Olivetti Theater | The 7th Edition of the Manni Group Design Award Begins

Designing the future in the place where the dialogue between industry, culture, and community was born

The new edition of the Manni Group Design Award invites architects and designers from around the world to engage with one of the most iconic contexts of Italian industrial architecture: the city of Ivrea, recognized by UNESCO as the “Industrial City of the 20th Century” and cradle of Adriano Olivetti’s enterprise and social vision.

After exploring themes focused on urban innovation, offsite technologies and sustainability, this year’s competition centers on a unique heritage: ideally completing the original Olivetti masterplan by imagining a new building dedicated to fostering dialogue between work, culture and community.
A theme that once again stands at the heart of contemporary architecture, where offsite construction becomes a valuable design tool to translate Olivetti’s vision into today’s legacy.

A site of historical value: the street Le Corbusier called “the most beautiful in the world”

The competition, promoted by Manni and YAC – Young Architects Competitions, concerns the adaptive reuse of a historic building within the Olivetti complex and the creation of new areas for cultural activities linked to the Olivetti Leadership Institute.

Designing in Ivrea today means working with an extraordinary architectural and social heritage: a city conceived as a model of harmony between industry, quality of life, welfare and culture.
A radical vision that anticipated modern concepts such as corporate social responsibility, human-centered design and sustainable innovation.

Olivetti Theater: a renewed centrality for culture, community and education

The new theme of the competition, Olivetti Theater, invites participants to imagine a space capable of dialoguing with Olivetti’s legacy while responding to contemporary needs.
A theater that is not only a place for performances but a cultural and social infrastructure designed to:

• host the educational and outreach activities of the Olivetti Leadership Institute;
• regenerate a historic building with functions open to the community;
• explore new ways of experiencing the relationship between work, culture and territory.

More than a simple architectural intervention, the project aims to build a legacy that reactivates Olivetti’s thinking on community, business ethics and the role of culture in places of production.

Offsite construction as a bridge between past and future

How do offsite technologies form the core of the Manni Group Design Award?

This construction approach represents the ideal bridge between Adriano Olivetti’s industrial vision-based on quality, efficiency, innovation and people’s well-being and the challenges of the present.

Today, offsite construction makes it possible to:

• elevate the quality of buildings through industrialized processes;
• reduce construction time and environmental impact;
• promote reversible and upgradable solutions;
• enhance design as a virtuous synthesis of aesthetics and performance.

An ideal language for intervening on a heritage site without altering its identity, regenerating it instead through advanced and sustainable technologies.

The support of ROCKWOOL Core Solutions: a partner aligned with a sustainable future

ROCKWOOL Core Solutions is part of the ROCKWOOL Group and offers innovative, tailor-made solutions for integrating stone wool into finishing systems.
Within the ROCKWOOL Group, the division is dedicated to enriching the lives of all who come into contact with these solutions. Its expertise directly addresses many of today’s major challenges in sustainability and development, from energy consumption to noise pollution, from fire resilience to water scarcity and flooding.

These values make ROCKWOOL a natural supporter of the Manni Group Design Award since its earliest editions. The company’s commitment to promoting architecture that balances performance, heritage conservation and user well-being aligns perfectly with the spirit of the “Olivetti Theater” edition. Its support strengthens the mission of the competition: to envision buildings that not only meet contemporary needs but create a legacy of quality, culture and sustainability for future generations.

Patronages: Panattoni and ADI – two leading institutions that enhance the value of the theme

This edition is supported by two international organizations, each connected, through different perspectives, to the theme of regeneration and the culture of design.

Panattoni

Panattoni is Europe’s leading developer of industrial and logistics real estate, known for projects that integrate performance, sustainability and territorial regeneration.
Its patronage reinforces one of the award’s key values: rethinking productive spaces as places of responsible innovation, a vision rooted in Olivetti’s legacy, which continues to inspire the present.

ADI – Associazione per il Disegno Industriale

ADI, promoter of the prestigious Compasso d’Oro, represents Italian excellence in design and recognizes the value of the project as a cultural, social, and industrial tool.
Its patronage highlights offsite architecture as a contemporary expression of Italian design, capable of combining aesthetics, functionality and responsibility.

A competition that unites history, technology, and social vision

The Manni Group Design Award – Olivetti Theater seeks to gather ideas capable of enhancing the historic identity of Olivetti’s architecture through the use of offsite solutions as an innovative and sustainable design language to create a new cultural hub open to the community.

This is not just an ideas competition, but an opportunity to rethink the relationship between creative industries, enterprise, and territory, continuing the legacy that made Ivrea a unique social laboratory on the world stage.

Registrations are now open.
We invite architects, designers, students, and multidisciplinary teams to participate and contribute to a new chapter of the Olivetti vision.