PhD in Architecture. History and Project | Politecnico di Torino
A+ Lectures 2025|09 Transitions: A Reflection in Four Chapters|Mia Roth Čerina
Thursday 15 May 2025| 1.00 – 2.30 PM Lingotto Room201|Recordings on YouTube
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5 thoughts on “A+ Lectures 2025|09 Transitions: A Reflection in Four Chapters|Mia Roth Čerina”
Devanshi Thakuriya
The lecture was truly insightful, highlighting four projects presented by the professor that demonstrated how architecture can be a powerful medium for raising awareness among people. Architecture, in this context, became a tool for fostering a connection between communities and nature.
One particularly striking example was the design of the Croatian Pavilion for the Venice Architecture Biennale. The project, titled ‘Same as it ever was’, eloquently expressed the enduring presence of nature in our lives where design spoke the language of nature, emphasizing its timeless relevance.
Overall, the lecture effectively advocated for drawing out the subjective experiences of people within the design community, making it a thought-provoking and enlightening session.
Mia Roth Čerina’s lecture, A Reflection in Four Chapters, offered a thoughtful journey through her architectural work, emphasizing how design can shape and respond to its environment. Starting with the concept of “coordinate”, we saw the Popovača Elementary School, which transformed an empty field into a vibrant community space. The Senj elderly home, designed to feel more like a cluster of homes than an institution, shows the concept of “resampling”. Continuing with the “unspoken” concept, the zipline station project in Rijeka was introduced. The idea of marking the industrial past with a new volume while creating a dynamic spatial experience. Lastly, “Designing in coexistence”, which to me stood out the most. I was especially interested in the observatories from the Wetland project; using natural materials and subtle forms to blend into the flooded landscape felt both poetic and practical. Across all her work, I appreciated how she balanced sensitivity to place with strong conceptual thinking, from schools and kindergartens to visitor centers and public installations.
The projects presented reflect a profound sensitivity to context, materiality and the intangible characteristics that shape lived space. The Kindergarten Lanište, with its atrium separated zones and perforated skins that evokes the shadow of trees, becomes a subtle mediation between nature and learning for the children. The elderly housing project that had selectively open facades to the south and west showed careful environmental response to light and ventilation. The Lonja wetlands observatories with unique forms of each, communicate through a spatial language rooted in the landscape that depicts architecture as a tool for ecological story telling. Thus progression, from object driven forms to deeply contextual and experiential spaces aligns with Professor Trisciuoglio’s observation that the lecture began with architecture quite detached from the landscape and concluded with projects where landscape contained architecture. His insight into the fading presence of individuality within increasingly tectonic approaches raised a thought in my mind, can architecture maintain its human core while dissolving into the landscape that it seeks to honor?
Mia Roth Čerina’s lecture was very insightful for understanding key aspects of her work, which is rooted in a deep sensitivity to context, materiality, and human experience, especially in public architecture. Her practice goes beyond the architectural object itself, emphasizing the connections between the building and its surroundings, particularly liminal zones and the narratives shaped by space over time. This can be clearly seen in the School in Popovača, where the building seems to disappear into the landscape thanks to its metallic façade, or in the Visitor Center in Osekovo, where the connection to the soil highlights the reciprocity between interior and exterior spaces.
Following the lecture’s four key concepts: “coordinates,” “resampling,” “unspoken,” and “designing in coexistence”, it was fascinating to see how her major projects illustrate both the design process and the theoretical directions that guide her decisions. What I appreciated the most was her attention to the flow of people using the buildings, her study of atmospheres, and the way she considers the stories that unfold within architectural environments. I also found her focus on different kinds of users, especially children, particularly meaningful. In public projects it was also interesting to observe her use of local materials and collaboration with local workers, ensuring that the architecture resonates with its context both physically and socially.
Mia’s Roth lecture showed through the unboxing of the projects how you can interpret the context/surroundings and apply that knowledge into the architecture. She mentioned one of the fundamental problems we have in design today being the very limited hands-on connection in education, losing the relationship of the building with the ground. In her projects we can see how they recreate elements found in the surrounding areas, how the architecture works as a transition between different areas through the implantation and also how it connects/communicates with nature. I really liked this study on tipologies but not as a fixed concept, something that can be integrated into the design. This reminded me of how important this connection is when designing and made me appreciate her work even more.
