Stefano Pujatti: The Elusive Architect of Elasticity

Stefano Pujatti, founder of ELASTICOSPA (formerly Elastico-Stefano Pujatti SpA), is profiled as a master of architectural elasticity. After studying under Gino Valle in Venice and working with Tom Mayne (Morphosis) and Wolf Prix (Coop Himmelb(l)au) in Los Angeles, Pujatti synthesized postmodernist eclecticism with deconstructivist experimentation, grounding his work in an organic Italian tradition. His firm now collaborates with ELASTICO3 of Alberto Del Maschio. Key projects include the Yuppie Ranch House in Budoia (2005), which integrates a green terrace and reclaimed stone walls; the Borgaretto Cemetery (2006) near Turin, where burial niches are placed underground to create a tree-lined piazza; and the Flower Pavilion in Chieri, a house and studio with exposed broken brick cladding. Pujatti participated in Franco Purini's VeMa ideal city at the 2006 Venice Biennale, proposing a structure that absorbs individual kitsch residences. His recent 1301 INN hotel extension in Piancavallo (2013) features a steeply pitched roof designed to shed snow and water, praised by critic Valerio Paolo Mosco for its functional ambiguity. Pujatti views architecture as a means to extract clients' dreams, combating mediocrity through material and spatial experimentation. He also served as a tutor at Architects meet in Selinunte, proposing a microclimate system using water nebulization for rest areas in the archaeological park.