about us
Since 2001 Dario Costi and Simona Melli have been working as project designers at the MC2 Studio, reflecting on the forms of life, drawing the space around the persons and focusing on the social dimension of architecture for small and large communities.
MC2 works mainly on the themes of architecture and public space with a particular focus on the urban project (winning project for the International Competition The North-West Area of Parma and finalist project for Ukraina Hotel Entyway Moscow, Ecodistrict at SPIP), educational spaces (educational facilities for Varano, Isola di Compiano, Barriera Bixio in Parma), for the theme of collective housing (projects realised for Parmabitare and for Parma Social House, Civic Halls and Social Housing in Borgotaro, Houses and villas in the natural setting on the Baganza stream), for the design interpretation of sustainability (winning project for the international competition Città delle Scienze – City of Science - in Parma, University Residences in S. Pancrazio, Casa nei tre paesaggi – House in the trhee landscape) in the field of the design of urban objects and art installations (Palo Petitot and lighting systems for Tecnopali, Urban objects with a poetic reaction for the exhibition Parma città d'oro and works of interpretation of landscapes in Spinazzola) and museum layouts with a focus on those concerning music (Casa Natale Toscanini, La Casa del Suono and Palazzo del Governatore in Parma, Casa della musica Ungheria in Budapest, Sale della Laguna at the Museum of Natural Sciences at the Fondaco dei Turchi in Venice).
The House in the Three Landscapes was invited by the Milan Triennial to participate in the Gold Medal for Architecture and selected for the Ministry of Culture's National Survey on the Trends of Italian Architecture in the 21st Century in the Marche Region, while for Emilia Romagna, numerous works were indicated and published in Architettura e impegno sociale - Architecture and Social Commitment - edited by G. Leoni in 2021: the museum spaces for the different venues of La Casa della Musica, the social housing projects, the architectures for training and education, and the Ecodistrict. The Civic Rooms in Borgotaro were presented, by invitation, in the International Comparison of Ideas Exhibition organised for the 60th anniversary of the last CIAM and published in OCiam, fragile landscapes, International Exhibition edited by M. Roda. The design research will be presented in the travelling exhibition entitled Italian Contemporary Architecture. Project and thought. The test of works and the time of theory scheduled for 2023.
Projects, papers and contributions by the authors on architectural topics have been published in the leading architecture magazines such as Area, Casabella, d'Architettura, Domus, L'industria delle Costruzioni. The Social Housing project for PSH was published among the international examples in the Handbook promoted by the Social Housing Foundation of Milan entitled Realising Social Housing. Promemoria per chi progetta - Memorandum for Designers – was edited by G. Ferri and L. Pocucci in 2015. In 2018 the publication Spazio e formazione – Space and education - for the Quaderni di ANCE was edited by G. Mondaini dedicates in-depth studies to the Piazza delle scuole projects and the Piccolo polo didattico in Isola di Compiano. Monographic books document the intervention on urban regeneration for the Parmesan electric tramway complex in Barriera Bixio for Officina, Collana Arte e architettura, in 2012 and that of The House in the Three Landscapes published in 2017 for LetteraVentidue.
www. mc2aa.it
Dario Costi
(Parma, 1971) he trained as a PhD architect between Milan and Turin, he carries out research and design experimentation both at professional level, with particular attention to the themes of urban design, public space and buildings, and the theme of living in the landscape, both in the university context on theoretical reflection on the role of architecture in connection with the relations it interprets, through the Urban Strategic Design methodology on urban regeneration, the re-naturation of cities and the technological innovation induced by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He is Full Professor of Architectural and Urban Design at the DIA Department of the University of Parma. Since 2018, he has been the Director of the interdisciplinary research laboratory Smart City 4.0 Sustainable LAB promoted by the Emilia-Romagna Region, Lepida (a public digital infrastructure company) and the University of Parma in collaboration with the Universities of Ferrara, Bologna, Reggio and Modena, Piacenza, the local authorities and stakeholders. He is a member of the PhD programme at the University of Parma (formerly a professor at the Colleges of Architecture at Palermo and Rome Universities). He develops dissemination activities and promotes participation processes related to urban design starting from the experience of Parma Urban Center, an association of which he has been president since 2007 and co-founder. He carries out editorial activities as Director of the series Manuali di Architettura e Strumenti for MUP and Bianco architettura | progetto urbano | città for the publisher LetteraVentidue while he is Series Editor for Springer Berlin of the Series: The City Project. Strategies for Smart and Wise Sustainable Urban Design. He is a professor of the Master Housing programme at the University of Roma Tre and of other Masters at Universities of Parma, Trani, Lecce and Matera. Since 2018, he has been Scientific Director of the Advanced Training Courses in Strategic Urban Design at the LUM School of Management in Bari, with which in 2021 he develops the Guidelines for the Urban Regeneration of Italian Cities for SNA, the National School of Administration of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers - Republic of Italy. Since 2021 he is Scientific Director of the Higher Education Programme promoted by the Emilia-Romagna Region The City School. Since 2023 he has been Scientific Director of the Master's Degree Course in Public and Innovation Management Smart City (MASIC).
Simona Melli
(Reggio Emilia, 1974) she is an architect, Lead Manager e Owner Representative for companies that develop projects with a positive impact on the economy and the community. After the master’s degree, she specialised in 2001 in Architectural Design of low energy buildings at the Katholieke Universiteit at the Post Graduate Centre Human Settlements in Leuven, Belgium. Since the same year, he has been working at different scales, with a focus on people and dealing mainly with issues related to public and private interiors, exhibition and workspaces, and domestic and representative spaces. She has designed private villas and community houses, yacht interiors and museum layouts, as well as schools and university residences, gyms and theatres. She has been the designer in charge of some of the most important exhibition and museum spaces of the La Casa della Musica foundation, as well as consultant for the lighting project and enhancement of monumental presences in the thematic itineraries of Parma's historical centre. Founder and Art Director of an innovative start-up on home interior design through the web and virtual reality, in 2022 she was coordinator of the exhibition The house of farmer by Mike Nelson edited by Didi Bozzini. She promotes the recovery of architectural heritage and since 2020 she has been Owner Representative, Project Director for urban regeneration projects such as the transformation of a historic modernist building in Parma into a B Corp and WELL certified experimental reality, as an interpretation of a new way of offering hospitality, integrating the hotel with workshops, wellness and art spaces, shops and places for neighbourhood activities.