The lecture was truly insightful, highlighting four projects presented by the professor that demonstrated how architecture can be a powerful medium for raising awareness among people. Architecture, in this context, became a tool for fostering a connection between communities and nature.
One particularly striking example was the design of the Croatian Pavilion for the Venice Architecture Biennale. The project, titled ‘Same as it ever was’, eloquently expressed the enduring presence of nature in our lives where design spoke the language of nature, emphasizing its timeless relevance.
Overall, the lecture effectively advocated for drawing out the subjective experiences of people within the design community, making it a thought-provoking and enlightening session.
Mia Roth Čerina’s lecture, A Reflection in Four Chapters, offered a thoughtful journey through her architectural work, emphasizing how design can shape and respond to its environment. Starting with the concept of “coordinate”, we saw the Popovača Elementary School, which transformed an empty field into a vibrant community space. The Senj elderly home, designed to feel more like a cluster of homes than an institution, shows the concept of “resampling”. Continuing with the “unspoken” concept, the zipline station project in Rijeka was introduced. The idea of marking the industrial past with a new volume while creating a dynamic spatial experience. Lastly, “Designing in coexistence”, which to me stood out the most. I was especially interested in the observatories from the Wetland project; using natural materials and subtle forms to blend into the flooded landscape felt both poetic and practical. Across all her work, I appreciated how she balanced sensitivity to place with strong conceptual thinking, from schools and kindergartens to visitor centers and public installations.
The projects presented reflect a profound sensitivity to context, materiality and the intangible characteristics that shape lived space. The Kindergarten Lanište, with its atrium separated zones and perforated skins that evokes the shadow of trees, becomes a subtle mediation between nature and learning for the children. The elderly housing project that had selectively open facades to the south and west showed careful environmental response to light and ventilation. The Lonja wetlands observatories with unique forms of each, communicate through a spatial language rooted in the landscape that depicts architecture as a tool for ecological story telling. Thus progression, from object driven forms to deeply contextual and experiential spaces aligns with Professor Trisciuoglio’s observation that the lecture began with architecture quite detached from the landscape and concluded with projects where landscape contained architecture. His insight into the fading presence of individuality within increasingly tectonic approaches raised a thought in my mind, can architecture maintain its human core while dissolving into the landscape that it seeks to honor?
Mia Roth Čerina’s lecture was very insightful for understanding key aspects of her work, which is rooted in a deep sensitivity to context, materiality, and human experience, especially in public architecture. Her practice goes beyond the architectural object itself, emphasizing the connections between the building and its surroundings, particularly liminal zones and the narratives shaped by space over time. This can be clearly seen in the School in Popovača, where the building seems to disappear into the landscape thanks to its metallic façade, or in the Visitor Center in Osekovo, where the connection to the soil highlights the reciprocity between interior and exterior spaces.
Following the lecture’s four key concepts: “coordinates,” “resampling,” “unspoken,” and “designing in coexistence”, it was fascinating to see how her major projects illustrate both the design process and the theoretical directions that guide her decisions. What I appreciated the most was her attention to the flow of people using the buildings, her study of atmospheres, and the way she considers the stories that unfold within architectural environments. I also found her focus on different kinds of users, especially children, particularly meaningful. In public projects it was also interesting to observe her use of local materials and collaboration with local workers, ensuring that the architecture resonates with its context both physically and socially.
Mia’s Roth lecture showed through the unboxing of the projects how you can interpret the context/surroundings and apply that knowledge into the architecture. She mentioned one of the fundamental problems we have in design today being the very limited hands-on connection in education, losing the relationship of the building with the ground. In her projects we can see how they recreate elements found in the surrounding areas, how the architecture works as a transition between different areas through the implantation and also how it connects/communicates with nature. I really liked this study on tipologies but not as a fixed concept, something that can be integrated into the design. This reminded me of how important this connection is when designing and made me appreciate her work even more.