LABICS
biography.
Based in Rome, LABICS is an architectural and urban planning practice founded in 2002 by Maria Claudia Clemente and Francesco Isidori. The name of the practice – Labics – expresses the concept of a laboratory, a testing ground for advanced ideas. Combining the theoretical approach with applied research, the field of interest of the office extends from the interior small scale to the scale of urban masterplans, going through the different scales and complexities of the project.
Since the beginning, Labics’ work has captured the attention of critics and journalists, and the practice is now firmly established among the new generation of Italian architects.
In December 2003, just a year after the practice was founded, the US journal Architectural Record positioned Labics as one of the most important architectural talents to emerge in recent years in its Design Vanguard issue.
Participation in design competitions has always been an important activity within the practice, allowing experimentation with new typologies and techniques. Labics has won several national and international architectural competitions, including CDU, a mixed-use university building for medical education in Rozzano (2003-2004); the MAST (Manufactory for Art, Innovation and Technology) in Bologna (2006-2013) and the Città del Sole development in Rome (2007-2016). The last two competitions lead to commissions for two significant mixed-use buildings, with the practice responsible for all phases of the design.
Recently Labics has received the honourable mention for the Guggenheim Museum Helsinki competition and the Klekovaca Tourist Centre competition in Bosnia and has won the 2ndprize in the international competition for the design of the station no. 11 for the underground of Tabriz (2016).
In 2017 Labics and has won an important invited competition for four residential buildings within the Cascina Merlata masterplan in Milan.
Labics has experienced projects over a wide range of scales and contexts, and has a particular interest in the contemporary city and in the relation among architecture, urban structure and public space; those kind of research characterize project such as the masterplan Le Serre in Tirana (2005), currently under construction, the Centralità urbana di Torre Spaccata (2012-2014) a large mixed-use masterplan for one of the 18 urban ‘centralities’ identified in Rome’s overall development plan, the masterplan for the Manifattura Tabacchi in Napoli in 2014 and the more recent project for the regeneration of historical centre of Wuhu and Rudong in China.
Labics’s interest in the relation among city and public space has also been developed through the theoretical research project on Rome, Borderline Metropolis, which was exhibited at the 11° Venice Architecture Biennale.
In contrast to those major projects, Labics has completed over time a number of schemes on a smaller scale – private residences, offices, and restaurant interiors- demonstrating the capacity of controlling smaller scale and the quality of the detail. Some of those have received awards such as, Podere 43 project — the renovation and extension of a country house in Tuscany — and the office headquarters for communications agency Italpromo & Libardi Associati in Rome.
From 2003 to 2015 the practice has been responsible for the general concept, interior design and architecture of Obikà, a high-end international chain of bars and restaurants specializing in Italian food, including projects in Milan, New York, Rome, London, Turin, Florence, Kuwait City and Tokyo.
In the past few years the office gained several awards, especially with MAST in Bologna, Fontana square in Rozzano and “La città del Sole” in Rome. MAST and Città del Sole have been both selected for the Mies van der Rohe Awards.
Labics has been invited to partecipate to several collective exhbitions, among which the 11°, 12° and 14° Venice Architectural Biennale; his work has been exhibited in two monographic exhibitions: “Structures” held at Studio Stefania Miscetti in Rome and “La Città Aperta” at the Italian Cultural Institute in Berlino and Laboratorio Casabella, Milano (2015).
For further information visit LABICS’s website.
exhibitions.
all exhibitions by LABICS with STUDIO STEFANIA MISCETTI.
