Architecture and Design as Tools for Growth at Cortina Design Weekend

“Formazione” (training): the second edition of the Cortina Design Weekend was dedicated to this polysemantic concept, which encapsulates the common goal of networking and cooperation. 
The event, from July 12 to 14, came to life with meetings and conferences held at the Conference Center of the Grand Hotel Savoia in Cortina d’Ampezzo, and was enriched by a series of collateral events that led participants to discover the territory. 
The three-day event was promoted and organized by the Cortina for Us association, in collaboration with the Municipality of Cortina d’Ampezzo, to bring together professionals, citizens, local authorities, and real estate professionals to discuss the themes of architecture and design in order to protect the territory and create a mountain area made for contemporaneity.

“Dialoghi” (dialogues), curated by Dolomiti Contemporanee, opened the talk series on Friday afternoon with a lecture entitled Landscapes of Design (Training Environments). Dolomiti Contemporanee is an organization founded and led by Gianluca D’Incà Levis, which works in the area to restore and re-functionalize disused natural and man-made sites. The discussion focused on concepts of training and landscape, in line with the views of Edoardo Gellner, as the indissoluble union between nature and man’s action upon it. The meeting saw the participation of Simone Sfriso, Co-founder of TAMassociati, Daniele Lago, CEO and Head of Design at Lago, and Massimo Barbierato, Founder of the eponymous studio. 
“The word ‘design’ is extremely inclusive in English”: Sfriso’s talk was dedicated to the highest calling of design, inclusivity. It is closely tied to the concept of common good, thought of not only as a material good but also in terms of the ability of communities to enjoy, share, and use it. Collaboration is the key to meeting the challenges of tomorrow: the future is no longer a place as Leopardi saw it, who hoped for “magnificent and progressive fates”, but a difficult terrain in which we need to revolutionize the patterns of progress which have governed our actions so far. 
Lago’s thoughts also reiterate this close relationship between design and interaction between the parts of a whole, in fluid vision in which there are no longer boundaries between matter, form, technique, and people. Design is the field in which the union of the whole is experienced in its highest expression: the objective of progress is not the creation of new objects, but the possibility of integrating them.

Barbierato, a professor at IUAV Venice and the University of San Marino, concluded the talk by hoping for the future of collaboration as an awareness of one’s fragilities. According to the architect, designers must be the guardians of the common good, and their work is to transform the anthropocentric vision, which has conditioned our thinking for centuries, into an “ecocentric” vision: a new way of seeing the world, which puts the entire ecosystem at the center. 
The first day of the event concluded with a conference curated by THE PLAN: Sports Infrastructure: Architecture, Technology, and Mobility for Experiencing the Mountains in Summer and Winter. The panel discussion was moderated by Francesco Chiamulera, founder and head of the renowned festival Una Montagna di Libri (A Mountain of Books), and featured the participation of Marco Zardini, President of Impianti Dolomiti SuperSki; Stefano Lorenzi, Project Manager of Leitner; Fabio Calorio, Head of Brand Extension of Pininfarina; Silvia Prandelli, Senior Principal of Populous Italia; Alessandro Zoppini, Partner of Studio Zoppini; and Benedetto Camerana, Founder of Benedetto Camerana Studio.
As the 2026 Winter Olympic Games approach, Cortina d’Ampezzo “is getting a makeover”: Zardini detailed the projects that have already been carried out and those still in progress, aimed at increasing the attractiveness to tourists and the functionality of the services of the area. The goal is to make the facilities increasingly technological and interconnected in order to increase the influx of tourists in the summer as well. 
Lorenzi and Calorio spoke on the topic of technology: the union between the two brands is a key starting point for mountain innovation. The relationship between Pininfarina and the mountains has deep roots, dating back to the company’s founding: “Going to the mountains in winter, I saw the action of the wind that had carved sharp curves and clear lines in the snow on the side of the road… I simply wanted to copy those lines”: the words of the company founder Giovan Battista Farina, called “Pinin”, almost predict the fruitful collaboration between the two brands.

