Elena Manferdini (born 12 September 1974) is an Italian architect based in Venice, California, where she is the principal and owner of Atelier Manferdini. She has over twenty years of professional experience that spans across architecture, art, design, and education.
Manferdini has been a design faculty member at SCI-Arc since 2003, serving in several leadership roles, including chair of graduate programs from 2015 to 2025 and coordinator of the graduate thesis program from 2010 to 2015. During her leadership as chair, she helped shape the school's graduate curriculum and advanced the NAAB-accredited M.Arch I and M.Arch II programs while advocating for the adoption of emerging technologies in architecture, including the early integration of artificial intelligence. She also spearheaded international collaborations with institutions and partners in China, India, and Europe, expanding SCI-Arc's global presence and fostering cross-cultural exchange in architectural education.
Manferdini has led international discussions on artificial intelligence in architecture through symposia, conferences, public lectures, books, and publications, including The Intelligence Age symposium. Her work has explored the impact of AI on architectural design, education, and creative practice, contributing to broader conversations on the future of architecture and role of emerging technologies in the field.
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 an 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.
Professional career
In 2004, Manferdini founded her Los Angeles-based firm, Atelier Manferdini. The firm is dedicated to creating design and architecture, stemming from the desire to help make places of meaning within a community. The office has gone on to complete projects in the US, Europe, and Asia.
The firm has received multiple professional recognitions, including two AIA Miami design awards for the Alexander Montessori School facade in 2017 and the PAN Award for the best public art project in North America in 2016. Manferdini's artwork is also included in the permanent collections of SFMoMA and LACMA.
Manferdini is a committed advocate for the advancement of women in architecture, regularly contributing to international forums and initiatives that promote equity, visibility, and leadership within the profession, including through a featured interview with Madame Architect. Manferdini has also been invited as a keynote and featured speaker at international forums on architecture and design. She was the keynote speaker for Samatva: 75 Women Architects and Student Biennale, part of the first India Art Architecture and Design Biennale (IAADB), India's flagship cultural initiative inaugurated at the historic Red Fort in New Delhi, and a featured speaker at the AIA Los Angeles Women in Architecture Committee's annual Powerful conference.
In 2019, Manferdini was honored with the ICON Award as part of the LA Design Festival, which is a prize that recognizes iconic women who have made an indelible mark on Los Angeles, culture, and society in general through their work, character, and creative leadership, and more.
Selected works
Bloom in Duarte, CA Photography: Courtesy of CO Architects/ Tom Bonner
2025
ROME OPERA HOUSE: A series of AI-generated images and videos created for the 2025 - 26 season catalogue, covering 8 operas and 4 ballets, reimagining classical performances through contemporary digital aesthetics.
BLOOM: a permanent public artwork for City of Hope in Duarte, California.
CACTI: Reimagining the "riccio" technique with Nuoveforme’s expert craftsmanship, this design blends geometric precision and organic forms into versatile, stackable vases in endless color combinations.
PURPLE HAZE and PURPLE RAIN: large digital landscapes that wrap the two IQHQ-RaDD garage exits.
2023
INVISIBLE: an artwork for Dominion Energy Substation in Crystal City, transforms electricity’s unseen force into vibrant ceramic tiles and a folded sky of metal panels, inviting reflection on its creation and distribution.
2022
COLOR BY NUMBERS: a residential building façade playing with ideas of color perception and depth.
YOU and AI: explores AI’s role in creative thought through 100 AI-generated NFTs and 3D-printed sculptures, blending futuristic robotics with rococo design to symbolize the duality of virtual and physical existence.
COLLAGE COLLECTION: a mirror designed by Atelier Manferdini for Antonio Lupi, and exhibited during Edit Napoli (Luca Galofaro curator).
2021
BOTANICAL: A collection of 3 hand-tufted rugs designed by Elena Manferdini for Lindstrom
Interactive wall of Living Picture in China Photography: Courtesy of UAP
2019
LIVING PICTURE: Design of feature interactive wall, glazing graphic and elevator lobbies for Kaida Center of Science and Design in Dongguan, China.
TWG: Teapot in ceramic and 3D printed gold designed by Atelier Manferdini for TWG.
2018
LANE CRAWFORD: Augmented Reality shopping windows and pop-up stores design for the 8 luxury stores of Lane Crawford in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai for spring summer 2018.
TOCO Haus: Atelier Manferdini redesigned the facade, the interior surface finish and the garden roof deck and mezzanine raised roof of one of the most iconic buildings in the heart of Chinatown LA.
MEI MEI LOU: Atelier Manferdini designed a new pop colorful facade for a non-descriptive building in the heart of Chinatown, and transformed it into a must see landmark in the neighborhood.
2017
CABINET OF WONDERS: The gate of La Peer Hotel in West Hollywood, California, design by Atelier Manferdini is a contemporary version of the renaissance "Cabinet of Wonders".
HIBISCUS: Shading Panel design for Alexander Montessori School facade in Miami, Florida.
