In an era of raising environmental awareness, rethinking how we build and reuse materials has become essential. Circular architecture, where resources are carefully recovered, reassembled and reimagined, offers not only a sustainable alternative to traditional construction, but also a powerful way to enhance social and cultural renewal. The small town of Nepi, in the Agro Falisco region north of Rome, has become a living example of this vision.
As part of the Eyes Hearts Hands project, Nepi is the Italian lighthouse of the New European Bauhaus (NEB), a program that combines sustainability, beauty and inclusion. On June 29th, the town hosted a collective event that brought together local communities, academic institutions, and cultural organisations to co-design and co-build a new public space based on circular design and active participation. A central part of the day was the presentation of an architectural installation that captures the essence of the project.
At the heart of this intervention lies a structure entirely created through an upcycling process. Architectural elements from the Festival des Cabanes (originally held at the Academy of France in Rome – Villa Medici) were carefully dismantled, stored and reassembled in Nepi by students and architects from both countries, in collaboration with Roma Tre University and the RIMOND Group.
The project was locally coordinated by the Biodistretto della Via Amerina and Forre, an association born from organic farming that now champions decarbonisation, clean energy and sustainable tourism. A new Citizen Energy Community (CEC) also emerged from this process, thus embracing the values of energy transition and active citizenship in the town’s development.
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