Building Green Futures, a new book by Mario Cucinella Architects

Press release

Building Green Futures, a new book by Mario Cucinella Architects

Published by Forma Edizioni and curated by Anna Mainoli, the new book contains a conversation with Stefano Mancuso and will be in bookstores on June 19^th, it is already available online*.

Bologna, June 18th, 2020 – “Our response to the environmental implications of building design cannot rely exclusively on technology, but must instead be founded on an urgently needed new humanistic vision.”  Going through the pages of this new book, Mario Cucinella invites us to reflect on the future of architecture by taking a journey through the history of humanity and, thanks to the precious contribution of Professor Stefano Mancuso, trough the surprising realities of the plant world.

The volume investigates, through a collection of the most recent projects and the most representative architectures of MC A studio, the possible answers that architecture can provide towards the global challenges of the present and near future.

Every project tells a story that is the result of empathy with climate, places, history, and communities and is  described in this publication through a metaphorical dialogue between architecture and the plant world. The book represents the expression of the firm collective intelligence.

Each architecture is illustrated through images, drawings, and thematic insights that allow various levels of reading, to address a broad audience of readers sensitive to architecture as a form of culture and public heritage.

«Cucinella views the overthrow of the widespread idea that some technological inventions will save us from our environmental problems as part of a necessary view of sustainability as a humanistic issue, the complexities of which must not be trivialized by reducing them to a merely technical aspect. […]  And, in a world in which everything is made simple, including communication, it may appear paradoxical to talk of cultural complexity, and of the need to make an enormous effort to decipher a complex phenomenon like nature [… ].  What science is discovering about the complex, interdependent workings of plant systems can teach us an important lesson also for design processes. If it is viewed in terms of the interconnections between different areas of expertise [… ] that can constitute a rewarding approach to environmental issues in architecture. The implementation of this shift requires an unprecedented cultural effort, but it has deep roots in the history of humanity» explains the curator Anna Mainoli.

«Soon the need for newly built spaces, and the resources needed to create them, will become some of the crucial issues we shall need to tackle. But where are we going to find the resources to do this and the energy needed to maintain these buildings?… These objectives require a paradigm shift in terms of design and construction, which can only be achieved by putting into practice an authentic “re(e)volution”» says Mario Cucinella.

The book will be presented through some videos and webinar dialogues with the contributors.

*the English version can be purchased on the publishing company website.

• Book Concept
• Mario Cucinella
• Valentina Torrente
• Lin Liu

• Edited for MC A by
• Mario Cucinella
• Valentina Torrente

• Graphic Design
• Pierluigi Cerri Studio
• con Andrea Puppa