Elisabetta Costa_Portfolio 2023

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PLAYED BY EAR

(2023) FASHION SHOW SET DESIGN

LOCATION: Milan, Italy

COMPANY: Gainsbury & Whiting

ROLE: 3D Designer, visualizer

DESIGN TIMELINE: < 1 week

EVENT: Milan Fashion Week

In October 2022, in occasion of an interview I have been asked to design a proposal for a fashion show in Milan. The brief required an industrial and minimal stage design while considering their limited budget and the need for easy assembly and disassembly procedures.

In order to integrate the site’s architectural elements, I designed serious of cladding elements the brick pillars with reflective aluminum panels. While on one side the shiny tinted aluminium creates a strong contrast with concrete floor and brick walls, the box-shaped volumes recall the structure of an industrial monolythic building. Breaking up the space along an oblique line, the scenography crosses the warehouse creating a different perception of the space.

Within a three-day timeframe, my production focused on 3D modeling and rendering, delivering a set of 15 final images. These visuals, created using Cinema4D and Vray, effectively communicated my concept and design to the client.

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APPENDIX FOR A PLAY

(2023) MA FINAL PROJECT

STUDIO: ADS 0, Royal College of Arts

TYPOLOGY: Theater design, storytelling

MEDIA: Image making, photography, creative writing

The project is staged spatial performance that aims to untangle specific behaviors rooted in socially constructed ideals of femininity. Drawing inspiration from the book ‘La Vera Signora,’ a guide to proper etiquette for ‘real ladies,’ the project manipulates its contents to create six distinct stages for the play. Through this design, the intention is to highlight the enduring presence of gender stereotypes in our society while offering a fresh narrative and speculation on the behaviors and performances of bodies. Each stage serves as an act in the new script, exploring the interconnectedness of space, rituals, and the construction of self-identity.

Employing techniques such as 3D modeling, rendering, and image manipulation, I presented the project as a live performance. By reciting a script that combines original text from the book with speculative narration, I introduced the audience to the play, unveiling the research and unraveling the significance of the designed stages. The culmination of the performance included a film revealing the true nature of these spaces as fictional theater stages, highlighting their temporality and their role in a broader narrative and spatial exploration of domestic environments and female roles. The stages were modeled and rendered using Rhino 7 and Vray.The project and research are available on RCA 2022 online show

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2. Visual from ‘The feast’ 3. ‘The rehearsal’

CITY LIFE MILAN

(2020/2023) ARCHITECTURE

LOCATION: Milan, Italy

COMPANY: Bjarke Ingels Group

ROLE: Desing Assistant / Junior Designer

CLIENT: Generali - City Life

DESIGN TIMELINE: Stage 3_June - November 2020 + Stage 5_February 2023_on going

STAGE: RIBA Stage 2-5

PROGRAM: Office, headquarter and retail design

The building is inspired by the traditional portico, which is here used as a device to solve multiple contextual challenges. The portico is an extension of an interior space to the exterior allowing the climate to be enjoyed throughout the year. With a light roof structure and thin fins (working in tension to prevent uplift) the building’s canopy serves as an inverse portico blurring the boundary between public and private, indoor and out.

Two private courtyards allow workers a place of respite to enjoy during the workday, while the large, central garden is offered as a gift back to the city of Milan. Combining efficient and flexible workspaces with unparalleled amenity, the building develops as a cascading a ring of amenity connected by stepping external terraces, capped with a rooftop bar overlooking the Alps.

TENANT A

NIA: 1,511m2

OCCUPANCY: 10 m2/PP

WORKSTATIONS:153

MEETING ROOMS OCCUPANCY: 60

TENANT B

NIA: 1,864m2

OCCUPANCY: 10 m2/PP

WORKSTATIONS: 186

MEETING ROOMS OCCUPANCY: 76

SINGLE TENANT

NIA: 1,280m2

OCCUPANCY: 10 m2/PP

WORKSTATIONS:129

MEETING ROOMS OCCUPANCY: 52

Prime space

Support/meeting rooms

Circulation

Lobby Cores & Toilet blocks

Interlayer

FORM- GIVING

(2019) EXHIBITION DESIGN

LOCATION: Danish Architecture Center, Copenhagen & Triennale di Milano

COMPANY: Bjarke Ingels Group

ROLE: Design Assistant

CLIENT: DAC, Triennale di Milano

DESIGN TIMELINE: 2 months

STAGE: RIBA Stage 2 and 3

PROGRAM: Temporary exhibiotn

During my internship at Bjarke Ingels Group in Copenhagen, I had the chance to participate to the curation of the FORMGIVING exhibition for Triennale di Milano 2020. The first Formigiving exhibition has taken place, in fact, at the Danish Center of Architecture in Copenhagen, and it was meant to move to Milan in occasion of Triennale di Milano.