BABIES ARE KNOCKING
group show
may 27th, 2021 - october 2, 2021
STUDIO LABICS
structures (3 structures, 50 models)
april 23rd - july 17th, 2015
CURRICULUM OF LABICS
February 2020
Riscatti di Città, Palazzo Merulana, Rome
December 2019
Il parco del ponte, Museo della Commenda di Prè, Genova
October 2019
SPAM Festival, Casa dell’Architettura, Rome
September 2019
Novarchitettura 2.0.19, Novara
May 2019
Redenzione | Riscatti di città, Roma Smistamento, Rome
November 2018
Labics: STRUCTURES, “Lo Spazio dell’immagine”, MAXXI Museum, Rome
October 2018
Labics: STRUCTURES, Cornell University
October 2017
Details: Architecture seen in Section, SUPSI, Lugano
March 2017
Architecture Made in Italy, Italian Architecture Prize 2017, Hong Kong
June 2016
Labics_ Sulla soglia, Festival LetterAltura, Verbania
November 2015
Labics_ La Città Aperta, Laboratorio Casabella, Milano
September 2015
Lab Q _ Group exhibition, Laboratorio per la Qualità urbana, Pisa
June 2015
Labics: LA CITTA’ APERTA – Architecture and the Historical space of Italy, Italian Cultural Institute, Berlin
May 2015
The Making of (a new) Rome – Recent works by Roman architects, Italian Cultural Institute, Berlin
April 2015
Labics: STRUCTURES, curated by Luca Molinari, Galleria Stefania Miscetti, Rome
March 2015
The Making of (a new) Rome – Recent works by Roman architects, Italian Cultural Institute, Paris
February 2015
Italia per Interni. Manifesto #2, curated by Luca Molinari, Spazio FMG, Milan
July 2014
Detail. Architecture seen in section, 14° Biennale Architettura, Arsenale, Venice
Innesti/Grafting – Italian Pavillion
14° Biennale Architettura, Arsenale, Venice
April 2014
Italy & China: contemporary architecture exhibition/architecturale design forum, Casa dell’architettura, Rome
January 2014
The Making of (a new) Rome – Recent works by Roman architects, Italian Cultural Institute, Los Angeles
November 2013
Small Utopias _Italian architecture of the third millenium, between history, research and innovation, organized and curated by MAXXI, Shangai
Mars 2013
Italia en México. Architetti romani: opere recenti, Prospettive Edizioni, Rome
October 2012
Disegni Romani, curated by Franco Purini, Gangemi editore, Roma
September 2011
Italy Now 2000-2010, 24th World Congress of Architecture, UIA2011 Tokyo
May 2011
Meis architectures for a Museum, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara
May 2011
Biennale of public space, Casa dell’architettura, Rome
February 2011
Liceo Farnesina nuovi spazi didattici, Acquario Romano, Rome
January 2011
Laboratorio ITALIA/AILATI passando per OPEN CARE, Frigoriferi Milanesi, Milan
August 2010
People meet in architecture, 12° Biennale di architettura, Venice
June 2010
La Città del Sole, Festa dell’Architettura, Rome
March 2010
Nel segno dell’architetto, Casa dell’architettura, Rome
February 2010
Uneternal city.fr, Pavillon de l’Arsenal, Paris
May 2009
XII Triennial of Sofia, University, Sofia
Atlante minimo per gli architetti, Galleria Comese, Rome
April 2009
The hand of the architect, Salone del Mobile 2009, Milan
September 2008
Out There: Architecture Beyond Building
11° Biennale di architettura, Venice
June 2008
Sustainab.Italy, Festival dell’architettura, Istituto culturale italiano, London
April 2008
Italy Now? Country_ Positions in Architecture, ETH Zurich, Zurich
March 2008
Le citta del Futuro. Il progetto della ragione, architettura, scienza, tecnologia, comunicazione, Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome
November 2006
20.06 Overview sull’architettura italiana, Palazzo Reale, Naples
October 2006
L’Italia si trasforma, città in competizione, Salone internazionale dell’industrializzazione edilizia (Saie), Bologna
Festival dell’architettura 3: Architettura tra fabbrica e città, Chiostri di San Domenico, Reggio Emilia
May 2006
Rome – Laboratorio Italia [Roma 2006], Palazzo S. Michele, Rome
Progetti per Roma, Fondazione Olivetti, Rome
March 2006
Architetture a Roma, oggi, Casa dell’Architettura, Rome
Giovani architetti Italiani – Labics, Galleria di architettura, Ceggia, (VE)
November 2005
La cultura architettonica italiana. Tradizione e modernità, Jiangsu, China
October 2005
New Italian Blood, Travelling exhibition 05, Palazzo Wedekind, Rome
3_2_1 Nuova Archittettura in Giappone, Polonia e Italia, Istituto Giapponese di Cultura, Rome
Semptember 2005
Laboratorio Italia Esposizione d’A-rchtettura_Nuovi Laici, Chiesa di San Ludovico, Parma
April 2005
Architetti interpretano la casa d’abitazione italiana, Palazzo Pretorio, Cittadella – PD
March 2005
Italy Now, Cornell University, NY
selected works.
selected works by LABICS’s shown at STUDIO STEFANIA MISCETTI.
catalogues.
all catalogues by LABICS with STUDIO STEFANIA MISCETTI.
BABIES ARE KNOCKING
exhibition catalogue
SSM, rome 2021
STUDIO LABICS
structures
exhibition catalogue
NERO, rome 2015