Rome Rain Rooms

Manuela De Micheli, partner and art director at Studio Transit, is an Italian architect born in Rome in 1968. She graduated in Architecture from La Sapienza University of Rome and began collaborating with Studio Transit in 2001, where she developed architectural projects across multiple scales. She became a partner of the firm in 2007 and currently leads the studio’s artistic direction, shaping its design vision and creative strategy.

Ivan Juarez is the Founder and Principal of x-studio | Ivan Juarez and the Founder of the Nordscape Lab in Iceland. An architect with a Doctorate in Fine Arts and a Master’s in Landscape Architecture, he works at the intersection of architecture, art, and landscape. He is also a professor and researcher at the Faculty of Planning and Design at AUI, Iceland, where he explores cross-disciplinary approaches to environmental and spatial design. Juarez’s practice investigates the complex relationship between human and natural environments, engaging with contemporary ecological and contextual challenges. His work spans a wide spectrum—from site-specific installations and placemaking interventions to public and participatory projects, bio-cohabitation environments, architectural spaces, body-scaled architectures, and crafted objects. Through these diverse mediums, he pursues a dialogue between practice, research, and teaching across multiple geographies and scales. His studio’s projects have been recognized with numerous international awards, and his work has been widely published and exhibited in museums, galleries, and public venues around the world.

Rodolfo Morandi is an Italian architect and co-founder of AACM, a Padua- and Milan-based practice working across residential, commercial, and public architecture. He graduated with honors in Building Engineering–Architecture from the University of Padua, completing part of his studies at ETSA Seville and later earning a Master in Architecture and Museography for Archaeology. Morandi has taught architectural design at the University of Padua and previously contributed to Renzo Piano’s G124 initiative, focusing on public space, social engagement, and urban reforestation in Italian suburbs. His work is rooted in a careful reading of place—its rules, memory, and atmosphere—translating context into measured, contemporary spaces shaped by light, material, and lasting simplicity.

Patrizia Pisaniello is an Italian architect and the co-founder of MICROSCAPE Architecture Urban Design AA, the studio she established in Lucca in 2006 together with her brother, Saverio Pisaniello. Her work spans architecture, urban and landscape research, artistic and photographic communication, writing, and teaching. Under her leadership, MICROSCAPE has earned a strong international reputation, receiving awards in Italy, Ireland, the UK, Slovenia, and China—including Europe 40 Under 40 (2010), the City_Brand & Tourism Landscape Award (2018), and multiple honors from BUILD Architecture Awards, THE PLAN Award, and the Shenzhen Global Design Award. MICROSCAPE’s graphic production has been part of the N.A.M. collection of the Accademia Nazionale di San Luca since 2012, and the studio has exhibited widely, including at the Italian Pavilion of the Shanghai Expo 2010, the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale (2018), and the Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition (2021). Their projects have been featured extensively in international books and journals.

Lieven Poutsma is a partner at Observatorium, a studio dedicated to public art and placemaking. He graduated in Interior Architecture from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and joined Observatorium in 2013. Since then, he has worked on a broad range of national and international projects, including Newton’s Cottage in London, Lippepolderpark in Germany, Modern Devotion for the IJssel Biennial, and Place du Torrent in Grenoble. Observatorium creates iconic architectural artworks and develops participatory processes that bring new meaning and appropriate use to public spaces—from squares and parks to industrial estates and urban ruins undergoing transformation. The studio’s work spans scenography, park design, modular architecture, event structures, and artistic research.

DaeWha Kang has spent the past twenty-five years studying, designing, and building architecture around the world. After a decade at Zaha Hadid Architects, he founded his award-winning practice, DaeWha Kang Design. With a global portfolio spanning the UK, the Middle East, and the Far East, his studio is recognized for its expertise in parametric design, digital fabrication, adaptive reuse, and sensitive work within complex heritage contexts. Significant projects by the studio include the Black Gold Museum in Riyadh (2025), The Grand Pavilion and Courtyard at the OWO in London (2023), and the St Andrew Holborn regeneration in London (2022).

Andrea Tabocchini, founder of Andrea Tabocchini Architecture, leads an award-winning architecture and design studio based in Ancona, Italy, working on projects across the globe. The practice engages with both public and private sectors and delivers work across a wide range of typologies and scales, including residential architecture, commercial workspaces, bespoke interiors, installations, exhibitions, museums, educational facilities, civic buildings, and urban masterplans. Tabocchini founded the studio after gaining professional experience at several leading international offices, including OMA / Rem Koolhaas in Rotterdam (2016–2021), Kengo Kuma & Associates in Tokyo (2015), and RCR Arquitectes in Olot (2014). The studio has been recognized as one of the “Top 10 Young Architecture Firms in Italy” by PPAN (2023) and featured in Fortune Italia, and in 2024 received the Europe 40under40 Architecture and Design Award from The Chicago Athenaeum. Its work has been showcased in prominent cultural institutions and events, such as the MAXXI – National Museum of 21st Century Arts (2022), the Venice Architecture Biennale (2021), the Rome Architecture Festival (2021), and the Milan Triennale (2018). Tabocchini has lectured at institutions including the Politecnico di Milano, Czech Technical University, the University of Melbourne, and the University of Palermo. Projects by his studio have been widely published internationally and have received numerous accolades, including The Monocle Design Award, The Plan Award, the RTF Sustainability Award, the Inspireli Award, and the Archi-World Academy Award.