Italian Design Day 2018 held at the Faculty of Architecture

Italian Design Day 2018, held for the second time in Belgrade, was organised at the Faculty of Architecture on the 1st March 2018. The initiative to mark this occasion was promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Italian Republic, in partnership with the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, the Milan Triennial, ICE – Italian Trade Agency, the Milan Furniture Fair, the Association for Industrial Design, “Compasso d’Oro” and “Altagamma” Foundations, with the intention of acknowledging outstanding Italian design as an important sector of Italian culture and economy, which generates an annual taxed income of about €32 billion.

A hundred Italian culture “ambassadors” participated in this initiative (designers, entrepreneurs, journalists, critics, communicators, educators…) and discussed the topic of “Broken Nature: Design Takes on Human Survival” in over a hundred cities all over the world.

On Thursday evening, 1st March 2018 to mark The Italian Design Day 2018 a round table discussion on the topic of contemporary design in architecture was organised by the Italian Embassy in Belgrade and the Italian Cultural Institute in Belgrade, in partnership with the Faculty of Architecture.

Mr. Sergio Monti, advisor and the Deputy Italian Ambassador in Serbia, on behalf of the organisers, and Professor Dr. Vladan Đokić, the Dean of the Faculty of Architecture in Belgrade, as the host, opened the meeting at the amphitheater in the Faculty of Architecture.

Architect Francesco Fresa from Piuarch studio in Milan, as an “Italian design ambassador”, architect Dr. Vladan Đokić, the Dean of the Faculty of Architecture in Belgrade, engineer Danilo Franchi from Energo-group, architect Tijana Đorđević, Building Automation architect at 2G Srl in Milan and architect Dr. Zoran Đukanović, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Architecture in Belgrade as a moderator, all took part presenting and discussing in the following lively and exciting debate.

Relying on their own experiences and different personal views, the participants discussed the relationship between design and sustainability in the social, environmental, technological and economic realms. The objective was to recognise the potential of architectural and urban design, with the help of contemporary technologies, to contribute to a higher regard for both nature and human beings.

In addition to the participants and a big audience at the amphitheatre, the event was also attended by members of the diplomatic missions: Matthias Claivaz, the first secretary at the Italian Embassy, director Davide Scalmani and cultural attaché Paola Cordone from the Italian Cultural Centre in Belgrade, Paolo Battinelli, science attaché, as well as Fabrizio Cosimi, from the Economic and Trade Department of the Italian Embassy. Various media also reported about this occasion.

At the end of the event, the participants and a large number of interested members of the audience continued discussing and socialising in the pleasant atmosphere of the cocktail party provided by the Italian Cultural Institute in Belgrade.

A Radio Television Serbia (RTS) story on the Italian Design Day 2018 at the Faculty of Architecture can be found here:

Selected photographs form the event (Photos by: Antonio Ahel):