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We learn, design and build
LAB
WHO WE ARE
Plug-in Architects Laboratory (pia-lab) is an independent, international educational and experimental platform in design and architecture.
It teaches to think with our hands and learn through experience. We undertake projects all over the world and make them happen.
We believe that a socially responsive attitude and the utilization of the material constraints in an innovative way, is crucial for sustainable design. pia-LAB has an ability to provide a productive reciprocity between a concept, the design and its realization. Our goal is to promote the construction process as a platform for discussion, innovation and exchanging knowledge. pia-LAB is a profoundly democratic opportunity to connect different generations, designers and artist with various cultural, academic and professional backgrounds.
Our LAB is driven by innovation, social responsibility and an unwavering passion for great design. We work with wood and other sustainable materials to create functional and artistic, but also eco-friendly and socially relevant solutions.
HOW WE STARTED
pia-LAB started as an workshop in 2019 for students in architecture and design and become pia-LAB. Prof. Richard teaches courses in architectural history, urban history, contemporary art, architectural theory, and sustainable urbanism. He has led many workshops concerning Agricivismo, a synthesis of agriculture and architecture, under the aegis of Terra Viva Workshops in Milan.
Lab has grown into a unique experimental making platform involving more than 10 universities and 6 countries, seeking sustainable and replicable models for achieving social benefits and improving quality of life through architecture and design. It is a possibility for learning based on making and a great opportunity to break down the walls between different generations, to connect in ways that are beyond the walls of universities.
We will change what it means to create in order to build a society which connects living with creating.
special thanks for his support ever since,
Prof. Richard Ingersoll
(1949~2021)
He was born in California, USA,1949, earned a doctorate in architectural history at UC Berkeley, and was a tenured associate professor at Rice University (Houston) from 1986-97. He has lived off and on in Tuscany since 1970 and currently teaches at Syracuse University in Florence (Italy), and the Politecnico in Milan.
His recent publications include: World Architecture. A Cross-Cultural History, (2018); Sprawltown, Looking for the City on its Edge, (2006); World Architecture, 1900-2000. A Critical Mosaic, Volume I: North America, USA and Canada, (2000). In 2015 he provided two installations for the exhibition Food, from the Spoon to the World at MAXXI (2015-2016). He frequently writes criticism for Arquitectura Viva, Architect, Lotus, and Bauwelt.
We are sadden to loss of Prof. Richard Ingersoll in March 2021 due to his uncreable disease.
His thoughts will be with us through our actions.
In memory of Richard Ingersoll 1949-2021
https://www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2021/03/03/in-memory-of-richard-ingersoll-1949-2021.html
Picture © Miguel Galiano | Rem Koolhaas & Richard Ingersoll
What We Do
EDUCATION &
EXPERIMENTS
DESIGN & BUILD
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