The exhibition consisted in a collection of 70+ BIG’s project, aiming to offer insight into the mind of the architect and his design philosophy. The team focused not only on designing the physical setting and layout of the exhibition, but also on collecting and choosing images, models and objects to display, in order to develop and organize the collection to expand and improve the audience of the exhibition itself.

Therefore, the team has been asked in autumn 2019 to adapt Formgiving to the circular space in Palazzo dell’Arte, Milan.The process not only included reimagining the physical setting of the exhibition, but also various consideration on transportation of models, plynths and prints. Unfortunately, the even was canceled due to the pandemic of COVID-19.

Above. Photograph from the exhibition in Copenhagen

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WUNDER- KAMMER

(2019) EXHIBITION & INTERIOR DESIGN

LOCATION: Palazzo Settimanni, Florence

COMPANY: Studio 10

ROLE: Design Assistant

CLIENT: Gucci

DESIGN TIMELINE: 18 months

STAGE: RIBA Stage 2

PROGRAM: Archive, museum

During my internship at Studio10 in Florence, I worked on the restoration of the Renaissance Palazzo Settimanni as the new physical archive and private museum of Gucci. The project was inspired by sixteenth century ‘Wunderkammer’ or ‘Cabinet of curiosities’, physical encyclopedic collections of objects whose categorical boundaries were, in Renaissance Europe, yet to be defined. The term cabinet originally described a room rather than a piece of furniture.

My role as design assistant consisted in cataloguing all the different pieces of leather goods and products, diving them in different categories in order to allocate them in various rooms. I have also focused on helpiing with the design for ad-hoc display cabinets, like the ones for the Swan room, as well re-arranging interiors and plan layout of the different rooms. Especially, I spent most of my internship designing interiors and cabinet for Alessandro Michele’s private collection room, Serapis. Designed to contain only few limited edition items, the wardrobe resembles a mirrored treasure chest that opens on rails like a security safe. This design has been eventually slightly modified in a later stage, as the project has been completed and published in 2021 - see ‘Inside the New Gucci Archive in Florence’ on Vogue.

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Above. Visual of the open cabinet. The original design considered mirrored panels on sides.

Above. Section and elevation of study cabinet for Swan room.

3. Detail of shelf rigging joint with wall

4. View of ultimated Swan room.

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SERAPIS ROOM

CABINET PLAN CLOSED

CABINET SECTION CLOSED

CABINET PLAN OPEN

CABINET SECTION OPEN

Above. Photographs of ultimated Serapis room and cabinet design.

OUT OF HAND

(2023) ANIMATION AND MOVING IMAGE SHOW

LOCATION: Bath, UK

ROLE: Co-curator and exhibition design lead

TEAM: Loic Kreyden and Lamprini Louikaidi

CLIENT: Roseberry Road Studios, Bath

DESIGN TIMELINE: 2 months

BUDGET: £1500

EVENT: Fringe Art Festival, Bath

‘Out of Hand’ is a independently curated exhibition marking the opening of the newly established Roseberry Road Art Studios in Bath. The exhibition brought together 13 artists with a common background in animation, but that have explored various visual art fields, showcasing their expanded practices in an ex woodworkshop near Bath Spa campus.

In collaboration with RCA graduates and animators Loic Kreyden and Lamprini Louikaidi, I joined the project as co-curator and design lead. Given the extremely short timeline and low budget, the spatial arrangenment reflects the intention of making of the exhibited work the main focus element. Few plyinths and wooden boards are allocated within the two open spaces and the attic, creating a natural flow to experience the space and the show. While on the ground floor, given the lack of natural light, the exhibited work is mainly moving image and film, on the first floor are allocated sculptures and paintings.

The project has been considerably challenging for various reasons, but allowed me to experience the process of curation from end to end. My responsabilities encompassed working closely with the artists through the first phase of the project, while in a later moment I was taking care of budget, deliveries, and time schedule.

Above. Photographs of Ground flloor and mezzanine (left bottom)

Above. Photographs of first floor exhibition.