Mendrisio Award: Zurich to host conference featuring second edition winners

On Tuesday, 24 February 2026, at the Zurich Art Gymnasium, Elena Sofia Moretti and Marco Felicioni, winners of the second edition of the Mendrisio Award, will present their research conducted at Archivio del Moderno in Balerna as part of a residency scholarship dedicated to the history of contemporary architecture.

The conference, scheduled for 7 pm (doors open at 6 pm), will offer an opportunity to explore the results of the projects developed through the Mendrisio Award, an initiative aimed at young Italian scholars to strengthen research and analytical tools in the field of contemporary architecture.

The Mendrisio Award – a residency scholarship for the study of architectural history – allows winners to conduct a research period at Archivio del Moderno in Balerna (Canton Ticino), a leading centre for the study of 20th-century and contemporary architecture.

During the evening, Elena Sofia Moretti will present her research on Emilio Battisti and the teaching of architecture during the years of "experimentation" at Politecnico di Milano, exploring a crucial moment in Italian design culture and the role of academic training in disciplinary renewal.

Marco Felicioni will discuss his work "Ticino: un'idea di città. Aurelio Galfetti e il 'Gruppo di Riflessione' sull'Alptransit" (Ticino: an idea of a city. Aurelio Galfetti and the “Reflection Group” on Alptransit), which analyses the architectural and urban planning debate linked to infrastructural transformations in the Ticino region, with a specific focus on Aurelio Galfetti’s theoretical and design contributions.

The event will be held in Italian. Admission is free; please register via the online form or by calling 044 202 48 46.