Having studied architecture at the University of Naples Federico II and the École d'Architecture de Paris-La Villette, Umberto Napolitano had various professional experiences before graduating (DPLG) in 2001. In 2002, together with Benoit Jallon, he founded the Parisian Studio LAN (Local Architecture Network) born from the idea of exploring architecture as an area of activity at the intersection of several disciplines. A loyal supporter of the marriage between theory and practice, LAN is an active voice in the contemporary architectural debate which it regularly participates in through testimonials in Europe and the United States. Since 2016, Umberto Napolitano has been a member of the Académie d'Architecture de France and he currently teaches at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University, in New York.
The studio received several awards and prizes, including the International Architecture Award from the Chicago Athenaeum, the Archi-Bau Award, the Special Prize at the 12th Architecture Triennial in Sofia and Le Prix Le Soufaché from the Académie d'Architecture de France. Among Studio LAN’s main projects, the Grandes Serres du Jardin des Plantes in Paris, the Euravenir Tower in Lille, the Centre d'Archive EDF in Bure, the Gymnasium in Chelles and the Neue Hamburger Terrassen in Hamburg, are particularly noteworthy. The new Théâtre Le Maillon in Strasbourg and the redevelopment project of the Grand Palais in Paris, the colossal exhibition pavilion built along the Avenue des Champs-Élysées for the 1900 World Expo, are some of the studio’s projects currently under construction.
LightOn is a conference series conceived and developed in 2015 by iGuzzini and the MAXXI Architecture museum in Rome. The three-year initiative involves well-known architects from all over the world taking part in a series of lectures aimed at sharing their vision on design, technology and light. iGuzzini’s headquarters in Recanati and the MAXXI museum in Rome turn into stages where great contemporary designers come to share the approaches and contexts that define their professional careers, particularly in terms of lighting. The guests featured so far are Kjetil Traedel Thorsen (Snøhetta, Oslo-New York), Yoshiharu Tsukamoto (Atelier Bow Wow, Tokyo), Sergei Tchoban (Tchoban Voss Architekten, Berlin), Winy Maas (MVRDV, Rotterdam), David Adjaye (Adjaye Associates, London-New York), Louisa Hutton (Sauerbruch Hutton, London-Berlin), Kazuyo Sejima (SANAA, Tokyo), Peter Eisenman (Eisenman Architects, New York) and Jeanne Gang (Studio Gang, Chicago-New York).
The architects enrolled in the Macerata Professional Order gain 2 CFPs for attending. A certificate of attendance can be issued upon request to attendees belonging to other Territorial Orders. The student attendees from the School of Architecture and Design in Ascoli Piceno and those from the University of Camerino receive 1 CFU for every conference they attend. Students taking the Architecture Engineering Undergraduate Course at the Marche Polytechnic University also gain credits for attending – these are granted in accordance with the terms and conditions of their course.