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Elena Manferdini

Elena Manferdini (born 12 September 1974) is an Italian architect based in Venice, California, where she is the principal and owner of Atelier Manferdini. She has over twenty years of professional experience that spans across architecture, art, design, and education.

Academic career

Manferdini was raised in Bologna, Italy, where she graduated from the University of Bologna with a civil engineer degree in 1999 and later received her Master of Architecture in urban design from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2000.

Manferdini has been a design faculty member at SCI-Arc since 2003, serving in several leadership roles, including chair of graduate programs from 2015 to 2025 and coordinator of the graduate thesis program from 2010 to 2015. During her leadership as chair, she has played a pivotal role in shaping the school’s graduate curriculum and advancing the cutting edge of architectural design within the NAAB-accredited M.Arch I and M.Arch II programs. Elena spearheaded several international collaborations, cultivating connections with institutions and partners in China, India, and Europe. Her efforts expanded the school’s global presence and fostered cross-cultural exchange in architectural education and experimentation.

A distinguished educator, Elena Manferdini has been recognized over the years with several prestigious academic appointments. She taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and has held notable visiting positions, including the Howard Friedman Visiting Professorship of Practice at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), as well as Visiting Professorships at Cornell University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Seika University.

In 2013, Manferdini received the Educator of the Year Presidential Award from the AIA Los Angeles, honoring her outstanding contributions to architectural education. Since 2023, she has served as an external senior advisor for the Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts in China. In 2024, the presidentially appointed 12-member Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board has selected Elena Manferdini for a Fulbright Specialist Award to the United Arab Emirates. Elena Manferdini joins the ranks of Fulbright alumni who have gone on to become heads of state, judges, ambassadors, CEOs, Nobel Laureates, and more.

Professional career

In 2004, Manferdini founded her Los Angeles-based firm, Atelier Manferdini. The firm is dedicated to creating design and architecture, stemming from the desire to help make places of meaning within a community. The office has gone on to complete projects in the US, Europe, and Asia.

The firm has received multiple professional recognitions, including two AIA Miami design awards for the Alexander Montessori School facade in 2017 and the PAN Award for the best public art project in North America in 2016. Manferdini's artwork is also included in the permanent collections of SFMoMA and LACMA.

In 2019, Manferdini was honored with the ICON Award as part of the LA Design Festival, which is a prize that recognizes iconic women who have made an indelible mark on Los Angeles, culture, and society in general through their work, character, and creative leadership, and more.

Selected works

2025

  • ROME OPERA HOUSE: A series of AI-generated images and videos created for the 2025 - 26 season catalogue, covering 8 operas and 4 ballets, reimagining classical performances through contemporary digital aesthetics.
  • BLOOM: a permanent public artwork for City of Hope in Duarte, California.
  • CACTI: Reimagining the "riccio" technique with Nuoveforme’s expert craftsmanship, this design blends geometric precision and organic forms into versatile, stackable vases in endless color combinations.

2024

2023

  • INVISIBLE: an artwork for Dominion Energy Substation in Crystal City, transforms electricity’s unseen force into vibrant ceramic tiles and a folded sky of metal panels, inviting reflection on its creation and distribution.

2022

  • COLOR BY NUMBERS: a residential building façade playing with ideas of color perception and depth.
  • YOU and AI: explores AI’s role in creative thought through 100 AI-generated NFTs and 3D-printed sculptures, blending futuristic robotics with rococo design to symbolize the duality of virtual and physical existence.
  • COLLAGE COLLECTION: a mirror designed by Atelier Manferdini for Antonio Lupi, and exhibited during Edit Napoli (Luca Galofaro curator).

2021

  • BOTANICAL: A collection of 3 hand-tufted rugs designed by Elena Manferdini for Lindstrom

2019

  • LIVING PICTURE: Design of feature interactive wall, glazing graphic and elevator lobbies for Kaida Center of Science and Design in Dongguan, China.
  • TWG: Teapot in ceramic and 3D printed gold designed by Atelier Manferdini for TWG.

2018

  • LANE CRAWFORD: Augmented Reality shopping windows and pop-up stores design for the 8 luxury stores of Lane Crawford in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai for spring summer 2018.
  • TOCO Haus: Atelier Manferdini redesigned the facade, the interior surface finish and the garden roof deck and mezzanine raised roof of one of the most iconic buildings in the heart of Chinatown LA.
  • MEI MEI LOU: Atelier Manferdini designed a new pop colorful facade for a non-descriptive building in the heart of Chinatown, and transformed it into a must see landmark in the neighborhood.

2017

  • CABINET OF WONDERS: The gate of La Peer Hotel in West Hollywood, California, design by Atelier Manferdini is a contemporary version of the renaissance "Cabinet of Wonders".
  • HIBISCUS: Shading Panel design for Alexander Montessori School facade in Miami, Florida.
  • URBAN FABRIC RUGS: 12 hand tufted, hand-carved 100% New Zealand virgin wool rugs designed by Elena Manferdini and produced in limited edition by Urban Fabric Rugs.

