Featuring a conversation between Ethel Baraona, Francesca Hughes, Albert Fuentes moderated by Manuel Orazi and Alberto Saibene.
Umarell follows the construction of Lorenteggio’s Library in Milan and is named after a light-hearted Bolognese term used to describe retired men who spend their time watching construction sites and offering unsolicited advice to workers.
Published twice a year as 100x70 cm portrait posters, Umarell is posted on the walls of the neighbourhood of Giambellino-Lorenteggio. Each issue includes Images and text. The images are local. They portray the library’s site and the neighbourhood Giambellino-Lorenteggio. They look at its people, its buildings, its histories, its streets. Their authors have visited the site in person. The texts arrive from outside Milan. They discuss what entails to construct a library, how one collects a large number of books in a specific site. Their authors do not live in Italy and might have never visited Lorenteggio.
Umarell 01 (April 2024) included the text ‘La Biblioteca di Middleton’ by Robin Middleton and four images of Giambellino-Lorenteggio by Giovana Silva.
Umarell 02 (November 2024) includes the text ‘Manuel Corrada’ by Jocelyn Froimovich, and one image of the Osram Factory from the Gabriele Basilico Archives.
Umarell 03 (April 2025) included the text “What is a library, anyway?” by Ethel Baraona and images of Lorenteggio by Guido Guidi.
Umarell 04 (November 2025) included the text “There are books” by Francesca Hughes and Jonathan Meyer and images of Giambellino-Lorenteggio by Simone Marcolin.
Umarell 05 (by April 2026) will include the text “Music in the Library” by Albert Fuentes and Fani Manresa and images of Giambellino-Lorenteggio by Maxime Delvaux.
Umarell is edited by Jocelyn Froimovich and Urtzi Grau. It has been designed by Numa-Merino. Umarell is supported by the Research Development Initiative Fund (RDIF) and the Foster Wicks Endowment of University of Liverpool as well as the Ministry of Housing and Urbanism in Spain.
Ethel Baraona (Barcelona, 1978) is a writer, curator, and co-founder of the independent publishing platform dpr-barcelona. Her work engages critically with contemporary architectural culture through books, exhibitions, and editorial projects, she currently teaches at ETH Zürich. Francesca Hughes (London, 1968) is an architect, writer, and educator. Her research explores the relationship between architecture, error, and environmental ethics. She currently is a Vincent Scully Visiting Professor of Architectural History at Yale. Albert Fuentes (Barcelona, 1980) is an architect, editor, and curator whose work spans publishing and exhibition-making, often focusing on alternative narratives of architecture and the city. Manuel Orazi (Macerata, 1974) is an architectural historian, editor, and critic. He is an editor at Quodlibet and writes on contemporary architecture and urban culture. Alberto Saibene (Milan, 1965) is a writer, publisher, and cultural historian, founder of the publishing house Humboldt Books, whose work bridges literature, geography, and architecture through essays and editorial projects.
Urtzi Grau (Bilbao, 1976) is an architect and senior lecturer at UTS Sydney, while Jocelyn Froimovich (Viña del Mar, 1981) is an architect and lecturer at the University of Liverpool. Together, Grau and Froimovich are key members of the team designing the New Lorenteggio Library in Milan.