Olivetti Theatre

Olivetti Theatre calls for designs that reinterpret theatrical space through the lens of Olivetti’s modernist heritage, emphasizing innovation, culture, and architecture.

Bahattin Duran1 February 20261 Mins read17

Submission: Wednesday, March 18, 2026

Registration: Sunday, March 15, 2026

Prize: €6,000

Fee: €85 / team

Olivetti Theatre, the new competition by YAC and Manni Group to imagine the completion of the original plan of the library of the Olivetti complex, in Ivrea.

Some entrepreneurial stories transcend their time.

Stories of visionaries that become legends, of men and women capable of imagining a different world, challenging the ordinary and, thus, molding the future.

The name of Olivetti belongs among these stories.

The first computers, the economic boom, the industrial city of Ivrea: Olivetti is the Italian expression of an enlightened entrepreneurship that has left a mark, becoming the icon of philanthropy and social progress.

A global story with strong Italian roots, ingrained in the small city of Ivrea, which today bears the marks of the economic miracle of the time, molded into what Le Corbusier defined as “the most beautiful street in the world”.

Big architecture with a distinctly modern taste pairs with large green expanses, reaching a high quality in the life and work environment which still today, in many contexts, is hard to achieve – as it is the result of an ethical vision of the human being, work, and society.

Despite some unfavourable events, Olivetti’s legacy still pulses vigorously, represented today – among the various initiatives – by the OLI Institute, a school of excellence based on Olivetti’s leadership model, which is housed in the old library from 1958.

Today, the institute dreams big and – supported by Manni Group – invites designers to imagine the completion of the original plan of the library – which was never fully realised –, through the creation of the third, never-constructed building of the Olivetti complex along with a large auditorium.

This is the question of Olivetti Theatre, the competition by Yac and Manni Group to continue in the design of one of the most known entrepreneurial and architectural stories on the planet, defining a new time for one of the names of Italian entrepreneurship which has made history: Olivetti.

YAC and Manni Group thank the designers who will take on this challenge.

Sources:Competition Source

Written by

Bahattin Duran

Architect specializing in digital products and content creation. Currently managing learnarchitecture.online and illustrarch.com, offering valuable resources and blogs for the architectural community.