UNA-UNLESS.org

@una_unless

UNA / UNLESS ••• UNA architecture studio / UNLESS non-profit agency for change (fondazione ETS) • directed by @giuliafoscariwr
Followers
11.9k
Following
1,002
Account Insight
Score
35.28%
Index
Health Rate
%
Users Ratio
12:1
Weeks posts
After a few intense and exhilarating weeks between the Milan Design Week and La Biennale di Venezia — where we launched new projects for @las_artfoundation @amoskonst Anish Kapoor @artemide_lighting @cassinaofficial @danese.milano @slalom.acoustic — we want to take a moment to celebrate the power of collaboration ✨ None of these projects would have been possible without the relentless energy, radical imagination, critical optimism, and fearless experimentation of the UNA/UNLESS dream team - a group of architects, designers, researchers, and impossible-problem solvers continuously navigating complexity with shared intuition, collective intelligence, and a healthy amount of humor. Behind every installation, design, and detail is a collective effort driven by curiosity, uncompromising dedication, and an endless capacity to rethink the possible. As a team, we want to thank artists, curators, clients, collaborators, fabricators, and production teams who trust us, challenge us, and join us in shaping these projects with passion, vision, and resilience. The work continues⚡️⚡️⚡️ More projects, experiments, and provocations are already in motion. Stay tuned! UNA/UNLESS team @giuliafoscariwr @alessandrogiovannigatti @mariagiuliapistonese @8annnie @jjsantini @silviasandor (alas not in the picture) @i_am_niky__ @cambogiacomo @cjcberti and Madoo 🐶 📸 @dsl__studio @matteo.copiz
0 14
1 day ago
On occasion of the 61st @labiennale are excited to share the opening of Anish Kapoor at Palazzo Manfrin.  “Anish Kapoor: Palazzo Manfrin” unfolds within a building in a state of deliberate suspension. Palazzo Manfrin is not presented as a restored artifact, but as an active site of transformation. Under the direction of @una_unless @giuliafoscariwr the palazzo is undergoing a radical preservation and adaptive reuse process, reimagined as the future home of the Kapoor Foundation. The exhibition emerges within this condition — not as an installation, but as a moment within an ongoing architectural project. What is on view is not only Kapoor’s work, but a spatial condition. Around 100 models spanning five decades are presented as propositions — echoing his idea of art as “potential architecture.” A void is excavated into the ground within the new gallery (Descent into Limbo), conceived with the building project. Its construction exposed the layers of Venice; the work itself opens onto an immeasurable depth — a surface that absorbs all light and withdraws from perception. Ga Gu Ma, in the atrium, establishes density and pressure through its massive cement extrusions, resting on a newly engineered slab between weight above and water below. In the Sala della Musica, a monumental work is suspended from newly inserted trusses, activating the space without touching the ground, set against restored frescoes. In a corner room, a dense red volume hovers just above the floor, expanding to the limits of the room and compressing space around it. Across the exhibition, three operations — excavation, suspension, compression — structure the experience. Not scenography, but architecture, developed in direct continuity with the transformation of the palazzo. The result is a suspended building site, where art, exhibition design and architecture unfold simultaneously. The palazzo remains unfinished — an active framework in which space is continuously tested and produced. For more, visit: una-unless.org 
Exhibition Design: Giulia Foscari, UNA/UNLESS @una_unless team @giuliafoscariwr @alessandrogiovannigatti @8annnie 
📸 @dsl__studio @matteo.copiz
0 7
11 days ago
Echoes of purgatory meet a story of resistance and transformation when Natasha Tontey turns Len Karamoy, a 1950s Indonesian female resistance fighter, into a mythic presence inside Ateneo Veneto. Step inside the 16th-century building and experience the multimedia installation ‘The Phantom Combatants’ through film, sound, light, sculpture and architectural elements by @una_unless . Opening tonight, 17:00–20:00. ❤️‍🔥 𝙋𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙚: capacity is limited and waiting times may occur. ‘The Phantom Combatants’ is commissioned by 𝗟𝗔𝗦 𝗔𝗿𝘁 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 and 𝗔𝗺𝗼𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝘅, on view 𝟲 𝗠𝗮𝘆 – 𝟮𝟱 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 at 𝗔𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗼 𝗩𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗼, Venice.
