Architecture Competition Iceland Volcano Coffee Shop Honorable mention – POLITECNICO DI MILANO

We’d like to take the opportunity to introduce you to one of our Honorable mention winners for our "Iceland Volcano Coffee Shop" competition – Francesco Patetta, Simone Pasini, Alvise Morandi and Elisa Montani from Italy!

Honorable mention winners from Italy

We are a group of four close-knit students studying in the third year at the Politecnico di Milano, Italy. We are used to working together in the university environment, and for the first time we decided to try a new extra-curricular experience.

Brief information about the projects that you/your company have been involved with. For instance, what scale have you focused on/preferred, any significant projects where the company/ individuals have been involved?

Since the beginning of our university career, we have been pushed to work on very different fields and scales. We learned to manage different scales simultaneously, dealt with residential projects, museums, social architectures, and urban projects.

What does architecture mean to you and what is the role of an architect in your society?

For us, creating architecture means knowing ourselves as human beings. For this reason, the architect must build spaces in which man gains awareness of himself in society. The revelation of the human self takes place in beauty, and it is the architect's task to make it possible.

Why do you participate in architecture competitions?

We chose to participate in our first competition to test our skills, but also for fun. For us, studying architecture turned out to be a passion which we are lucky enough to carry out in our everyday life.

What advice would you give to individuals who struggle to decide whether it would be beneficial for them to participate in architecture competitions?

After all, what do you have to lose?