Holy See

Opera aperta views architecture as a living practice of repair and collective care. In a time of ecological precarity and accelerated consumption, the project resists conflating innovation with newness. It calls for valuing Venice’s social, cultural, and environmental tapestries, advocating repair and adaptation rather than replacement. Architecture, here, is stewardship—extending beyond buildings to communities and ecosystems. Over six months, the project will revitalise an existing structure, focusing on what can be maintained, repurposed, and reactivated. Repair occurs at multiple scales, involving diverse groups and forms of labour.
Opera aperta envisions a hopeful architectural future—one that values the world and those who inhabit it ten years after Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ on the care of our common home.