TOUTESTARCHITECTURE EVERYTHINGISARCHITECTURE

could go on listing other forms of lightness: there are at least ten others. One, in particular, is emerging with increasing force. The lightness of those people who want to move beyond the complications of technology, which promised us a simpler life but has actually complicated everything; those who want to break free from a world overpopulated by objects and shapes that are often useless; those attempting to get back in tune with nature by living in a healthier and less stressed world; those interested in rediscovering the simple things we have lost without becoming some sort of environmentalist cliche. This might easily be mistaken for a kind of trendiness that industry exploits by creating products that are increasingly light-weight, ecofriendly, smart and “green”. At the same time, however, this quest for lightness can generate some very interesting, cuttingedge and sophisticated architectural/design projects, especially in the feld of recycling and recovery. “Balance Architecture” seems to me to be moving skilfully within this framework. For example, by showing that a dusty old factory at Bicocca in Milan can become a poetic, relaxing space where new ways of working can be implemented. Where an old building structure can be transformed into an agile means of creating rhythmic spaces, in which pleasant materials and soft colours can be incorporated. As if to emphasise that it is, indeed, lightness that can help redesign the post-industrial world.

Luigi Prestinenza Puglisi

Per descrivere in tre parole i BALANCE ARCHITETTURA (ex BLA), basta parafrasare il titolo di un celebre flm, quello che nel 1994 lanciò Ben Stiller alla regia. Come i protagonisti, loro sono giovani e carini si, ma tutto fuorché disoccupati, anzi: attivi dal 2011, sono uno studio internazionale con base a Torino, al momento formato da Alberto Lessan, Jacopo Bracco, Giorgio Salza, Giulia Barbero, Alejandra Mora, Alp Arda, Anna Dziurych ed Eudes Margaria. L’età media dei progettisti è 34 anni: nonostante questo i BALANCE ARCHITETTURA hanno già partecipato a due Biennali – Venezia 2021 e Shenzhen 2022 – esposto e presentato i loro progetti a Milano, Venezia, Roma, Selinunte, Parigi, New York, Lubljiana, Tashkent e sono pubblicati sulle più importanti riviste nazionali e internazionali. Nel 2022 il Consiglio Nazionale degli Architetti CNAPPC ha assegnato loro il premio “Giovane Talento dell’Architettura Italiana 2022”.