architecture - FULL | the Future Urban Legacy Lab

Post-office turn

Lucio Beltrami — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 10:00:42 +0000

Since 2020, the rapid expansion of remote and hybrid work has profoundly reshaped office markets worldwide, accelerating vacancy trends and compelling cities to rethink the role of central business districts. The decline of demand for traditional workspaces intersects with growing pressures on housing supply and evolving environmental commitments, prompting renewed interest in adaptive reuse as a strategic tool for urban transformation.
Northern Italy — particularly the metropolitan regions of Milan and Turin — mirrors these global dynamics while exhibiting specific territorial trajectories. Both cities display increasing segments of underused office stock, much of it built between the 1960s and 1990s and now struggling to respond to contemporary spatial, environmental, and technological requirements. At the same time, housing demand continues to rise, intensifying the mismatch between unused commercial surfaces and unmet residential needs.

Post-Office Turn investigates how work digitalization is reshaping the urban and architectural landscapes of Milan and Turin. The research combines urban-scale analysis with building-scale observation to understand the transformative potential of the ordinary office stock. It integrates mapping, morphological study, policy analysis, and design-based inquiry to explore how existing buildings can “learn” to become residential or hybrid spaces in response to structural shifts in work patterns. By framing adaptive reuse as both an environmental necessity and an opportunity for low-carbon urban regeneration, the project aims to contribute to contemporary debates on the future of cities and the sustainable reactivation of their built legacies.

Aims and Objectives

This research focuses on the adaptive reuse of ordinary buildings, with particular attention to office stock as a key site of transition in cities undergoing economic, social, and environmental transformation. Vacancy, obsolescence, and changing work practices make office buildings a crucial testing ground for contemporary reuse strategies.
The project investigates emptiness as both a physical condition (vacant surfaces, underperforming structures) and a systemic condition (changes in labour, policies, governance, and markets). It examines how reuse practices unfold across different scales and how design, policy, and environmental knowledge interact in shaping new transformation pathways.

Objectives:

Detect and analyze spatial patterns of vacancy in office building stocks in Italy, with a specific focus on Turin and Milan.
Document reuse and conversion practices, identifying technical, social, economic, and regulatory drivers in a comparative perspective.
Connect architectural transformation with urban governance, planning frameworks, and collaborative design processes.
Assess the environmental, social, and economic implications of reuse, with particular attention to embodied carbon, material cycles, and lifecycle performance.

Methods

The project employs a multilayered comparative framework, integrating different forms of knowledge production and representation:

Urban data analysis to detect vacancy patterns and characterize office stocks at multiple scales.
GIS mapping to visualize spatial distributions, morphological structures, and transformation potentials.
On-site fieldwork to document architectural conditions, ongoing interventions, and local practices.
Comparative architectural redrawing, focusing on typology, depth, façade systems, circulation, and spatial adaptability.
Historical and policy research linking macro-urban narratives with building-scale transformations.
Environmental and energy analysis, assessing embodied carbon and lifecycle implications.
Design-based inquiry to explore adaptive reuse strategies and prototype transformation scenarios.

The methodology builds upon the Manhattan pilot study developed for the 14th São Paulo Biennale (2024–2025), which tested mapping protocols, analytical tools, and documentation methods. The Italian study will:

Test the transferability of these tools to metropolitan regions characterized by different governance structures, building stocks, and regulatory conditions.
Challenge and refine the methodology, producing a context-sensitive framework adaptable to diverse urban legacies.

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Energy poverty in the private building stock in Turin

Lucio Beltrami — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 08:56:30 +0000

The complex European challenge linked to the energy transition requires a profound change in the conception of current energy systems, which still preserve a strong dependence
on fossil fuels, with both economic and social implications. The new Energy Performance of Buildings Directive EPBD 2018/844/EU aims to improve the quality and energy performance of existing buildings not only through technological upgrading but also by addressing the issue
of energy poverty, i.e., helping people to cope with energy costs and access new technologies.
In this context, the research project “Poor us: the energy poverty of Italian households” considers energy poverty from the perspective of the built environment, exploring the relationships between the behavior of inhabitants and the characteristics of their homes. The aim is to measure energy poverty in a private building case study using an interdisciplinary methodological approach that combines perspectives from architecture, energy engineering, and geography in order to suggest integrated and adaptable transformation prospects. The experiment was carried out through a real case study (a multi-story residential building located in Turin), which made it possible to analyze the complex system of relationships between habits, consumption, and the environment through the collection of energy and building data.
The results of the study show that energy poverty is a complex phenomenon that cannot be reduced to a single factor, but rather involves a series of interrelated variables.

