Life and Work with Ilaria Mazzoleni

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ilaria Mazzoleni.

Ilaria, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I am an architect, an educator, and a biomimicist: I study nature as a source of inspiration for the creative process. My passion is to do research and work collaboratively with scientists and other disciplines in order to find inspiration and solutions for how to lessen the environmental impact of the buildings and cities we design and build.

I was born in the Italian Alps (in the Taleggio Valley, Bergamo Province) and although I moved to Los Angeles many years ago, I return there regularly to visit my family. I feel a very profound connection to my land, and I continue to build new ties to the place where I was born.

My roots and background have provided me with a strong foundation for exploring life’s interconnected and complex ecological operative systems. Discovery is my predominant mode and my motivation. My specific interest is in understanding the environmental role of the human-species as the central figure of architecture, in recognizing that we humans are part of the ecosystem Earth, and in exploring how we fit in as a species.

While I have been doing this for many years, I am still on a journey because exploring nature is an endless quest and there are still many connections to be made. Six years ago, with a group of collaborators, I founded a summer residency program, Nature, Art & Habitat Residency (NAHR): An ECO-Laboratory of Multidisciplinary Practice in my native village. NAHR enables me to host like-minded people, although from different backgrounds and disciplines, for a month-long stay. The residency enables participants to engage in free-ranging and open-ended ecological explorations leading to the development of creative endeavors. At NAHR, diversity is seen as an opportunity and where all are encouraged to think outside the box. The process is supported by discussions, hikes, and brainstorming sessions, all within an eco-friendly environment.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Smooth road?? I don’t see any smooth roads in LA! The asphalt here has huge holes, my poor car is so “afraid” of them, nevertheless we venture out every morning! Joking aside, I recognize that I come from a place of privilege and this means that I have had more opportunities than others. But life is also “never give up”, seeing opportunities in difficulties, but the ultimate challenge is to learn to recognize when the situation feels incorrect. At times leaning in is wrong, and leaving the screaming voices behind is the gentle way to say, no thanks, I do not accept this. Being gentle yet assertive is fundamental. I believe we can be who we are only in an environment that respects kind and fruitful collaboration.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
As practicing Architect, I am committed to projects that can contribute to making our city, Los Angeles, a better place for all its citizens, non-humans included. As biomimicist, I am committed to projects that, by taking inspiration from nature’s processes and functions, are respectful of their surroundings. My architectural projects are also in Italy and Ghana, where I had the opportunity to design and built a small house using local materials such as bamboo, mangrove wood, and mud, in collaboration with the local artisans. I also worked at SCI-ARC, teaching bio-inspired design and architecture for more than a decade. My interests in nature and design came together in my book “Architecture Follows Nature. Biomimetic Principles for Innovative Design” (CRC Press 2013) which encapsulates my vision for a future in sync with nature. I especially love to combine, to collaborate with colleagues met in LA over the years and that now have returned to live back in their country of origin, engaging with other cultures and creating speculative projects or projects for clients, is in itself a process of discovery I enjoy very much!

Often it feels as if the media, by and large, is only focused on the obstacles faced by women, but we feel it’s important to also look for the opportunities. In your view, are there opportunities that you see that women are particularly well positioned for?
It’s true that all over the world women are faced with many challenges, but I feel women are very well equipped to turn these challenges into their strengths, and that is why we are seeing more and more women breaking the “glass ceilings.” One special asset women have is their sensitivity to what’s going on around them, close and distant. Challenges we face globally today require that form of awareness and the kindness of caring with both emotion and intelligence.

However, I also think that today the world is recognizing a much more faceted diversity, and it is reductive to think of people as women or men. I like to think of all of us as humans, or even better, as living organisms who share our space with many others. It is not really about having a simple kind vision, but rather an attentive one, if one likes innovation and change, one must think differently, out into the future and must think big. Yes, let’s all think big, starting from our daily tiny actions.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nahr.it
• Email: info@nahr.it
• Instagram: nahr.it
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NAHR17

Image Credit:
01a_Fabio Scatena 03_Todd Gray 06_valbrembranaweb 08_Elena Stevanato all other photos ilaria mazzoleni

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