Walden Architects gathered in 2019 at Politecnico di Milano, with the support of AUID PhD Program, to assess the limits and interchanges between wild areas and anthropized ones, in occasion of the Italian research project Rethink the sylvan: Towards a new alliance between biology and artificiality, nature and society, wilderness and humanity (PRIN 2017), which sees all the team member as appointed researchers. 

Alessandro Rocca is an architect PhD based in Milan, Professor at Politecnico di Milano, and head of the PhD AUID program. His research topics focus on the relation between the formal aspects of architectural composition and infrastructure, forest, and new environments. Among his books: Natural Architecture (Princeton Architectural Press, 2006), Planetary Gardens: The Landscape Architecture of Gilles Clement (Birkhäuser, 2008), Architecture Low Cost Low Tech (Actes Sud, 2010), Lo spazio smontabile (Letteraventidue, 2017). He is founder and editor of the architectural review “Fuoco amico.” His last built project is the Expo 2015 Cereals Cluster in Milan (with Franco Tagliabue, 2015). 

Stamatina Kousidi is an architect and researcher at the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Politecnico di Milano, where she teaches Architectural design. Previously, she held postdoctoral fellowships at ETH Zurich, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin/Dessau Institute of Architecture. Her research is at the interface of theories and projects of the modern and contemporary eras with an emphasis on the environmental aspects of the architectural organism. Her recent publications include the monograph From Wall to Skin. Architecture and the Poetics of Breathing (Gangemi 2020). 

Jacopo Leveratto is an architect PhD based in Milan, and an Assistant Professor of Interior Architecture and Exhibition Design at the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies of Politecnico di Milano. Principal Investigator of the EU project en/counter/points (HERA JRP), he participated in several international researches, also with managing roles. Author of numerous publications in peer-reviewed international journals and edited volumes, he is also a Correspondent for Op.Cit., the Italian Review of Art Criticism, and the Associate Editor of the journals iijournal and ARK.

Francesca Zanotto is an architect and researcher based in Milan. Her work explores the spatial dimension of waste and the implications of consumption patterns for architectural design. She holds a PhD in Architectural, Urban and Interior Design received at Politecnico di Milano in 2018. Since 2020, she is a postdoctoral researcher at Università Iuav di Venezia. She recently published Circular Architecture. A Design Ideology (LetteraVentidue, 2020).

Chiara Pradel, architect, graduated from Università Iuav di Venezia and obtained a postgraduate research Master degree from AAM, Mendrisio.
Her professional experience revolves around landscape architecture; in particular, she has worked as a landscape designer in Switzerland and around Europe, with Paolo L. Bürgi, for over ten years. She is now a PhD candidate in Architectural, Urban and Interior Design at Politecnico di Milano. Her research explores ground movements in landscapes, focusing on complex infrastructural construction sites.

Beatrice Balducci is a PhD candidate in Architectural, Urban, and Interior Design at Politecnico di Milano. She studied in Paris and in Milan, where she graduated in 2019. Since 2020, she has been working as a teaching assistant in Cino Zucchi’s Design Studio. She worked at B22 office in Milan, and she was a member of Architetti Senza Frontiere Italia. With her research, she investigates the design possibilities and methodologies that underpin the approach of preparedness for uncertain disastrous events by focusing on the design of critical infrastructures.

Walden Architects avail themselves of the collaboration of Martina Laifer and Marta Valentino, Master degree students at AUIC school, who worked on the archive creation and management, website development, and the making of the Highway to Wilderness model showcased ad 2021 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism.

The technical drawings supporting the model-making process have been developed by Parinaz Eslami, Master degree student at AUIC school.

The realization of the Highway to Wilderness model has been possible thanks to the cooperation of arch. Renato Aiminio and the LaborA Model Laboratory.

Walden Architects thank Carolina Andrea Albonico, Chiara Baroni, Elisa Colombo, Carolina Molteni, Eleonora Niccoli, Simone Parigi for their collaboration in the model-making process.