2016

  • BUILDING PORTRAIT: permanent artwork for the Hermitage facade commissioned by The Allen Morris Company

2015

  • INVERTED LANDSCAPES: two permanent artwork for the Zev Yaroslavsky San Fernando Valley Family Support Center.
  • LOO WITH A VIEW: female and male restroom with ceiling artwork for the Longmont Museum in Colorado

2013-2008:

  • NEMBI: a permanent art work installation at the Hubert Humphrey Comprehensive Health Centre
  • KEYHAN (Lake Biwa, Japan) 3 stories boat interior and exterior renovation
  • SEPHORA (New York, US) interactive installation for the temporary museum of scent, in collaboration with 4D4
  • MOROSO (Udine, Italy) “Filigrana” ottoman design
  • Various architectural models and design objects exhibited at the Italian Institute of Culture in Los Angeles as part of the Art Venice Biennale (Los Angeles, 2011).
  • Alessi (Crusinallo di Omegna, Italy) “Blossom” Stainless Steel fruit basket
  • DRIADE (Piacenza, Italy) “Tracery” cast aluminum outdoor table design (2010)
  • “Works in Progress” solo show at the Italian Institute of Culture (Los Angeles, 2008).

Awards

Manferdini has received numerous awards for her contributions to architecture, design, and architectural education. In 2011, she was a recipient of an annual grant from United States Artists (USA) in the category of architecture and design. In 2013, she received COLA Fellowship given by City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs to support the production of original artwork. She also received Graham Awards for architecture in 2013 and 2015, the 2013 ACADIA Innovative Research Award of Excellence, and was selected as recipient for the Educator of the Year presidential award given by the AIA Los Angeles. In 2019, she was honored with the ICON Award at the LA Design Festival.

Selected Exhibitions

  • FLORA: A solo show on the work of Atelier Manferdini at IIC Gallery in Los Angeles. The exhibit was open from February 8, 2024 to May 3, 2024.
  • Biophilia: Nature Reimagined: a group show curated by Darrin Alfred at Denver Art Museum from May 5, 2024 to August 11, 2024.
  • DOMUS, Pattern of Living: A solo show on the work of Atelier Manferdini at PDC Design Gallery in Los Angeles. The exhibit was open from September 21, 2022 to February 3, 2023.
  • WALL PAPER: AR landscape at Tallinn Architectural Biennale 2019, Beauty Matters. The exhibit was open from September 11 to 15 in Tallinn, Estonia.
  • Exhibiting “Second Nature”, an AR landscape at Biennale d'Architecture d'Orléans 2019, “The architectural Beast” show curated by Hernan Diaz Alonso.
  • INK ON MIRROR: This exhibition have 8 architectural models and 22 drawings designed by Atelier Manferdini. The exhibit is open to public from Saturday, 17 September 2016 at Chinatown Gallery, Los Angeles, California.
  • Elena Manferdini was featured in the exhibition "Building Portraits" at the Industry Gallery in Los Angeles, California in 2016.
  • "SHARING MODELS: MANHATTNISMS” group show curated by Eva Franch i Gilabert at Storefront (New York, 2016)
  • AT HUMAN SCALE: site specific installation for BMW Korea campaign, full scale exhibition at the Design Art Work fair
  • BUILDING THE PICTURE: solo show curated by Zoe Ryan, large scale printed installation and video projections exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 2015)
  • "The future is not what it used to be” group show curated by Zoe Ryan, large scale printed installation and video projections exhibited at the 2nd Istanbul Design Biennial (Istanbul, 2014)
  • “A New Sculpturalism: Contemporary Architecture from Southern California” group show curated by Christopher Mount, design of a full scale indoor pavilion "Tempera" for the Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, 2013)
  • “Lost in Lace; transparent boundaries” group show curated by Lesley Millar, site specific installation “Inverted Crystal Cathedral” sponsored by Swarovski at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (Birmingham, 2012).
  • “Austrian Pavilion” group show curated by Eric Owen Moss, various architectural designs exhibited at the 12th International Architecture Biennale "People meet in architecture" (Venice, 2010)
  • An installation entitled Merletti was exhibited at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI_Arc) Gallery in Los Angeles, California in 2008.
  • “Skin and Bones” group exhibition curated by Brooke Hodge, various clothing designs at Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, 2007)
  • "Entropy: The Art in Architects" at the Koplin Del Rio Gallery in Los Angeles, February 2007.
  • 2006:“Emerging talents, emerging technologies” group show curated by Neil Leach and Weiguo Xu; US West Coast Pavilion design at the Beijing Architecture Biennale (Beijing, 2006).

Selected Lectures and Videos

Publications

  • In 2024, Calibano #4 The Outsider: Peter Grimes is published. Calibano features illustrations created for the Italian magazine of the Rome Opera House.
  • In 2024, Elena Manferdini’s project “Role Play” was featured in "Diffusions in Architecture" prefaced by Lev Manovich (Wiley, February 2024; ) 352 pages; English
  • In 2023, RIBA published “Full Spectrum: Colour in Contemporary Architecture” edited by Elena Manferdini and Jasmine Benyamin (RIBA, August 2023; ) 144 pages; English
  • In 2023, Several of Elena Manferdini’s projects were featured in "Speaking of Architecture" by Mark Foster Gage. (ORO publishing, Fall 2023, ); 244 pages; English
  • In 2023, “The Domain of Paint” is the latest publication about Atelier Manferdini’s recent years of design activity. (Mashhad, Kasra Publishing, November 2022; ); 270 pages; English and Farsi.
  • In 2020, Phoenix Science Press published “Landscapes and Portraits” a monograph of the work created by Atelier Manferdini during the last six years of design activity. (Beijing, Beijing University of Technology, December 2019; ); English and Chinese.
  • In 2013, a monograph on the firm’s work "Elena Manferdini"  was published by Equalbooks (Seoul, Equalbooks, January 2013; ) 360 pages; English.

References

External links