Matilde Cassani moves on the border between architecture, installation and event design. Her practice deals with the spatial implications of cultural pluralism in the contemporary Western city. Her works have been showcased in many cultural institutions, art galleries and were published in several magazines such as Architectural Review, Domus, Abitare, Flash art, Arkitecktur, Arqa. She has been a resident fellow at “Akademie Schloss Solitude” in Stuttgart and at the “Headlands Center for the Arts” in San Francisco. Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York hosted her solo exhibition “Sacred Spaces in Profane Buildings” in September 2011. She designed the National Pavilion of The Kingdom of Bahrain at the XIII Venice Architecture Biennale in 2012 and she was part of the XIV Venice Architecture Biennale with the piece "A celebration day”, recently acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. She was recently involved in the Chicago Architecture triennale, Oslo Triennale and Manifesta12. She currently teaches at Politecnico di Milano, at Domus Academy and at the Architectural Association in London working with Unit 11.

Selected exhibitions

2020: Il dono. Tra la vita e la morte. Art date, Palazzo della ragione, Bergamo. Curated by Stefano Raimondi, The Blank contemporary art.
2020: On the spiritual matter of art, Museo Maxxi, Rome. Curated by Bartolomeo Pietromarchi.
2019: Broken Nature, XXII Triennale, Milano, Curated by Paola Antonelli. (exhibition design)
2018: Unico e ripetibile, curated by Massimo De Carlo Gallery. (exhibition design)
2018: Una stanza tutta per se, Cantiere Galli, Roma, Sunset. Curated by Domitilla Dardi.
2018: Manifesta 12, Palermo, Tutto. Curated by Bregtje Van der Haak, Marjiam Varidinis, Andres Jaque, Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli.
2018: XVI Venice Architecture Biennale, Kingdom of Bahrain, Four unknown types of minbars and their historical significance. In: Friday Sermon, Curated by Noura Al Sayeh, Nora Akawi.
2018: It’s just not cricket, ar / ge kunst, Bolzano and Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen, Innsbruck, curated by Emanuele Guidi, Andrei Siclodi.
2017: Aarhus Festuge, Flags for future neighborhoods, curated by LIST.
2017: Chicago Architecture Biennale, Make new history, curata da Johnston Marklee, Chicago Cultural Center.
2016: After belonging, Oslo architecture Triennale. Curated by After Belonging agency )Carlos Minguez Carrasco, Ignacio Galán, Alejandra Navarrese Llopis, Lluís Alexandre Casanovas Blanco, and Marina Otero Verzier).
2015: The Man who sat on himself, curated by Szuzanna Staniz, Angelica Sule, Kate Strain at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo.
2014: Monditalia, IV Biennale di Venezia, Arsenale, Venice, curated by Rem Kolhaas, Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli.
2014: Hidden cities, SomARTS Gallery, San Francisco, curated by Pireeeni Sundaralingam.
2013: Design, La Sindrome dell’ Influenza, curated by Pierluigi Nicolin, La Triennale di Milano.
2012: XII Venice Architecture Biennale, National Participation, Kingdom of Bahrein, exhibition design with Francesco Librizzi and Stefano Tropea, curated by Noura AlSayeh.
2012: The Urban Cultures of Global Prayers, curated by Jocken Becker, Stephan Lanz, The Global Prayers Theme Days at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt.
2012: Staten Island Second Saturdays Art Walk, curated by Monica Venenzuela, New York, USA, February.
2012: Kunshaus Langenthal, Hier Beginnt die Welt, August- November 2012, Langenthal.
2012: Staten Island Second Saturdays Art Walk, curated by Monica Venenzuela, New York, USA, February.
2011: “Even covering of the field”, FFAR, Forum fur Arkitektur, Stockholm, Sweden, November.
2011: “Sacred spaces in profane buildings”, Storefront for art and architecture, New York, September-November.
2011: Stazione futuro: qui si rifà l’ Italia, Officine Grandi Riparazioni, Torino, curated by Luca Molinari.
2011: Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany. Curated by Jean Baptiste Joly.
2010: Bat Yam Biennale of Landscape urbanism “TIMING 2010”, Bat Yam, Israel. Curated by Yael Moria and Sigal Barnir.
2010: Territorien des In/Humanen« im Württembergischen Kunstverein, Stuttgart. Curated by: Hans Christ and Iris Dressler.
2010: Another Country / Eine andere Welt« IFA, Berlin. - »Another Country / Eine andere Welt« IFA, Berlin.
2010: Another Country / Eine andere Welt« IFA, Berlin. - »Another Country / Eine andere Welt« IFA, Stuttgart.
2010: Smart Future Minds Award, Rome, Italy
2009: Dreaming Milano, Ex Fondazione Mazzotta;
2009: 12xMilano: New Italian Architecture visions for a metropolis in movement«, Urban Center, Milan, Italy | link
2008: Acquatecture: nuovi scenari per la sopravvivenza«, Nuova Accademia Belle Arti (NABA) and Associazione no-profit H2O, Milan, Italy.

MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Maxxi, museo delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome
- M.A.X. Museo, Chiasso, CH
- Franz Hals Museum, Harleem

Grants and Awards:

2016: Wheelwright prize, Harvard GSD, finalist.
2014: YAP MAXXI, Roma, Giovani architetti italiani, shortlisted.
2013: YAP MAXXI, Roma, Giovani architetti italiani, shortlisted.
2012: Headlands center for the Arts, San Franscisco, California.
2010: Selected participant at the Bat Yam Biennale of Landscape Urbanism: TIMING
Bat Yam, Israel.
2008: Phd Scholarship (3 years) at Politecncio di Milano, Faculty of Architecture, Italy.
2009: Movin’ up. Giovani artisti italiani (GAI), Turin, Italy.
2009-2010: Akademie Schloss Solitude, recidency programme, Stuttgart, Germany.

BOOK CONTRIBUTIONS

- Cassani, M., (2018) Four unknown types of minbars and their historical significance. In: Friday Sermon, Edited by Noura Al Sayeh, Nora Akawi.
- Cassani, M., Easton V., Al Sayeh N. Charta (2018), The architecture of the city: a palimpsest, Park Books.
- Cassani M., Pastore M., Mpampatsikos V., (2016) Safer House Construction Guidelines, Ministry of Housing, GDDRR, World Bank Group, Malawi, ISBN: 979-12-200-2094-7
- Cassani, M., (2016) ‘Sewing machines, dragoons and firecrackers’, In Casanovas Blanco L., Galàn I., Minguez Carrasco C., Navarrete Llopis A., Otero M., After belonging, the objects, and the Ways we stay in transit, Lars Muller Publishers, Baden. ISBN: 978-3-03778-520-1. Cassani, M.,
- Cassani M. (2013) Sacred spaces in profane buildings. The spatial implications of religious pluralism. Tesi di - Dottorato in Spatial Planning and Urban development, Politecnico di Milano, Facoltà di Architettura. Relatore: Massimo Bricocoli, co-relatore: Maria Chiara Giorda
- Cassani M. (2012) ‘Sacred spaces in profane buildings’. In Becker J., Wildner K., Lanz S., Faith is the place. p. 52-65, b_books, Berlino. ISBN/ISSN: 9783942214049
- Cassani M. (2014) A view from Novellara, The Architectural review, October 2014. https://www.architectural-review.com/rethink/viewpoints/view-from-novellara-italy/8670471.article

articles

- Cassani M. (2014) A view from Novellara, The Architectural review, October 2014. https://www.architectural-review.com/rethink/viewpoints/view-from-novellara-italy/8670471.article
- Cassani M. (2013) Lugares Sagrados, Arqa Magazine n.108.Cassani M., Poli M. (2013)Floating public school. Abitare n. 532, pp. 24-35 ISSN 0001-3218
- Cassani M., (2013) Sacred spaces in profane buildings, Rivista Humanitas, Editrice Morcelliana, Brescia.ISSN 0018-7461
- Cassani M. (2012) Una città lunga 900 Km/ 900 Km Nile City. DOMUS n. 961; pp. 54-62, ISSN: 0012-5377
- Cassani M., (2011) Sacred spaces in profane buildings. DOMUS n. 946; pp. 100-109, ISSN: 0012-5377
- Cassani M.,(2010) Form follows religion. A research on the rebuilding processes post-tsunami in Sri Lanka. ABITARE, vol. 505; p. 78-82, ISSN: 0001-3218
- Cassani M., La Varra G., Ciarallo G., Dolo P., Dragoni N., Pastore M. (2007) ‘Abitare in una casa negozio; Abitare in un loft; Abitare in un sottotetto’; In Cronache dell’Abitare, Multiplicity lab, pp. 184-202, Bruno Mondadori, Milano. ISBN/ISSN: 8842492221.
- Cassani M., (2009) Strucked by a freak wave, in Holy Urbanism, MONU magazine on Urbanism, n.10 Rotterdam.
- Cassani M., (2009) Strucked by a freak wave, in Holy Urbanism, MONU magazine on Urbanism, n.10 Rotterdam.
- Cassani M., (2007) 200.000 Muslim, Hindu, Catholic and Buddhist homes. The post-tsunami reconstruction in Sri Lanka. XXVI Aesop Conference, paper presentato a Aesop Conference, Luglio 2007, Napoli.

Studies

2013: PhD in Spatial Planning and Urban Development, Faculty of Architecture, Politecnico diMilano, Milan, Italy.
2008–2009: Master of Arts in Architecture and Urban Culture – METROPO
LIS: Universitade Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC) and Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Catalunya (CCCB), Barcelona, Spain.
2001-2002: Erasmus exchange programme at Faculty of Architecture, Universitade Tecnica de Lisboa (UTL), Lisboa, Portugal.
1999–2005: Laurea in Architettura, Faculty of Architecture, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy.
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Teaching Activities

2018-2019: AA, Architectural association, unit master with Silvana Taher, Unit 11.
2017-2018: Studio for immediate spaces, Sandberg Instituuut, Amsterdam.
2016-2017: Visiting professor, Syracuse Architecture Universitym Florence Program.
2015-present: Design methodology, Master in interior and living design, Domus Academy.
2013-2019: Architectural Design studio I, Politecnico di Milano.
2012-2014: Urban Design Workshop, Politecnico di Milano.
2009:Urban Design Workshop, Politecnico di Milano.
Teaching assistant, the Agricolture of the city, Technische Universitat Munchen.
2008-2010: Politecnico di Milano, Piacenza, Italy.
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Consultancies

​ 2014-ongoing: World Bank Group, GRFDRR, Malawi
2005-2007: Architect and consultant for Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit(GTZ), Batticaloa and Colombo, Sri Lanka.