Mario Cucinella, Scrigno, YACademy and Arte Sella working together for the environment

Borgo Valsugana, 22 October 2021
A sanctuary in the heart of the Trentino mountains, a lightweight structure that turns into a network of connections between inside and outside, a nomadic architecture inviting you to embark on an internal voyage of reflection. “The Journey” is the title of the new architectural installation inaugurated today at Arte Sellathe contemporary art park which, in the woods of Valsugana (North-eastern Italy), hosts works of art and architecture by Eduardo Souto de Moura, Kengo Kuma, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Edoardo Tresoldi, to name but just a few of the artists present. Their works contribute to the creation of a unique dialogue between man's ingenuity and the natural world. The idea was conceived by Afreen Ali, Anna Collatuzzo, Arezoo Mohepour, Juan Salamanca Balen and Paula Strieder, young students of the Architecture for Humanity and Architecture for Exhibition at the YACademy, a high-level architectural training academy in the heart of Bologna (Central Italy).

The project was selected among those developed during the workshop “A Door on a Better World” by YACacademy and promoted by Scrigno, a leader in opening solutions. During the workshop, the young designers of YACademy worked under MC A - Mario Cucinella Architects and the architect Cucinella, in the development of a series of creative concepts for Arte Sella dedicated to the theme of sustainability and the future.

“Thanks to the workshop “A Door on a Better World", I once again had the opportunity to compare myself with younger architects and for the umpteenth time I was struck by their creative strength”, says Mario Cucinella. “The Journey” shows their ability to go beyond today's limits and imagine beyond established schemes. This attitude can really bring about a change and can open unexpected visions of the future”.

The architecture of “The Journey” is reminiscent of a curtain: simple profiles grafted onto a base in weighted sheet metal, among other things, with local stones. The structure consists of wooden rods starting from two bases designed on the profile of the golden spiral, meeting at the top. The visitor walks along a ring-shaped path to enter the structure, finding himself in the centre of a sort of observation point leading you to look towards the sky, which is the beginning of the "journey": once you arrive in the heart of the structure, you are inside in an intimate but “open” space. You can stop, sit down on the boulder taken from the Moggio stream flowing a few metres away, and look towards the sky. In its simplicity, this meeting point between the earth and sky symbolises man's return to his origins and the precarious and nomadic character of life's permanence on a constantly changing planet: everyone, to a degree, is aware of their own smallness and transience in this regard.

The entire project was conceived to be "Climate Positive" thus providing for the absorption of more greenhouse gases than those emitted during the construction of the work, embodying the desire to leave new generations with a better world. To this end, the project’s installation was accompanied by restoration and maintenance work in the Val di Sella forests, reforestation by planting new trees of various species - maple, birch, rowan, beech, hornbeam, hazelnut and spruce - in the vicinity of the structure. The installation will therefore leave the territory that hosts it in a better condition than that in which it was found, thus creating a concrete synergy between art and nature. The environmental projects will be carried out within the 12 hectares of the Arte Sella exhibition areas that were severely damaged by the 2018 Vaia storm that hit the valley and the whole Triveneto, crushing millions of trees and disfiguring the mountains. The installation and maintenance works were coordinated by Etifor through the WOWnature initiative.

“The project has allowed us to offer an opportunity to these young and talented students to shape their commitment and social responsibility by combining artistic creativity and respect for the environment. This is an original and effective way to communicate shared values.", states Francesco Bigoni, Scrigno Group’s CMO. “Together with our partners YAC, MC A and Arte Sella, we have contributed to the generation of a virtuous circle that binds economy, territory, architecture and the art world. Scrigno's vocation for a higher quality of life is combined with the desire to stimulate a cultural change oriented towards sustainability."

“Architecture responds to human needs, from primary to more complex ones - says Alessandro Cecchini, YAC’s CEO. “The Journey” represents the meeting point between these needs, as it presents itself as both a shelter and a temple, at the confluence between the earthly and spiritual dimensions of man. Its nomadic architecture reflects travel as an archetype, change as the very condition of existence, and the irrepressible need to leave a significant trace for the future, as a message of respect and care for an environment which, today more than ever, must be considered sacred".