Cagliari Architecture Festival FAC2020 Launches with Digital Gaming App

The University of Cagliari, in partnership with IN/ARCH and the Fondazione di Sardegna, won the MiBACT call for projects with FAC2020, a ten-day architecture festival running from September 18 to 27 at the ex Manifattura Tabacchi in Cagliari. Coordinator Paolo Sanjust, an architect and professor, outlined a community-based approach focusing on the city's sensitive coastal interface between land and water, addressing climate change and sea-level rise. The festival features conferences, performances, installations, guided tours, and a digital game app that lets citizens virtually design urban spaces. Due to the pandemic, activities originally planned at the Padiglione Nervi (1955, by Pierluigi Nervi) and the ex Colonia Marina del Poetto (by Ubaldo Badas) were relocated to Sa Manifattura; an hackathon organized by CREA of the University of Cagliari will involve 40 young participants developing reuse ideas for those sites. Exhibitions include works from the architecture schools of Cagliari and Mendrisio (Università della Svizzera italiana). Guided tours cover 20th-century architecture, night lantern tours by the Ordine degli Architetti di Cagliari, visits to the Molentargius wetland (with Associazione Italiana Donne Ingegneri e Architetti and the Parco di Molentargius), and the Contivecchi salt pans (managed by FAI). The festival aligns with the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.