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Interfaces in Alta Langa vol.2

Lucio Beltrami — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 16:17:42 +0000

Interfaces in Alta Langa narrates the journey of 43 students from 20 countries who explored the complex dynamics of the area, stretching from Pedaggera to the Bassa Valle Tanaro. Their perspective addresses issues of local interest and global urgency. Through maps, drawings, and models, the exhibition highlights the potential of Camerana, Paroldo, Sale San Giovanni, Torresina, and Igliano, offering an “eccentric” point of view on strategies and projects designed to prompt the public to reflect on a different productive, collective, and ecological dimension of local networks.

Exhibition curated by Francesca Frassoldati and Paolo Bianco.

AN INITIATIVE BY:
DAD Department of Architecture and Design
DIST Interuniversity Department of Sciences, Projects, and Policies of the Territory
FULL Future Urban Legacy Lab
WITH THE SUPPORT OF:
Municipality of Camerana
Municipality of Paroldo
WITH THE SUPPORT OF:
Alta Langa Cultural Park Association
Boschetto Alta Langa
MAIN SPONSOR:
Fedrigoni Paper

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Interfaces in Alta Langa – second part

Lucio Beltrami — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 13:06:00 +0000

In the design study, held between October 2023 and February 2024, students of 16 different nationalities reflected on the future prospects of five municipalities along the Pedaggera: Sale Langhe, Murazzano, Belvedere Langhe, Dogliani and Monchiero. In this territory, which stretches between Alta and Bassa Langa, they examined production dynamics, the transformation of services and public transport, depopulation, the effects of the environmental crisis and territorial fragility. The students had the opportunity to discover slow tourism, meet young producers engaged in low environmental impact agriculture and learn about initiatives aimed at welcoming and integrating seasonal workers and new families within territorial networks. From these analyses 11 design proposals for buildings and public spaces have emerged, which while not representing definitive solutions, can be tools for exploring the limits and potential of the territory, with the aim of stimulating a shared reflection in the community of citizens and local administrators.

The event will be divided into two moments: maps, drawings and models will introduce the design proposals to the public, while a seminar for discussion and comparison will allow the reflections to be returned to the people who welcomed students and teachers in October during the preparation of the “Interfaces” workshop: Mayors, municipal technicians, local producers, new and old residents.

Inauguration:
Tuesday 25 June 2024
Primary School, Sale delle Langhe (CN)
5 p.m.

On this occasion teachers and students will be available to the public to talk about their projects and the experience of the design studio. Admission to the exhibition is free.

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RITUALS/MATERIALS

Lucio Beltrami — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 14:29:00 +0000

From April 18th to May 3rd, 2024, at the Stanza Verde of Castello del Valentino, in the framework of Biennale Tecnologia, Politecnico di Torino hosts the exhibition RITUALS / MATERIALS curated by Eleonora D’Alessandro with Giulia Massenz and Daniele Campobenedetto. This event offers an opportunity to reflect on the coexistence of diverse religious communities in contemporary cities.

A dense sequence of images and videos – realized by KUEHN MALVEZZI, ARMIN LINKE, Claudia Professione, and Greta Valentinotti – composes a site-specific installation aimed at narrating the genesis and design process of the House of One, a multi-faith building designed by KUEHN MALVEZZI, currently under construction in Berlin. Starting from this case study, which stands as an iconic example of inclusivity, the exhibition aims to explore the role of architecture in promoting interfaith dialogue and fostering encounters between cultures in an era marked by significant global challenges. Set up in the evocative Stanza Verde, currently undergoing restoration, the installation invites visitors to immerse themselves in the project and the ideation process of the House of One, through a journey that invites to rethink ways of coexistence in urban spaces.

The exhibition, supported by Fondazione CRT, together with the Department of Architecture and Design of Politecnico di Torino, and the Inter-university Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning of Politecnico di Torino and University of Turin, with the patronage of the City of Turin, Comitato Interfedi, and Centro Interculturale, represents the second stage of a process started in Rome in June 2023, at the former Mattatoio di Testaccio, Department of Architecture (Roma Tre).

In its Turin edition, the initiative includes an extensive program of collateral activities devised in collaboration with Biblioteche Civiche di Torino, Rete delle Case del Quartiere, Benvenuti in Italia Foundation, and Orme Cultural Association, aiming to stimulate active debates on the themes of dialogue and peace in the territory.

