SJSU Art Galleries Tuesday Night Lecture: Elena Manferdini - Inside the Dream Factory
An acclaimed weekly lecture series brings in artists, designers, and critical theorists from around the world, broadening the students’ experiential base and complementing local offerings. All lectures and exhibitions are open to the general public free of charge. Unless otherwise indicated, all events are in person on Tuesday evenings from 5-6pm, SJSU Art Building #133.
Elena Manferdini will present her work for the Rome Opera House, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the creative process of developing the visual identity for its 2025–26 season. The lecture explores the Opera House as a contemporary dream factory, where architecture, performance, image-making, and digital technologies come together to construct new visual worlds.
Elena Manferdini is an Italian architect and designer whose work seamlessly blends creativity with technical precision. With over two decades of experience in architecture, industrial design, and public art, she leads Atelier Manferdini, her Venice, California–based design practice. The firm has completed projects across the United States, Europe, and Asia, operating at the intersection of art, architecture, and design. Manferdini’s work is celebrated for its vibrant use of color, innovative forms, and profound engagement with community and place.
In addition to her design practice, Elena is a dedicated educator, currently serving as design faculty at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) where she has been the Graduate Programs Chair from 2015 to 2025.
Manferdini has been recognized over the years with several prestigious academic appointments. She has been teaching at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and has held notable visiting positions, including the Howard Friedman Visiting Professorship of Practice at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), as well as Visiting Professorships at Cornell University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Seika University. In 2013, Manferdini received the Educator of the Year Presidential Award from the AIA Los Angeles, honoring her outstanding contributions to architectural education.
Since 2023, she has served as external senior advisor for the Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts in China. In 2024, the presidentially appointed 12-member Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board has selected Elena Manferdini for a Fulbright Specialist Award to the United Arab Emirates. Elena Manferdini joins the ranks of Fulbright alumni who have gone on to become heads of state, judges, ambassadors, CEOs, Nobel Laureates, and more.
Elena Manferdini’s scholarship explores the intersection of architecture, visual culture, color, representation, and emerging technologies. Her research is articulated through numerous books and essays, including Elena Manferdini, Portraits and Landscapes, The Domain of Paint, Full Spectrum: Colour in Contemporary Architecture, AD Chimera, and The Intelligence Age, among others.
She frequently lectures, and her work has been exhibited internationally in both architecture and art museums. She is a licensed engineer in Italy, and a licensed architect in Switzerland. She received a Professional Engineering Degree from the University of Civil Engineering (Bologna, Italy) and a Master of Architecture and Urban Design from the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA).
Manferdini’s contributions to the field of architecture and design have been recognized with numerous awards and honors. In 2019, she received the ICON Award, celebrating women whose work, character, and creative leadership have made a lasting impact on Los Angeles culture and society. Her Atelier Manferdini project for the Alexander Montessori School in Miami, Florida, earned two AIA Miami Design Awards in 2017: the People’s Choice Award of Excellence and the Merit Award of Excellence. Earlier recognitions include the 2016 PAN Award for Best Public Art Project in North America, the Graham Foundation Award for Architecture and the ACADIA Innovative Research Award of Excellence (both in 2013), and a United States Artists (USA) Grant in 2011 in the category of Architecture and Design.
Elena continues to inspire and shape the future of design through her passion and commitment to education.