With the Open! Open Studios event, architecture transcends its traditional spaces to become a place for encounter, reflection, and community in the heart of public spaces. The Order of Architects, Planners, and Professionals of Cagliari and its province is organizing two days of exhibitions, talks, virtual reality immersions, music, and moments of conviviality and interaction with the city, tomorrow , Friday, October 16th, and Saturday, October 17th, at Parco Nervi.
Starting at 4 pm, twenty-six local architectural studios will present their works with a collective exhibition set up along the external ribs of the pavilion, enriched by models, interactive panels, installations and stations with viewers for virtual tours dedicated to the rural churches of Sardinia restored with PNRR funds and to innovative projects.
This year's theme, shared architecture, is a way of conceiving design and space not as an isolated act, but as a collective process grounded in participation, dialogue, and community engagement. "We want to rediscover the profound value of shared architecture, transforming workplaces into spaces for encounters and authentic dialogue with citizens, so that design can once again become a collective and interdisciplinary process rooted in the real needs of our region," explains Marcello Pilia, president of the Cagliari Order of Architects.
Tomorrow's program will begin at 4:00 PM with the exhibition opening, followed by greetings and institutional presentations. At 5:30 PM, the "Dialogues on Architecture" talk will begin, a moment of discussion focused on crucial issues in the field: from the contribution of environmental and architectural psychology to the design of accessible public spaces for the deaf, to examples of shared architecture supported by National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) funds for the enhancement of rural landscapes. The meeting will continue with the presentation of the Campus Iscol@ project for the creation of innovative and inclusive school environments, a focus on social housing and European and regional housing policies, and will conclude with an overview of the ideas competition dedicated to the redevelopment and repurposing of the former San Sebastiano prison in Sassari.
At the conclusion of the talk, the Order will award four special recognitions to professionals who have distinguished themselves for the excellence of their careers, achieving prestigious milestones and significantly contributing to the value and prestige of the profession. They will receive the work "La sospesa di Cagliari" by ceramist Augusto Mola, who was also present at the event.
From 7:30 pm, there will be a convivial aperitif accompanied by live music by Nicola Agus, while starting at 8:30 pm, the Nervi Pavilion will host a live videomapping performance by visual artist Federico Zoccheddu for Enlight and a videomapping dedicated to architecture by designer Mara Damiani.
Saturday will resume at 4:30 pm with the opening of the exhibition, the presentation of the participating architecture studios, and the opportunity to explore the Salt Pavilion, currently closed to the public, via an immersive virtual tour starting at 6:30 pm, and concluding with an aperitif and the second evening of video mapping and DJ sets until midnight.
THE SPEAKERS OF THE CONFERENCE
Marcello Pilia – President of the Order of Architects, PPC - institutional greetings
Silvana Pellerino – Open! CNA Representative: Institutional Greetings
Laura Zanini and Carla Pes – Councillor of the Order of Architects, PPC: moderators of the talk "Dialogues on Architecture"
Ferdinando Fornara – Full Professor of Environmental and Architectural Psychology at the University of Cagliari
Marina Fanari – Researcher: Public spaces dedicated to deaf people.
Elisabetta Pani and Maria Caterina Meloni—the former an architect and director of the service, the latter an official at the Regional Department of Culture, Directorate of Cultural Heritage—will illustrate some examples of shared architecture funded by the PNRR for the enhancement of architecture and the rural landscape.
Matteo Frate – Head of the Iscol@ Unit of the Regional Department of Public Education: presentation of the Campus Iscol@ project for the creation of innovative and inclusive learning spaces.
Sara Podda and Valentina Congiu – Engineers and officials at the RAS Regional Programming Center: social housing, European and regional policies, and future prospects.
Gianluca Palla – Regional Director of the State Property Agency: Competition for ideas for the redevelopment and repurposing of the former San Sebastiano Prison in Sassari.
Silvio Persico – Technical Area Officer of the State Property Agency: Competition for ideas for the redevelopment and repurposing of the former San Sebastiano Prison in Sassari.
FIRMS AND ARCHITECTS WHO WILL RECEIVE "THE SUSPENSION OF CAGLIARI"
The team composed of Francesco Cocco, Francesca Raimondi, and Dora Uricchio received an Honorable Mention at the UIA's Friendly and Inclusive Spaces Awards 2026, presented at the World Congress of Architects in Barcelona, for their project to improve the usability of the Quartu Sant'Elena Municipal Library.
Studio Inhori, for the important third place it achieved at the City'sscape Award 2026, in the category dedicated to slow mobility and the quality of the urban landscape, with its landscape redevelopment and safety project of the coastal road between Torre di Barì and Bucca 'e Strumpu, Barisardo.
Jari Franceschetto, winner of the Best of the Best award at the Seoul Design Award with his Suber Design project, which transforms recycled cork into sustainable furniture.
Award for the lifetime achievement and memory of architect Giovanni Maria Campus. A passage written by his son, Enrico Campus, will be read, describing the architect, so dear to the city of Cagliari.