House of One

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INTERFACES IN ALTA LANGA

Lucio Beltrami — Sat, 10 Feb 2024 14:01:00 +0000

In the design studio, held between October 2023 and February 2024, students of 16 different nationalities reflected on the future prospects of five municipalities along the Pedaggera: Sale Langhe, Murazzano, Belvedere Langhe, Dogliani and Monchiero. In this territory, which stretches between Alta and Bassa Langa, they examined production dynamics, the transformation of services and public transport, depopulation, the effects of the environmental crisis and territorial fragility. The students had the opportunity to discover slow tourism, meet young producers engaged in low environmental impact agriculture and learn about initiatives aimed at welcoming and integrating seasonal workers and new families within territorial networks. From these analyses 11 design proposals for buildings and public spaces have emerged, which while not representing definitive solutions, can be tools for exploring the limits and potential of the territory, with the aim of stimulating a shared reflection in the community of citizens and local administrators.

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Wastescapes

Lucio Beltrami — Sat, 03 Feb 2024 14:57:00 +0000

Challenge@PoliTo_by Firms is an innovative teaching activity carried out at the Politecnico di Torino. It is an integral part of PoliTo’s strategy to promote innovative education and entrepreneurial culture.
These activities are organized with external firms that provide a “challenge” coming from their real business. During the experience, up to 30 master’s students divided into teams work, compete and develop their own solutions.

Challenge@PoliTo by Firms – Azzurra

The Topic

The construction and subsequent management of new treatment plants for industrial waste is a process that challenges the local contexts with a number of environmental, spatial and socio-economic repercussions, including the infrastructural networks, the landscape characters, the relations with the local communities, etc.

The challenge

The purpose of this challenge is planning the future expansion of an existing facility treating hazardous and non-hazardous industrial waste, starting from the company’s current strategic development plan. The new expansion will be specifically devoted to the treatment of sludge. The project must include the logistic plan inside and outside the plant, the selection and design of equipment, taking into account the operations to be carried out on sludge (inertization, drying, thermal treatment), the assessment of the most critical aspects in order to obtain the necessary permits and authorizations, a preliminary calculation of the costs and revenues of the project.

Specific attention will be paid to the urban and landscape outcomes of the operation. The challenge, from this point of view, is to conceive a new model of facility that could be seen not just as an unavoidably downgrading installation for the local territory but, on the contrary, as an opportunity to introduce new models of hybridization and symbiosis between waste treatment plants, agriculture, energy generation and local community.

Key objectives:

• Minimize the potential harm associated with waste treatment;

• Ensure the best integration between the waste treatment plant and the surrounding territory;

• Circular economy, Industrial symbiosis;

• Safe handling, storage and disposal

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A model of regeneration for inland areas: Castel Del Giudice

Lucio Beltrami — Tue, 12 Sep 2023 11:07:00 +0000

Starting from the allocation of the funding of the PNRR-Borghi line A call, Castel del Giudice (Isernia province) becomes a real laboratory to implement an integrated regeneration strategy, which aims at the repopulation of the village and the activation of functions for a new habitability in the inland areas. The FULL team is part of a pool of universities (UniMol, Sapienza, University of L’Aquila) to support the strategy and transformation interventions.

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LANDSCAPES OF THE FUTURE. The Agrovoltaic Park of Borgo Monteruga

Lucio Beltrami — Fri, 07 Jul 2023 14:25:00 +0000

Since the Xylella Fastidiosa epidemic disaster, in Salento in 2013, the landscape of this region has undergone a sudden change. The death of thousands of olive trees and the consequent abandonment of farmland has rendered the established features of the landscape completely unrecognisable. Today, Borgo Monteruga appears as a barren, uncultivated land. The olive trees that for hundreds of years had shaped its landscape, are today fallen and scattered over the territory.

Monteruga is an agricultural village and is characterized by the presence of two key components. The first is the natural one, even if tamed by man. The second is the building sector, conceived at the service of agricultural production. The research project analyses the conversion scenario of this landscape in the context of integrating the agricultural vocation of this landscape, the production of energy with photovoltaic systems, and the reactivation of the heritage of the historical village.

Riabitate Monteruga considers that the Apulian agricultural landscape comprises agrarian patterns and images. Each can be traced back to specific agricultural pieces that spontaneously determine a productive and diversified landscape when mixed.

