ALDO Summer Campus in Rome's Tor Pignattara Combines Design and Social Outreach

The ALDO summer campus launches in Rome's Tor Pignattara district, hosted in the courtyard of Scuola Carlo Pisacane. The free outdoor program runs from June 16 to July 8, 2022, serving 70 children aged 6–10 selected by the school from vulnerable social and material situations, aiming to counter learning loss. The project is backed by Fondazione Snam, YOLK, Mission Bambini, and Cooperativa Sociale Antropos Onlus. The centerpiece is the Padiglione Aldo, a demountable structure designed by Milan-based studios ZarCola (Federico Zarattini and Edoardo Giancola) and Parasite 2.0 (Stefano Colombo). ZarCola created a lightweight canopy with dry joints, a permeable fabric roof that billows like a manga-inspired manta ray, leaving ground space free for play. Parasite 2.0 designed three modular, wheeled furniture pieces in YOLK's bichrome palette: a double cabinet, a ziggurat with flight-case handles, and a four-section platform that can stack or form arches. The campus is coordinated by Mission Bambini and Antropos, with YOLK president Clementina Cordero di Montezemolo emphasizing the importance of beauty and unconventional activities like skateboarding. Gibel Association (co-founded by Bianca Millan, Andrea Guida, Dario Nepoti) curates the project, with Nepoti framing the pavilion as a dream space for children amid ecological and geopolitical crises. Barilla, Mulino Bianco, and Pewex Supermercati provide snacks. After its debut, the pavilion may be relocated to other Roman schools.