The second part of the panel discussion shifted to the theme of architecture for sport. Populous has designed some of the most important sports architectures of recent years: the stadium for the London 2012 Olympics, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and the futuristic MSG Sphere in Las Vegas, to name a few. Prandelli’s talk focused on the value of the visitor journey, which along with architecture is fundamental in creating a unique experience, and on the importance of flexibility in the design of sporting infrastructure. Another expert on flexibility in architecture is Zoppini, who with his firm was involved in the design of sports arenas for the Turin 2006, Sochi 2014, and Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Games. He highlighted the importance of considering the legacy of the structures, that is the functions that the architecture will assume once the purpose for which it was designed is finished. Lastly, Camerana presented the Turin 2006 Olympic Village as a case study: exploring the theme of the legacy of Olympic architecture, he demonstrated how both forward-thinking design thinking and the assignment of a post-Olympic function in the immediate future is necessary. According to the architect, space should only be loaned out for the period of the games and immediately reassigned once they are over. Remembrance is also relevant here: it is essential that a marker remains in memory of an event, such as the Olympic Arch in Turin. 
Saturday’s program opened with Dialogues curated by Lombardini22: the conference entitled Let’s Turn Words into Action! included the participation of Alessandro Longo of L22; Cristiano Pistis, head of Eclettico Design ‒ Lombardini’s Business Unit specializing in Hospitality; and Vincent Spaccapeli, CEO of Eatour and Partner of Save the Planet. The discussion also explored the theme of the common good, proposing the Regole d’Ampezzo as an example to follow: a system that has protected the territory for centuries and manages it as an indivisible collective ownership asset. Spaccapeli presented the “impact investing” model as a concrete tool for sustainability: it consists of all forms of investment inscribed in a company’s balance sheet that can create both an economic advantage and a concrete benefit in terms of sustainability. In conclusion, Pistis demonstrated Eclettico Design’s strategies for sustainability: programs based on craftsmanship, traditions, and local materials. 
The meetings at the Grand Hotel Savoia were alternated with guided tours of the area and evening events to discover local artisanal entities, like Falegnameria Menardi, a woodworking company. Sunday was dedicated to visiting the colony of the former ENI village in Borca di Cadore. In the morning, participants were able to explore and learn more about the futuristic project developed by Gellner, who collaborated with Carlo Scarpa and Enrico Mattei: landscape, nature, culture, and architecture coexist in a visionary project, the legacy of which is captured with the initiatives of Progetto Borca, working together with design schools and architecture universities from Italy and beyond. 

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© Teresa De Toni. All images courtesy of Cortina for Us

© Teresa De Toni. All images courtesy of Cortina for Us - The work of Progetto Borca, in collaboration with the Scuola Italiana Design and with the support of Cortina for Us, was presented at the Hotel Boite in Borca di Cadore

© Teresa De Toni. All images courtesy of Cortina for Us

© Teresa De Toni. All images courtesy of Cortina for Us - Saturday’s dinner was hosted at La Cooperativa di Cortina d’Ampezzo. The standing dinner was curated by chef Graziano Prest of the Tivoli restaurant and was followed by a DJ set

© Teresa De Toni. All images courtesy of Cortina for Us - Sunday’s agenda took visitors to discover the colony of the former ENI village in Borca di Cadore

© Teresa De Toni. All images courtesy of Cortina for Us

© Teresa De Toni. All images courtesy of Cortina for Us

© Teresa De Toni. All images courtesy of Cortina for Us

© Teresa De Toni. All images courtesy of Cortina for Us

© Teresa De Toni. All images courtesy of Cortina for Us

© Chiara Beretta. All images courtesy of Cortina for Us - The conference curated by THE PLAN, entitled “Sports Infrastructure: Architecture, Technology, and Mobility for Experiencing the Mountains in Summer and Winter”, explored how to make the mountains fit for contemporaneity

© Chiara Beretta. All images courtesy of Cortina for Us - Friday’s program concluded with a standing dinner curated by chef Luigi Dariz of the Da Aurelio restaurant, held at the Falegnameria Menardi artisan workshop

© Chiara Beretta. All images courtesy of Cortina for Us

© Chiara Beretta. All images courtesy of Cortina for Us

© Chiara Beretta. All images courtesy of Cortina for Us

© Chiara Beretta. All images courtesy of Cortina for Us

© Chiara Beretta. All images courtesy of Cortina for Us

© Chiara Beretta. All images courtesy of Cortina for Us

© Chiara Beretta. All images courtesy of Cortina for Us

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