613 15
11 days ago
We are very excited to share CRIOSFERA – Extra Large, unveiled at the Milan Design Week and the Salone del Mobile by @artemide_lighting From S (2022) to L (2024) to XL (2026), the project evolves through escalation — each iteration testing the limits of matter, process, and imagination. This latest version, a 175 cm blown glass cylinder, was made possible through the radical commitment of Artemide. It is an achievement that operates at the edge of feasibility. As a Venice-based studio, embedded in a context where glass is both legacy and living knowledge, we engage it as a site of research — interrogating its physical thresholds, scaling its logic beyond convention, and transforming craft into experiment. Here, glass becomes a field to be expanded. CRIOSFERA draws from the ice core: a vertical archive of the cryosphere, where captive air bubbles act as time capsules of the atmosphere. In our process, that same air — expanded, controlled, and forced — becomes the generative agent that shapes the glass itself. Translated into blown recycled glass and light, the piece becomes both record and signal — holding within its layers not only the memory of the planet, but an ultimatum: to read, to act, to transform.   Design: Giulia Foscari, UNA / UNLESS @una_unless team @giuliafoscariwr @alessandrogiovannigatti @isaloniofficial @milan.design.week
0 0
13 days ago
At Milan Design Week we are proud to present SPYKON — a new geometry for acoustic comfort designed for Slalom by architect Giulia Foscari (UNA / UNLESS). Discover it across three installations: Slalom’s “Soft Cubism” stand at Salone del Mobile, “Sensory Landscape” at Palazzo Bovara by Piero Lissoni, and “Felt Frequencies” at Alcova by Studiolatte. Inspired by the geometries of anechoic chambers and recording studios, SPYKON’s faceted, pyramidal modules create a seamless landscape that diffuses and absorbs sound — rethinking acoustic performance through a fully sustainable material approach. «Spykon dismantles the acoustic panel of conventional anechoic chambers to reinvent silence—no longer an extractive condition, but a sustainable geometry.» Giulia Foscari The project stems from an experimental intervention by UNA/UNLESS at Carlo Scarpa’s 1952 Biennale ticket office in Venice, transformed into a recording studio for “Voice of Commons”. There, early SPYKON’s prototypes, developed with Slalom and clad in space-blanket materials, refined the pyramidal geometry and explored the interplay between sound, light and form. SPYKON @slalom.acoustic Design Giulia Foscari, UNA / UNLESS @una_unless @giuliafoscariwr @alessandrogiovannigatti @mariagiuliapistonese ON VIEW “Soft Cubism” at Slalom Stand, Salone del Mobile @isaloniofficial “Sensory Landscape” at Palazzo Bovara by @elledecoritalia curated by @pierolissoni “Felt Frequencies” @alcova.milano
0 2
14 days ago
Looking back on an intense Salone week — filled with exciting new projects and product launches by UNA/UNLESS with @artemide_lighting @slalom.acoustic @danese.milano and surrounded by so much talent and inspiration — I’m very grateful for a quieter moment I hold dear: stepping away from the Milan Design Week buzz with Rem Koolhaas to visit Andrea Branzi’s exhibition at the Triennale was simply perfect. @una_unless @isaloniofficial @triennalemilano @fondationcartier @toyo_ito_architects
0 8
22 days ago
On the eve of the Venice Biennale 2026, our UNA dream team is back at Palazzo Manfrin— installing a new exhibition by Anish Kapoor. As we work, our minds drift to 2022.
The spaces remain — untouched during the Foundation’s building works pause — yet not quite the same. Some site-specific works have now found their final place, while a new constellation of architectural models of Kapoor’s realised and unrealised projects unfolds his thinking in space, suspended in time as the Palazzo itself. More soon. Stay tuned.
