I intend to thank the foundation Grenfellove Marco and Gloria for setting up this prize, thus keeping alive the memory of the couple of young architects, proving to trust young graduates, and enabling them to both increase their own skills and explore the world.
Studying architecture is a bit different from other learning: it provides emotions as well as difficult situations; it teaches one that they can’t always reach all their goals by themselves, but that, instead, an incessant comparison with others is needed.
We happen to hear of mental health, but must consider how annoying addressing specialists may be, without even knowing whether they are really appropriate. And we feel frail when we realize that somebody we love is not fine at all but we can’t help them ourselves nor suggest them whom to address.
This is the reason why my thesis focused on the importance of mental health and tried to understand how built environments may contribute to the well-being of young-people, who use to silently suffer high costs, problem underestimation, and fear of prejudices. The project, involving the upgrading of a disused site, intends to be a reference point for people’s treatments.
I am proud to know that many trusted the subject of my thesis, i.e. the well-being produced by well-designed spaces. The acknowledgement of my work counts a lot to me and urges me to go on along this route and find out how, as new architects, we may improve individual lives through the spaces we will design; in fact, whereas we can’t provide therapies, we can try to help people feel safe in the space they live in.