interior Architecture 2024 kicks off in Lugano. Looks that question our heritage and its transformation: an exercise in design, but also an opportunity to reflect on protection and reuse.

Image: ©Chiara Bacciarini

Two years after the conclusion of the La Straordinaria - Tour Vagabonde experience, the Idra Association, together with numerous partners, presents the second round of the 10 100 1000 SPACES event. The activities that will be proposed in this second round of events are inspired by the principles of the Carta della Gerra, a programme document signed by more than 700 organisations in Ticino, which aims to open a constructive dialogue on culture as a tool for urban and social development.

How does one create a space, or better still, a network of spaces for independent culture? How can the public authority support and enhance the associative realities active in the territory? What importance do these realities have for the socio-cultural and economic fabric?

The exhibition and meetings that will be presented at Villa Saroli between Friday 21 February and Saturday 22 March 2025 aim to initiate a collective reflection to try to provide shared answers to all these questions.

In recent years, the need for permanent places for independent culture has emerged strongly. Not only venues for dissemination - which are indispensable to guarantee the enjoyment of artistic works and curatorial choices by the population - but also venues for production, where creative processes can develop with regularity and continuity. These venues not only represent an investment for the future of local culture or for the strengthening of a professional sector, but are also open, intergenerational and inclusive centres of aggregation, fundamental for social cohesion and accessibility, in line with the provisions of the Federal Message on Culture 2025-2028 and the 2024-2027 Cantonal Culture Policy Guidelines.
 
The activities are the result of the collaboration between the Idra Association, the Bachelor of Arts in Interior Architecture of SUPSI (Department of Environment Construction and Design) and the International Institute of Architecture, with the support of the City of Lugano and VSI-ASAI Swiss Association of Interior Architects. The meetings will be followed and streamed thanks to the contribution of RadioGwen.

The Exhibition
 

The Limonaia at Villa Saroli hosts the exhibition Spazio libero. A space for independent culture, presenting 14 projects from the 2024 theses of the SUPSI Bachelor of Arts in Interior Architecture.

The (now former) students were invited to imagine a space dedicated to independent culture in Lugano, with a specific focus on the historic building of the ARL-Autolinee regionali luganesi in Viganello, built in 1910 by architect Giuseppe Ferla and recently protected as a cultural asset.

The building represents one of the last examples of the city's industrial heritage, which is becoming increasingly rarefied due to urban changes and demolitions. Its transformation into a place for independent culture is a design exercise, but also an opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of protecting and reusing existing spaces, through the participation of citizens.

The vernissage will be held on Friday 21 February from 6 pm. Speakers at the event will include the Councillor of State and Director of the Department of Education, Culture and Sport Marina Carobbio Guscetti, the Deputy Mayor and Head of the Department of Culture, Sport and Events of the City of Lugano Roberto Badaracco, Ludovica Molo, Director of the International Institute of Architecture, Victoria Pham and Noah Sartori of the Idra Association, Pietro Vitali, Head of the Bachelor of Arts in Interior Architecture at SUPSI, and Michela Pagani, President of VSI. ASAI-Swiss Association of Interior Architects Italian-speaking Switzerland.

The exhibition is curated by Victoria Pham, scientific collaborator of the SUPSI Bachelor of Arts in Interior Architecture and member of the Idra Association, with the valuable contribution of the 2024 Bachelor graduates.

It will be on display until Saturday 22 March 2025 (Wednesday/Thursday/Friday 12pm-6pm, Saturday 2pm-6pm).

The projects on display are by graduates: Alessandro Botto, Greta Pologni Turri, Natan Riso, Letizia Milone, Matteo Natali, Selin Somaini, Sophie Meroni, Anita Crippa, Chiara Bacciarini, Claudia Caldera, Angela Zapata, Gabriele Mencaroni, Leandra Guretzki, Viola Lea Muller, under the guidance of architects Alessandro Scandurra, Nicolas Polli, Remo Derungs, Rolando Zuccolo and Subing Ben Torres.

Villa Saroli in Lugano will host a meeting on Saturday 1 March from 4 to 7 p.m. during which two socio-cultural projects that have emerged in recent years in Switzerland will be presented: Terrain Gurzelen in Biel/Biel and Caserne de la Poya in Fribourg. Through the analysis of these projects, it will be possible to take a closer look at a number of independent realities operating in medium-sized urban centres beyond the Gotthard, noting the social, cultural and economic impact they generate on their respective territories.

This moment will make it possible to analyse how these experiences are managed, what they present and produce within their spaces, how they finance themselves and what relations they have with the institutions and the local population. The presentation will be followed by a debate around the question: ‘A stadium in Bienne, a barracks in Fribourg: what about Lugano?’ and will be attended by some and some representatives of the independent scene, the Head of the Real Estate Department Raoul Ghisletta and the Head of Cultural Development Laura Brenni of the City of Lugano. The event will be moderated by RSI journalist Chiara Fanetti.

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On Saturday 8 March from 4 to 7 p.m., Villa Saroli will host a meeting entitled Cultura indipendente: quale risorsa per le nostre città? (Independent culture: what resource for our cities?), during which various independent projects that have sprung up in recent years in Italian-speaking Switzerland will be presented. This meeting will provide an opportunity to take a look at what exists, what spaces are inhabiting our territory today, what difficulties they are experiencing and in what contexts they have to operate.

With the contribution of the sociologist Sandro Cattacin and the researcher Ilenia Caleo, the importance that these realities have for our community will be investigated, how they enable social cohesion to be strengthened, cultural identity to be formed, and how they participate in guaranteeing a pluralism and socio-cultural dynamism in our territory. An attempt will be made to provide an answer to this and many other questions. The event will be moderated by RSI journalist Francesca Rodesino.

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