i2a Lugano

In 1983, the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc Los Angeles) settled in Vico Morcote, a small medieval village nested in the hills above lake Lugano, in the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland, where it offered a permanent European program. The canton of Ticino is internationally renowned for its concentration in contemporary architecture and thus represents the ideal context for a course based on the combination of travel and study. The seat is established in a villa built in the 19th century on the remains of an ancient convent that can be dated prior to the 16th century.

Sci-Arc Vico attracts students and academics from all continents. It is this context of cultural openness and exchange between visiting students and teachers and local architects that was to become the foundation for the generation of Ticino architects that would subsequently teach at the Zurich and Lausanne Federal Polytechnics and create the Accademia di architettura in Mendrisio (Università della Svizzera italiana).

In 1990, the Vico Morcote school becomes a foundation called i2a istituto internazionale di architettura (i2a international institute of architecture). Dropping the scheme of an exclusive constraining exchange agreement with a single university (SCI-Arc Los Angeles), i2a thus starts hosting a number of universities during the year, offering students not only a different approach to the topics of design but also an opportunity to compare and exchange with students from other schools and cultures.

In parallel, a research program was initiated with the collaboration of the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal, one of the most important institutions in the world for architectural research and also the seat of prestigious archives and a museum.

The ambition behind this synergetic system is to put to full advantage the site’s assets, namely its history as the region’s first university of architecture, its central position in Europe, its location in an old monastery concentrating accommodation, work and leisure spaces in a single building. The specificities naturally provide i2a with a status of study centre where different functions intersect and implement each other.

The fulfilment of this enterprise is also enabled by the organisation of public events all year round – exhibitions, conferences, round tables and installations – aimed at animating the cultural debate, as well as academic programs destined to participants of all ages and qualifications – from children to academics – that raise awareness of topics related to landscape, environment and contemporary reality in order to complement the offer already available in the region.