Open to the public on 6 May 2026 @labiennale #PalazzoManfrin #AnishKapoor #Biennale2026 #ExhibitionDesign #una_unless @giuliafoscariwr @alessandrogiovannigatti @zambesmile @silviasandor 📸 @dsl__studio
0 17
27 days ago
On occasion of the Salone del Mobile 2026, we are excited to announce that OTTAGONO, a design by architect Giulia Foscari, founder of UNA/UNLESS, makes its debut at the iconic Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, a symbol of the French Riviera, which will open its doors for the new season on the 20th of April.   Designed by Giulia Foscari, as hómage to Barbara del Vicario, for Technogym @technogym and Cassina @cassinaofficial OTTAGONO redefines the very idea of space dedicated to wellness by integrating within an evocative architectural octagonal “column” a gym – the first of its kind to occupy less than 1sqm.   Raising as a sculptural monolith, OTTAGONO conceals within its compact volume unexpected and surprising functionalities, performing as a “as a room within a room”.   Developed by @giuliafoscariwr @una_unless with Technogym to create a unique training experience, this unique compact gym includes the new connected dumbbells paired with a video system that offers remote workout sessions with trainers, and other accessories, providing the perfect setup to practice from yoga to strength training.   Standing 1.9 meters tall, OTTAGONO additionally offers a radical and innovative synthesis between furniture and light, by including a recessed top with LED lights on its summit.   The launch of OTTAGONO at the @hotelducapedenroc where it will be installed in the Hotel’s unique gym and in the recently inaugurated Villa La Guettière, marks the debut of OTTAGONO into production.   Paying hómage to the colours of this iconic hotel, the lacquered piece is produced in blue and green gradients, evoking both the shades of the property’s lush park and the hues of blue of its breathtaking swimming pool overlooking the open sea beyond the cliffs.   “I am delighted to unveil our collaboration with Cassina and Technogym, two prestigious houses that have lent their savoir-faire to the creation of OTTAGONO, an exclusive piece imagined by the talented Italian designer Giulia Foscari.” Philippe Perd, Managing Director, Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc. #SalonedelMobile #hotelducapedenroc #oetkerhotels UNA team @giuliafoscariwr @alessandrogiovannigatti @frensissssssss 📸 @marcovalmarana
0 35
28 days ago
From Pole to Pole A high-performance suit supply for extreme polar missions EN: From Antarctica to the Finnish fjords, our journey continues. In extreme landscapes, where ice blankets every surface and temperatures drop to unimaginable lows, the Cooperation Suit supports the researchers of @fondationtaraocean , an organization exploring the oceans and studying marine biodiversity. Providing them with the right equipment takes us to the opposite extreme from where we began, combining exploration, science, and the fundamental need to survive. Discover the evolution of the Antarctic suit and experience the incredible adventure alongside the researchers of the Tara Polar Station. IT: Dall’Antartide ai fiordi finlandesi, il nostro viaggio continua. In paesaggi estremi, dove il ghiaccio ricopre ogni superficie e le temperature scendono fino a raggiungere livelli inimmaginabili, la Cooperation Suit affianca i ricercatori della Tara Ocean Foundation, organizzazione che esplora gli oceani e studia la biodiversità marina. Fornire loro l’equipaggiamento ci porta al polo opposto rispetto a dove avevamo iniziato, unendo esplorazione, scienza e la necessità fondamentale di sopravvivere. Scopri l’evoluzione della tuta Antarctica e vivi l’incredibile avventura accanto ai ricercatori della Tara Polar Station. Photo credits: @maevabardy - Tara Ocean Foundation The Suits were born from the collaboration between D-Air lab and @una_unless #Antarctica #wearabletechnology #CooperationSuit
45 0
2 months ago
Belém was never “just” COP30.
