S•CAB was the technical partner for the presentation of the event ORDINARY BEAUTY. An Italian Scenario curated by Associates Architecture (Nicolò Galeazzi and Martina Salvaneschi). A project, later to become a book, that analyses the relationship between ordinary and architecture and includes the work of sixty-one architectural firms throughout Italy.
Held at the beginning of September at the headquarters of QuadroDesign on Lake Orta, the outdoor installation was fitted out with products supplied by S•CAB: Brezza Relax armchairs by Alessandro Stabile, Hyppo coffee tables by Meneghello Paolelli, DRESS_CODE chaise longues with coordinated coffee tables designed by gumdesign and Marisco rugs by Maddalena Casadei.
ORDINARY BEAUTY. An Italian Scenario is a project launched in 2022, on the occasion of the 18th. International Architecture Exhibition-La Biennale di Venezia, when Associates Architecture was invited by the General Directorate of Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture to submit a layout proposal for the Italian Pavilion. A project ,which evolved with the publishing house Caryatide, leading to the publication of the book of the same name in 2025.
The book is an invitation to shift our gaze to what is normally overlooked: day-to-day spaces, the places that we inhabit in every day life and rarely consider ‘worthy’ of our attention.
In addition to the book, Associates Architecture also set up a site-specific ORDINARY WORKSHOP exhibition. The exhibition included 15 projects selected from the sixty-one presented in the book, aimed at showcasing a specific moment in the design process of the firms involved, i.e. working with models, mock-ups and material samples. Divided by themes within the exhibition space, the 15 examples explore the ordinary beauty of apartments (AMAA, Campomarzio, Tenet), public space roofs (Didonè Comacchio, Enrico Scaramellini), areas connected to homes (Camilla De Camilli, ErranteArchitetture, Lorenzo Guzzini, MOTU, Studiospazio, VG13), shops (Supervoid and Fondamenta) and factories (Carlana Mezzalira Pentimalli, Enrico Molteni).
