Program

Luca Astorri

Co-founder of the AOUMM studio, a member of the founding group of RISE International – a non-profit organisation active in sub-Saharan Africa – and co-director of ‘in loco’, its Design & Build fellowship programme; lecturer on the Master’s in Design for Development at the Politecnico di Milano

The talk by Luca Astorri, co-founder of the AOUMM studio and lecturer on the Master’s programme in Design for Development at the Politecnico di Milano, explores architecture that emerges on the ground, alongside the people. Together with non-governmental organisations, Astorri works in fragile and marginalised contexts, from Cairo to Nairobi, from Lesotho to the Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon. Here, the building site becomes an educational tool: a space where people learn by doing, share knowledge and strengthen community bonds. This journey, which has woven together research, practice and civic engagement, also gave rise to Save the Children’s ‘Punto Luce’ in Milan’s Gallaratese neighbourhood. Built almost entirely of timber and awarded the PEFC mention at the Klimahouse Wood Architecture Prize (2026), the centre serves both as an educational space for children and young people and as a community hub open to the neighbourhood. Its circular shape, with no beginning and no end, creates a fluid space free from hierarchies, reflecting a specific worldview. A gathering to discover how a project can become an act of care and participation, capable of fostering knowledge and community over time.