Re-inhabit Monteruga is structured in 3 distinct but contextual actions

- restore = reactivate olive production to restore the economies of olive growing and the images associated with it;
- integrate agricultural production to produce a sustainable landscape with variable densities
- compensate = activate integration with the economic and socio-cultural system present in the area

Each project action is articulated by identifying an abacus of basic production blocks,100 x 100 meters in size, and infrastructural devices.

The overlapping and juxtaposition of identified pieces and devices draw the new landscape of Monteruga conceived in relation to its tangible and intangible components. Re-inhabit Monteruga is possible through the synergy of these 3 actions.

Intervene, interfere, create alliances, and become part of something that changes as we understand it: re-inhabiting Monteruga does not mean bringing the agricultural village back to its origins but, starting from the interpretation of its potential, imagining a new balance.

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Health facilities in low resources and/or remote locations

Lucio Beltrami — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 14:33:00 +0000

The collaboration that FULL started in 2020 with WHO proved an ongoing source of research on facilities and best practices for dealing with health issues in remote areas or low-resource contexts. Here we show a summary of five initiatives carried out also with UCREPP, World Food Program, and UNHRD Innovation Lab.

Severe Acute Respiratory Infections Treatment Centre – Dori, Burkina Faso

The project focused on the passive design for an infectious diseases treatment centre. The aim of this project is to deliver three high quality health facilities to respond to infectious diseases in a low resource context. To respond to this challenge, the role of passive and human centred design is critical.

YEAR
2020-2022

ACTORS
WHO, FULL, Technè, Polytechnic University of Bobo-Dioulasso

Nigra, M., Simonetti, M., Galleano, L., Serale, G. (2022). Natural Ventilation as Sustainable Response to Covid-19: Designing an Airborne Disease Treatment Centre in Burkina Faso, PLEA2022 SANTIAGO, Will Cities Survive? November 23-25, 2022
Nigra, M., Simonetti, M., Galleano, L., Gentile, V. (2022). Designing Health Structure in Emergency Contexts. Natural Ventilation as Response to COVID-19 Pandemic. Comfort at the Extremes 2022, 5-6 September 2022, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Nigra, M., Binda, T., Silenzi, A., Di Marco, M., Galleano, L. (2023). Passive Design Approach for an Infectious Diseases Treatment Centres in the Global South: A Possible Methodology, Architectural Engineering and Design Management (under review).

Three Treatment Centers in Uganda

The project focused on the passive design for an infectious diseases treatment centre. This project aims to deliver three high-quality health facilities to respond to infectious diseases in a low resources context. To respond to this challenge, the role of passive and human-centred design is critical.

YEAR
2022-2024

ACTORS
WHO, FULL, UCREPP (The Uganda COVID-19 Response and Emergency Preparedness Project)

High Performance Tents – A Ventilation Study

This study analyses the ventilation performance of the High Performance Tent product. The study aims at testing the compliance of the tent with the infection prevention control requirements for airborne diseases set by the World Health Organization.

YEAR
2020-2021

ACTORS
WHO, FULL

Research Output

1- Nigra, M., Simonetti, M., Galleano, L., Gentile, V. (2022). Designing Health Structure in Emergency Contexts. Natural Ventilation as Response to COVID-19 Pandemic. Comfort at the Extremes 2022, 5-6 September 2022, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Infectious Disease Treatment Module (IDTM) – INITIATE2

INITIATE² is an initiative to provide the most advanced level of medical care available at the outset of an outbreak of an infectious disease by:

• providing a rapid deployable, easily transportable, extendable, self-contained and self-sufficient treatment centre for infectious diseases that can be used as a standalone solution, but which can also integrate sustainably into on-site health services;

• reducing the time needed to open an infectious disease treatment centre in order to enhance the first containment phase and reduce possible outbreaks spreading; and

• ensuring standardization across emergency actors in order to offer to patients the same quality of care, comfort and IPC standards.

YEAR
2022-2024

ACTORS
WHO, FULL, World Food Program, UNHRD Innovation Lab

Unit for Maternity Aid – UMA

The objective of this research is the development and testing of a prototype for a mobile unit to assist maternity experience from the pre-natal phase, during delivery and to post-natal period, based on a highly digitalised exchange of real-time information between the unit and the major health facilities existing on the territory. The unit will need to be operative off-grid and deployable in remote locations, able to respond to any infectious diseases irrespective of the mode of transmission, and provide a high standard of care for women, newborn, and families during maternity.

YEAR
2022-2024

ACTORS
WHO, FULL, World Food Program, UNHRD Innovation Lab

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