URBAN FABRIC RUGS: 12 hand tufted, hand-carved 100% New Zealand virgin wool rugs designed by Elena Manferdini and produced in limited edition by Urban Fabric Rugs.
2016
BUILDING PORTRAIT: permanent artwork for the Hermitage facade commissioned by The Allen Morris Company
Inverted landscapes GLASSAlessi, Blossom fruit basketDriade, Tracery coffee table
SEPHORA (New York, US) interactive installation for the temporary museum of scent, in collaboration with 4D4
MOROSO (Udine, Italy) “Filigrana” ottoman design
Various architectural models and design objects exhibited at the Italian Institute of Culture in Los Angeles as part of the Art Venice Biennale (Los Angeles, 2011).
Alessi (Crusinallo di Omegna, Italy) “Blossom” Stainless Steel fruit basket
“Works in Progress” solo show at the Italian Institute of Culture (Los Angeles, 2008).
Awards
Manferdini has received numerous awards for her contributions to architecture, design, and architectural education. In 2011, she was a recipient of an annual grant from United States Artists (USA) in the category of architecture and design. In 2013, she received COLA Fellowship given by City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs to support the production of original artwork. She also received Graham Awards for architecture in 2013 and 2015, the 2013 ACADIA Innovative Research Award of Excellence, and was selected as recipient for the Educator of the Year presidential award given by the AIA Los Angeles. In 2019, she was honored with the ICON Award at the LA Design Festival.
Selected Exhibitions
FLORA: A solo show on the work of Atelier Manferdini at IIC Gallery in Los Angeles. The exhibit was open from February 8, 2024 to May 3, 2024.
DOMUS, Pattern of Living: A solo show on the work of Atelier Manferdini at PDC Design Gallery in Los Angeles. The exhibit was open from September 21, 2022 to February 3, 2023.
WALL PAPER: AR landscape at Tallinn Architectural Biennale 2019, Beauty Matters. The exhibit was open from September 11 to 15 in Tallinn, Estonia.
Exhibiting “Second Nature”, an AR landscape at Biennale d'Architecture d'Orléans 2019, “The architectural Beast” show curated by Hernan Diaz Alonso at Frac Centre Val de Loire.
INK ON MIRROR: This exhibition have 8 architectural models and 22 drawings designed by Atelier Manferdini. The exhibit is open to public from Saturday, 17 September 2016 at Chinatown Gallery, Los Angeles, California.
Elena Manferdini was featured in the exhibition "Building Portraits" at the Industry Gallery in Los Angeles, California in 2016.
"SHARING MODELS: MANHATTNISMS” group show curated by Eva Franch i Gilabert at Storefront (New York, 2016)
AT HUMAN SCALE: site specific installation for BMW Korea campaign, full scale exhibition at the Design Art Work fair
BUILDING THE PICTURE: solo show curated by Zoe Ryan, large scale printed installation and video projections exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 2015)
"The future is not what it used to be” group show curated by Zoe Ryan, large scale printed installation and video projections exhibited at the 2nd Istanbul Design Biennial (Istanbul, 2014)
“Lost in Lace; transparent boundaries” group show curated by Lesley Millar, site specific installation “Inverted Crystal Cathedral” sponsored by Swarovski at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (Birmingham, 2012).
“Austrian Pavilion” group show curated by Eric Owen Moss, various architectural designs exhibited at the 12th International Architecture Biennale "People meet in architecture" (Venice, 2010)
“Skin and Bones” group exhibition curated by Brooke Hodge, various clothing designs at Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, 2007)
"Entropy: The Art in Architects" at the Koplin Del Rio Gallery in Los Angeles, February 2007.
2006:“Emerging talents, emerging technologies” group show curated by Neil Leach and Weiguo Xu; US West Coast Pavilion design at the Beijing Architecture Biennale (Beijing, 2006).
AD Chimera: The Architecture of Contemporary Utopias
In 2026, Architectural Design published Chimera: The Architecture of Contemporary Utopias, edited by Elena Manferdini and Damjan Jovanovic (Issue 2, Vol. 96, 2026; ISBN 979-8-9942982-1-3); 141 pages; English.
In 2026, The Intelligence Age, proceedings of the international symposium promoted by Politecnico di Milano, was edited by Elena Manferdini, Tommaso Brighenti, and Elvio Manganaro. (Mimesis Edizioni, 2026; ISBN 9791222331157); English.
In 2023, “The Domain of Paint” is the latest publication about Atelier Manferdini’s recent years of design activity. (Mashhad, Kasra Publishing, November 2022; ISBN978-622-6963-50-3); 270 pages; English and Persian.
In 2020, Phoenix Science Press published “Landscapes and Portraits” a monograph of the work created by Atelier Manferdini during the last six years of design activity. (Beijing, Beijing University of Technology, December 2019; OCLC1511285117ISBN978-7-5713-0654-0); English and Chinese.
In 2013, a monograph on the firm’s work "Elena Manferdini" was published by Equalbooks (Seoul, Equalbooks, January 2013; OCLC1074990361ISBN978-89-962904-0-7) 360 pages; English.
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