Public space projects are realised through improvisation and shaped by a completed yet unfinished process. In contemporary architectural debate, it is essential to reflect broadly on the role of the architect working ‘with’ rather than ‘for’ public institutions and associations in the processes of designing and building public spaces as open systems, incomplete, flexible, and capable of welcoming the unexpected and improvisation.
Architects who adopt this philosophy must lower their defences as technical designers and question traditional design tools and building models. They become mediators and directors who guide the process of transformation without interrupting it. Their role is to synergise all hidden resources and propose ever-new design scenarios and spatial opportunities. Frequently, they are required to translate physical structures into abstract concepts and elevate the creation of public space and the development of social cohesion to equal importance.
‘Play with grounds’ seeks to articulate our perspective and experience in creating public spaces as dynamic venues for leisure, play, and well-being. Spaces that, at an urban scale of observation, generate patterns capable of embracing and encouraging diverse human expressions, both individual and collective.
GIUSEPPE GRANT is an Italian architect and co-founder of Orizzontale. Orizzontale is a young architecture firm awarded worldwide. Orizzontale participated at the 58th Venice Biennale of Art in 2019 and at the 17th and 18th Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2021 and 2023. In 2024, with Labics and Openfabric, Orizzontale won the international competition for Imperial Fora promenade of Rome.
Giuseppe Grant has taught at Architecture at the University of L’Aquila since 2020 and in 2024 he joined the Social Design Master’s Advisory Board at the University of Applied Arts of Vienna and also began teaching at Public Design at La Sapienza University of Rome. In 2024 Giuseppe Grant was awarded the Enel Foundation Italian Fellow in Architecture, Urban Design, and Landscape Architecture 2025 by the American Academy in Rome with the research project “Roma Ludica”.
