The Rice School of Architecture welcomes Paola Viganò, Full Professor in Urban Theory and Urban Design at EPFL Lausanne and Professor at IUAV University of Venice, for a lecture on The Biopolitical Garden and the Horizontal Metropolis.
Drawing from her most recent book, The Biopolitical Garden. Space, Life, Transition (Actar, 2024), Viganò will explore how ecological and social transitions are reshaping the ways we conceive and design contemporary cities, landscapes, and territories. The lecture will also address the concept of the “horizontal metropolis” — a spatial model that challenges traditional urban hierarchies in favor of more equitable, distributed, and sustainable forms of inhabitation.
Viganò’s distinguished career bridges academic research, theoretical innovation, and built work. In 1990 she co-founded Studio with Bernardo Secchi (active until 2014) and, since 2015, has led StudioPaolaViganò, working on large-scale projects such as the municipal plans for Lugano and Geneva, the Strategic Scheme for the recovery of Belgium’s Vesdre Valley, and public spaces across Europe including Marie Janson Plein (Brussels), Parc Crombez–Rue Royale (Tournai), the open spaces of La Courrouze (Rennes), and the Lecco waterfront (Italy).
Her numerous honors include the 2013 Grand Prix de l’Urbanisme and the 2022 Schelling Prize for Architectural Theory. She directs the Habitat Research Center and the Laboratory of Urbanism at EPFL, where her work continues to push the boundaries of urban theory and practice.
This lecture is free and open to the public.
This program is made possible through the generous support of the Betty R. and George F. Pierce Jr., FAIA, Fund; the William B. Coleman Jr. Colloquium Fund for Architecture; and the Wm. W. Caudill Lecture Series Fund.