Studio Details

Location
Milan, Italy

Date
16 June-27 June, 2025

Studio Directors in Milan
Maria Lisogorskaya (Partner, Assemble)
Alice Edgerley (Partner, Assemble)
Jaymi Sudra (Partner / Architect, Assemble)
Kaye Song (Partner / Architect, Assemble)
Anna Russell (Partner / Architectural Assistant, Assemble)

Studio Project
Seating / Stairs

Field Trips and Site Visits
Rice House (outside of Milan)
Historic walking tour of Milan
Studio visits to Studio Albori and baukuh + other trips tbc.

Studio Project

In the face of the climate emergency, where buildings contribute to 39 percent of global energy-related carbon emissions (28 percent from operational emissions and 11 percent from materials and construction), we must rethink how and why we build. Should we build nothing new, or is there a way to construct responsibly? How do we do more with less?

As historian Irenée Scalbert writes, “To be born is to be shipwrecked in nature, and our happiness, our existence even, depends on the wisdom of our ecology”. This workshop explores a bio-regional approach to construction, offering a regenerative alternative to carbon-intensive industry standards.Through the reintegration of architecture with landscape and agriculture to create structures deeply rooted in place, we will investigate the potential for a construction system that is both ecologically and socially just.
By visiting regional manufacturers, material producers, and vernacular buildings in Milan and the surrounding area, we will examine how local materials and craft – often efficient and resourceful – can inform contemporary construction. Our interest in longevity, tradition, and long-standing patterns of construction is not to create nostalgic or pastiche architecture but about understanding how historical knowledge can inspire sustainable futures.

Through site visits, material experimentation, and model-making, students will develop imaginative, playful, and conceptually rigorous proposals that challenge conventional approaches to material, construction, and tectonics. This is an opportunity to explore how architecture can be both innovative and grounded, drawing from the past to create meaningful, contextually rich responses to the urgent challenges of our time.

Assemble is a London-based organisation who design and make buildings, artworks, gardens, playgrounds, furniture, exhibitions and events. We develop business plans, project strategies and create organisations. We design, construct and manage workspaces. We curate, teach, write books, publish research and lecture publicly. Each of these activities form an interconnected, award winning body of work. Assemble uses design as a tool to respond to the environmental, social and economic challenges we face today. We believe that built examples along with critical reflection are the most effective means to have a positive impact.

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Internships

Students accepted into the Assemble Studio at Venice Studio may be considered for available internship or job opportunities at Assemble. Selection of candidates is at the sole discretion of the studio directors and Assemble. Places are not guaranteed.

Program Information

Learn more about the program, inc., the application process and pricing here →