Neighbours Vol. 7: Form of Life: An Anthropological Gaze on Architecture, Gianfranco Bombaci / TPOD, THEMA, HITAM
Event details
| Date | 11.03.2026 |
| Hour | 12:30 › 14:00 |
| Speaker | Gianfranco Bombaci |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | English |
ABSTRACT
Architecture organizes life, anthropology interprets practices, meanings, and social relations. The work of Gian Piero Frassinelli is emblematic of an anthropological perspective on architecture, understood as a cultural practice shaped by everyday life, labor, rituals, and modes of inhabitation. Emerging within the radical context of Superstudio, Frassinelli’s work helped redefine architecture not primarily as the production of buildings, but as a critical framework for understanding how human life is organized, represented, and imagined. Beginning with his thesis project, the Centre for Anthropological Studies in Florence, and continuing through subsequent research developed within Superstudio, such as The Twelve Ideal Cities and The Five Fundamental Acts, Frassinelli consistently sought a new foundation for architectural principles: less prescriptive, and more open to mediation with the needs and practices of real life. This trajectory remains highly relevant today: recent collaborations between Frassinelli and the Rome-based office 2A+P/A extend this perspective through contemporary research, curatorial practices, and pedagogical methods, investigating anthropology as a neighbouring discipline capable of challenging architectural assumptions and methodologies.
BIO
Gianfranco Bombaci is a PhD architect and academic. He is a founding partner of 2A+P/A Associates, an architectural practice based in Rome that works across a wide range of scales and programs, including public and private buildings, housing complexes, urban spaces, event pavilions, temporary installations, and interior design. Alongside professional practice, he advances his research through curatorial initiatives such as the architecture magazine San Rocco, of which he was a co-founder and member of the editorial board. He is also one of the curators of CAMPO, a space in Rome dedicated to debating, studying, and celebrating architecture. He has taught at numerous international schools and universities as a visiting lecturer and workshop leader. He is currently Head of the Design School at IED Rome, Associate Lecturer at the Royal College of Art, and Unit Master at the Architectural Association in London. His interest in anthropological approaches to architecture led him to curate the book Design e antropologia (Quodlibet, 2019) an anthology of texts by Gian Piero Frassinelli, former member of Superstudio.
Architecture organizes life, anthropology interprets practices, meanings, and social relations. The work of Gian Piero Frassinelli is emblematic of an anthropological perspective on architecture, understood as a cultural practice shaped by everyday life, labor, rituals, and modes of inhabitation. Emerging within the radical context of Superstudio, Frassinelli’s work helped redefine architecture not primarily as the production of buildings, but as a critical framework for understanding how human life is organized, represented, and imagined. Beginning with his thesis project, the Centre for Anthropological Studies in Florence, and continuing through subsequent research developed within Superstudio, such as The Twelve Ideal Cities and The Five Fundamental Acts, Frassinelli consistently sought a new foundation for architectural principles: less prescriptive, and more open to mediation with the needs and practices of real life. This trajectory remains highly relevant today: recent collaborations between Frassinelli and the Rome-based office 2A+P/A extend this perspective through contemporary research, curatorial practices, and pedagogical methods, investigating anthropology as a neighbouring discipline capable of challenging architectural assumptions and methodologies.
BIO
Gianfranco Bombaci is a PhD architect and academic. He is a founding partner of 2A+P/A Associates, an architectural practice based in Rome that works across a wide range of scales and programs, including public and private buildings, housing complexes, urban spaces, event pavilions, temporary installations, and interior design. Alongside professional practice, he advances his research through curatorial initiatives such as the architecture magazine San Rocco, of which he was a co-founder and member of the editorial board. He is also one of the curators of CAMPO, a space in Rome dedicated to debating, studying, and celebrating architecture. He has taught at numerous international schools and universities as a visiting lecturer and workshop leader. He is currently Head of the Design School at IED Rome, Associate Lecturer at the Royal College of Art, and Unit Master at the Architectural Association in London. His interest in anthropological approaches to architecture led him to curate the book Design e antropologia (Quodlibet, 2019) an anthology of texts by Gian Piero Frassinelli, former member of Superstudio.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Organizer
- TPOD; HITAM; THEMA