Bologna-based architect Mario Cucinella is the force behind his eponymous practice, whose work is deeply rooted in sustainability and social responsibility. Its design for Santa Maria Goretti church in Italy recently won the World Architecture Festival’s prize for a completed religious building. Here, Cucinella tells us about his work and the most pressing issues facing the architecture industry today.
Are clients keen to understand what sustainability means or is it something that you have to educate them about?
It’s a little bit of both. Being more sustainable is a goal for many private and public clients. Awareness about ecology and sustainability in buildings and cities has grown significantly over the past 20 years. Clients don’t always know what sustainability means, however, so we help them to understand what it looks like in practice. Some people say that they want to construct a zero-energy building, for example, but that’s not possible. Instead, we try to design buildings that have less of an effect on the environment.
How do you reconcile the need to be conscious of the environment with the desire to build new things?
That’s a dilemma for any architect. An interesting solution is to repurpose existing buildings. Many structures constructed between the 1960s and 1980s were built very poorly, so there’s an opportunity to redesign them. It’s the most sustainable course of action: the architecture is already part of the city and all of the infrastructure is there. Much of being an architect is about finding a balance between renovating existing buildings and designing new ones because we need things such as schools and universities.
What excites you about the future of architecture?
I recently completed a project that I’m very proud of. It involved building three small structures in Brovary, a city close to Kyiv. This was not about the architecture but about the creation of a new community. The future of architecture is about making people happy.
For more from Cucinella, tune in to ‘Monocle on Design’ on Monocle Radio.
