Studio Ossidiana / The Design of the Encounter

Giovanni Bellotti architect and researcher based in Rotterdam, partner, along with Alessandra Covini, of the design and architecture practice Studio Ossidiana, presents a selection of recently completed public spaces, experimenting on the relations between model making and building, narration and materialization, curation and cultivation. The presentation expands on design and architecture as forms of mediation between people and other animals, climates, and minerals, moving across the scales of the body, the model, the room and the territory.

Studio Ossidiana works at the crossroads of architecture, visual art and design. Balancing research and fabrication, the practice explores innovative approaches to design and is always in search of new material expressions to translate visions into tangible spaces and objects. In 2018, Studio Ossidiana was awarded the Dutch Prix de Rome, the most prestigious prize in the Netherlands for architects under the age of 35.

The practice’s work has been published in both printed and digital media and exhibited in collective and solo exhibitions, for example at Venice Biennale 2021, Arkdes 2021, Istanbul Architecture Biennale 2021, Chicago Architecture Biennale 2021, Istanbul Art Biennale 2019, CIVA 2019, Het Nieuwe Institute 2019, Jan Van Eyck Academie 2017 and 2020, Dutch Design Week 2016 and 2021.

Giovanni Bellotti (Pavia, 1987) completed his master’s degree in architecture at the IUAV University of Venice and TU Delft, and holds a degree from the SMArchS program in Architecture and Urbanism from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he won the best thesis award, along several department grants. He is a Fulbright Fellow and Miguel Vinciguerra fund recipient. Giovanni practiced as an architect in Europe and the US, and worked as a researcher with TU Delft’s The Why Factory and MIT’s Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism (LCAU). Along his role in Studio Ossidiana, Giovanni is currently a lecturer at Rotterdam’s Piet Zwart Institute and Eindhoven’s Design Academy, where he leads design studios focusing on anthropogenic landscapes in the Netherlands.