School Lecture Series: Arduino Cantàfora, Luca Ortelli / EPFL Architecture
Event details
| Date | 17.03.2026 |
| Hour | 18:30 › 20:00 |
| Speaker | Arduino Cantàfora, Luca Ortelli |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | French, English |
ARDUINO CANTÀFORA, LUCA ORTELLI
An Education in the Real, L’Atelier Cantàfora
An Education in the Real, L’atelier Cantàfora, is an exhibition devoted to the pedagogical legacy of Arduino Cantàfora, a Milanese painter, writer, and professor of Architectural Drawing at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. It presents hundreds of painted wooden panels produced by students between 1992 and 1996, depicting urban façades in Geneva and Lausanne at a 1:5 scale, alongside rigorous exercises such as steam locomotives, enlarged beetles, and anatomically precise skeletons. The exhibition affirms Cantàfora’s belief in analogue representation as foundational architectural knowledge. A public discussion between Arduino Cantàfora and Luca Ortelli will be introduced by Nicola Braghieri.
Arduino Cantàfora, a Milanese architect, artist, scenographer and writer, taught for more than twenty years, from 1989 to 2011, at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), where he taught architecture students the theory and techniques of drawing as well as art history.
Luca Ortelli is an architect. A professor at EPFL from 1996 to 2021, he taught architectural design and theory, headed the Architecture Section and Institute, developed an intensive critical and editorial activity, and conducted an independent professional practice in architecture, affirming an intellectual and disciplinary conception of architecture.
This lecture is part of the School Lecture Series
COMMUNITY VOL.2
Seven exemplary projects and case studies
Community is an ambivalent concept. It involves both gathering through shared customs and exclusion. Some claim that inclusive communities do not exist. Recent history shows people more often unite through exclusion than inclusion. However, communities are not sealed. Philosopher Roberto Esposito explains that community ‘is not a property or territory to defend but a void, a debt, and a gift to others’, reminding us of our otherness.
This lecture series explores the topic of community through architecture. How does architecture explore, define, or enable communities? Can architects collaborate directly with communities, bypassing institutional entities? How can design convey a collective experience? Seven emerging and established architectural figures respond to these questions through their work, which spans film, exhibitions, and communitarian buildings.
Save the dates and join us on Tuesday evenings!
An Education in the Real, L’Atelier Cantàfora
An Education in the Real, L’atelier Cantàfora, is an exhibition devoted to the pedagogical legacy of Arduino Cantàfora, a Milanese painter, writer, and professor of Architectural Drawing at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. It presents hundreds of painted wooden panels produced by students between 1992 and 1996, depicting urban façades in Geneva and Lausanne at a 1:5 scale, alongside rigorous exercises such as steam locomotives, enlarged beetles, and anatomically precise skeletons. The exhibition affirms Cantàfora’s belief in analogue representation as foundational architectural knowledge. A public discussion between Arduino Cantàfora and Luca Ortelli will be introduced by Nicola Braghieri.
Arduino Cantàfora, a Milanese architect, artist, scenographer and writer, taught for more than twenty years, from 1989 to 2011, at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), where he taught architecture students the theory and techniques of drawing as well as art history.
Luca Ortelli is an architect. A professor at EPFL from 1996 to 2021, he taught architectural design and theory, headed the Architecture Section and Institute, developed an intensive critical and editorial activity, and conducted an independent professional practice in architecture, affirming an intellectual and disciplinary conception of architecture.
This lecture is part of the School Lecture Series
COMMUNITY VOL.2
Seven exemplary projects and case studies
Community is an ambivalent concept. It involves both gathering through shared customs and exclusion. Some claim that inclusive communities do not exist. Recent history shows people more often unite through exclusion than inclusion. However, communities are not sealed. Philosopher Roberto Esposito explains that community ‘is not a property or territory to defend but a void, a debt, and a gift to others’, reminding us of our otherness.
This lecture series explores the topic of community through architecture. How does architecture explore, define, or enable communities? Can architects collaborate directly with communities, bypassing institutional entities? How can design convey a collective experience? Seven emerging and established architectural figures respond to these questions through their work, which spans film, exhibitions, and communitarian buildings.
Save the dates and join us on Tuesday evenings!
Practical information
- General public
- Free