“Melting pot”, a series of seminars promoted by the cultural association “Balàd” on urban regeneration Monday, April 23 meeting with the international studio MoDus Architects of Bressanone

Fourth appointment in Palermo with “Melting pot”, the cycle of international seminars on urban regeneration, held by ten architectural firms of as many countries in the world, who have a consular representation in Palermo.
The initiative is by the Balàd association, founded by architects Sebastiano Provenzano, Niuta Garretto, Cristina Calì, Alberto Cusumano, Marco Alesi, Liucija Berezanskyte and the lawyer Paolo Provenzano, in collaboration with the Ance Palermo, the Order of Architects of Palermo, the Consular Body of Palermo, and with the sponsorship of the culture of the Municipality, of the Cervantes Center and of the Honorary Consulate of Spain in Palermo.
Architects from all over the world recount their activity and illustrate their design idea for some districts in our city that are in a condition of particular deterioration.
Furthermore, the architects, on the basis of the photographic material provided, suggest  projects for “10 non-squares” in Palermo.

The initiative is sponsored by the industrial group Tradimalt Spa, a Sicilian company that produces technical building mortars. This is the fourth round of the “Melting pot” cycle: the first meeting, under the patronage of the Honorary Consulate of Cyprus in Palermo, was held on 18 July 2017 and was hosted by Yiorgos Hadjichristou, architect and professor of the University of Nicosia in Cyprus. The second held on October 24, 2017, under the patronage of the Honorary Consulate of Spain in Palermo, saw the participation of Luis Suarez Mansilla and Asier Santas Torres, architects and professors at the University of Navarra and owners of the Suarez Santas studio in Bilbao. At the third meeting the young architects of the JBMN studio were invited, one of the most promising companies on the French architectural scene (www.jbmn.eu).

MoDus Architects: Sandy Attia and Matteo Scagnol  founded MoDusArchitects in 2000 based in Bressanone. The studio has won important awards, among which the honorable mention to the Gold Medal Award at the Italian Architecture 2015 and in 2012, the first Oderzo prize in 2014, the first prize at the International 2013 Piranesi Award and the special prize of the jury for the Italian architect of the year 2013. The works were presented at three editions of the Venice Architecture Biennale below, and at the exhibition Architecture of the world at the Milan Triennale in 2012. In 2013 they were present with their design for the Maxxi Energy exhibition in Rome.

In recent years, the studio has completed a series of critically acclaimed buildings, including the Ponte di Ghiaccio Refuge in Lappago, the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Center in Bolzano, the Bressanone-Varna ring road, the Scholastic Center in the Firmian neighborhood in Bolzano, the Atelier Kostner in Castelrotto and the new headquarters and expansion of the Damiani Holz & Ko offices in Bressanone.

The Balàd association, born last year, takes its name from the Arabic word, from which derives the dialectal “Balata”, the stone block paved in the streets of the historic center of Palermo, as well as that of many other Mediterranean cities  Balàd aims to promote architectural culture and greater attention to urban quality.
As part of the Palermo Capital of Italian Culture 2018, the Association has promoted a series of initiatives for a public debate on the quality of architecture in Sicily and in Palermo in particular. Balàd has also founded the project “Mai più Bandita”, recently presented, and aimed at bringing to the attention of the community a part of the city for too long abandoned.

The appointment is for Monday, April 23, at 6 pm in the headquarters of the Ance of Palermo (Sala Florio of Palazzo Forcella De Seta, Foro Umberto I 21 / A). Guests of the seminar will be Matteo Scagnol and the American Sandy Attia, the founding architects of the international study MoDus Architects of Bressanone, gold medalist of the Italian architecture of 2015.
Together with the architects of MoDus, Sebastiano Provenzano, president of the Balàd association, will intervene; Franco Miceli, president of the Order of Architects of Palermo; Marco Alesi, vice president of the Balàd association.
Free admission.