It was a city staging a planetary rehearsal. Torrential rains fell like an architectural section—
vertical, absolute—interrupting negotiations with a single reminder:
nature is the loudest voice in the room.
A sound so total it dissolved protocol, hierarchy, agenda.
For a moment, everyone listened. In the streets—this urban threshold to the Amazon—
every wall became an archive of longing:
jaguars, parrots, leaf patterns, ancestral geometries.
Graffiti as an urban biodiversity, a forest translated onto concrete.
A felt nostalgia for what surrounds the city yet remains threatened. What I carry with me are textures:
the impossible names of fruits that make you smile before you taste them;
colours that look invented;
markets where generosity is not an exception but a grammar;
yoga in Portuguese flowing like a vinyasa of vowels;
tuda joia that comes at you from all directions. And I carry lessons:
Indigenous wisdom showing us the subtle choreography of reciprocity—
one hand offering, one hand receiving.
Thinking in generations, not cycles.
Listening the way the forest listens. Holding the Sky to prevent it from falling. Inside COP, another form of orchestration unfolded:
evacuations with ninja-clad guards on tankers
trying (and failing) to hide their humanity behind protocol;
the unmistakable, rightful insistence of Indigenous voices
claiming space in the negotiation rooms;
and, in stark contrast, the unsettling silence
around the Global Commons—the Ocean, Antarctica—
entire planetary systems whose fate will shape life for billions,
yet inside the negotiation hall they remain structurally voiceless. Belém was a lesson in scale:
microtextures of fruit and feathers;
megainfrastructure rising for a planetary summit;
and between them, the relentless energy
of everyone fighting for climate justice.
A contagious force, an embodied mutirão, that stays with you
long after the rain stops.
0 1
5 months ago
“Linear change is no longer an option.” Sandrine Dixson-Declève — a force of nature, Honorary President of The Club of Rome and Executive Chair of Earth4All — delivers a message that cuts through complacency as she joins Voice of Commons host Giulia Foscari at COP30 in Belém, fresh from a charged conversation at the Planetary Science Pavilion, co-led with Johan Rockström on “safe, just, and systemic” science-based pathways for climate policy. ⚡ From the prophetic warning of The Limits to Growth (1972) to today’s mission to “emerge from emergency,” she maps the shift from an extractive economy to a wellbeing economy — and the five “extraordinary turnarounds” that could unlock a Giant Leap on poverty, inequality, food, energy, and empowerment. Sandrine names the resistance head-on: fossil fuel interests “hunkering down” to protect profits, even as the cost of inaction at 1.5°C now exceeds the cost of transformation. Together with host Giulia Foscari, she confronts what it will take to make this the COP of delivery: Beyond GDP indicators that value nature and livelihoods, serious finance for adaptation and loss and damage, and a fierce defense of multilateralism. “This is about resisting — she says — with hope and with fists.” ✊ 🎙️ Recorded in Belém, Brazil 🇧🇷 at #COP30 Voice of Commons is a project by UNLESS @una_unless @giuliafoscariwr developed under the patronage of @UNESCO , with the recognition of @UNoceandecade and endorsed by @europeanspaceagency . We thank @cop30nobrasil Presidency for inviting UNLESS to broadcast the Voice of Commons Podcast from the Blue Zone in Belém. 🌍 📡 Tune in on voice-of-commons.org and all mayor platforms! Thank you @bottegabernacca for your generous support of the Voice of Commons COP Edition!
0 0
3 months ago
Honored to be included in the #AD100 ✨ Thank you @ad_italia for recognizing the work of UNA/UNLESS — we’re thrilled to stand alongside such an amazing group of international architects and designers. Grateful to the UNA/UNLESS dream team … Let’s keep challenging, imagining, and building better futures together. 🌍 Giulia Foscari • Alessandro Gatti • Mariagiulia Pistonese • Anna Scorretti • Javier Santini • Anna Seidl • Poppy Clark • Nicole Ciaccia • Carlos Berti
0 31
5 months ago