Professor Paolo Desideri, Ambassador of Italian Architecture in Beijing for the Italian Design Day 2026

On Tuesday, March 10, 2026, the Embassy of Italy and the Italian Cultural Institute in Beijing celebrated the tenth edition of the Italian Design Day worldwide, an initiative promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation together with the Ministry of Culture – Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity, dedicated to the international promotion of Italian design, architecture, and creative industries.
For the 2026 edition, Professor Paolo Desideri, an internationally renowned architect and professor in our department until 2023, was invited as Ambassador of Italian Architecture. He delivered a lectio magistralis focusing on the role of design as a tool for transforming the contemporary city.
This year’s theme for the Italian Design Day – “Re-Design. Regenerating spaces, objects, ideas, relationships” – encouraged reflection on how design and architecture can help address today’s global challenges by contributing to urban regeneration, the reuse of objects and the redefinition of everyday living spaces.
Taking inspiration from this theme, Prof. Desideri delivered a lecture titled “Creativity as a Problem-Solving Tool: The Challenge of Italian Architecture”, presenting a selection of significant projects from his work and the design research developed in recent years.
Among the works illustrated, special attention was given to the redevelopment of the Ex Mattatoio and the spaces of Roma Tre University, a project that transformed one of the most important decommissioned industrial complexes in Rome into a university and cultural hub capable of connecting historical memory, new urban functions and academic life.
The conference also featured the presentation of the “Porta Metronia” station on Rome’s Metro Line C, built by Metro C S.c.p.A., led by Webuild and Vianini Lavori. The project is an example of integration between contemporary infrastructure, archaeological heritage and architectural quality, contributing to the redefinition of a significant part of the city’s urban fabric.
Both projects demonstrate how architecture can reinterpret complex contexts, restoring quality to public spaces and generating new relationships among cities, infrastructures and communities.
Professor Desideri’s participation in the Italian Design Day in Beijing is part of a broader program of cultural diplomacy aimed at promoting Italian excellence worldwide and strengthening cultural dialogue between Italy and China through design, research and creativity.
“Through IDD2026, the Italian Cultural Institute in Beijing sought to show—thanks to the presence of star architect Paolo Desideri—the latest achievements Italy has made in the field of urban regeneration and the enhancement of cultural heritage. The recent museum-stations of the Rome metro system and the urban regeneration generated by the development of Roma Tre University sparked strong interest among institutions, developers, and professionals attending the conference organized by the IIC Beijing and the Embassy of Italy in China,” stated Federico Roberto Antonelli, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Beijing.
The Italian Design Day worldwide is one of the main tools through which Italy promotes internationally the value of design and architecture as drivers of innovation, sustainability and quality of life. As in this edition, the initiative once again offered an opportunity to highlight the ability of Italian design to combine tradition, research and contemporary vision.