HPO
Hyperconnected province
Ferrara, IT

HPO Collective took shape in 2017 around the Architecture Faculty of Ferrara. The collective was born out of a state of boredom, later growing into an extracurricular parallel activity organised around weekly meetings at 21h00. With a studio space that can be found only on Whatsapp, HPO are redefining what it means to be an architectural collective.

 

Overcoming academic boredom

We are part of a generation that generally tends to step away from reality. After having returned from experiences abroad, we thought that being active could be the solution to our condition of academic boredom. Instead of devoting our time to the production of nice images for our portfolios we decided that the organization of events, lectures and small exhibitions could become a way to express ourselves as architects in the real world.

 

Never underestimate having fun

In 2018 we crafted ten big ‘gizmos’ for a public video installation called “Supercinema”. What could have simply been the setting up of some devices became a pivotal moment for our group. On that occasion, we decided to wear some cheap working suit that we had bought and customized just the evening before. For fun, we were developing a side project which became part of our identity and our method. To make this short story shorter, you should never underrate the unexpected outcomes of having fun.

 

Weekly meetings

HPO was born as a parallel activity to our curricular agenda and it still is, the only difference is that now instead of studying we are working. Every Monday at 21:00 everyone must attend a reunion, at that moment we discuss the progress of our work and set new tasks for the week. Each member is thus able to find a mate to realize self-financed or commissioned projects, with the supervision of the whole group. You might be asking yourselves when we have time for our romantic acquaintances if we dedicate our extra time to HPO. Well, sometimes, during the night, we dedicate differently.

 

A virtual studio space

A Whatsapp group has been our only office for the last two years. This tool allowed us to instantly express and interpret ideas through elementary drawings on a screen generating a common and universally accessible vocabulary between our eclectic group. Now that we will be able to move from a virtual to a physical space we hope that our new headquarters and the new tools we will be able to use will have the same impact on our way of working, on our projects and hopefully on the community surrounding us.

 

Reality as a companion

Since the beginning of our path, reality represented one of our best companions. By this, we mean that very often the reality is associated with the limits it imposes and it is when we struggle to overcome those limits that our creativity becomes in its own way useful. In the end, our biggest expectation is now to face as much reality as possible.

 

Shortening distance

The internet is the “hammer” which broke our walls: despite living in a small context, we achieved a big audience through social media. The word ‘province’ is associated with very precise cultural significance. It alludes to a particular way of thinking and thus of working. What happens when this dimension is crossed by the internet? Exiting our limited dimension without letting it is one of the new challenges that we will face as part of a “hyperconnected province”.

HPO workwear Alice Caporale

Photography Alice Caporale

HPO opening Andrea Bighi

Photography Andrea Bighi

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Photography Andrea Bighi

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Photography Camilla Caselli

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Photography Camilla Caselli

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Photography Courtesy of HPO

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