Uni(wif)ied: WiFi Structures for Rural Villages
Fabrizio Furiassi
Fabrizio Furiassi is an architect and scholar with over twelve years of professional experience, including at Obra Architects in New York and Sou Fujimoto Architects in Tokyo. He teaches at the University of Basel, where he is Program Head of the AA Visiting School Basel and a Doctoral Fellow of the Swiss National Science Foundation. He has also taught at Parsons School of Design in New York, Syracuse University in Florence, La Sapienza University of Rome, and the AA Visiting School in Seoul. His work examines the politics of architecture through the lens of materiality and technology, and has been supported by research residencies the Canadian Centre for Architecture and the Swiss Institute in Palermo. Fabrizio holds master’s degrees from Columbia university GSAPP, the Strelka Institute, and the University of Rome.
Catherine Ahn is an architect and educator with over fourteen years of international work experience in cultural, residential, and civic projects at Obra Architects, SITE, and Andrew Franz Architect. Catherine teaches design studio at NYIT and has taught at the AA Visiting School Seoul. Catherine was a Fellow at the Institute for Public Architecture, investigating new modes of community engagement with industrial stakeholders around Newtown Creek, and has completed research projects on construction waste and environmental justice and collective design pedagogies. Catherine holds an MArch degree from Princeton University and a BArch from The Cooper Union in New York.
Catherine Ahn and Fabrizio Furiassi were recently awarded the Columbia University GSAPP Incubator Prize and the Independent Projects Grant from the Architectural League of New York and the New York State Council on the Arts. Their collaborative work has been exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 as part of Intelligens, the main exhibition at the Arsenale curated by Carlo Ratti.
Across the EU, access to reliable and affordable internet is uneven. World Economic Forum data from 2022 shows that 2.4% of the EU population was unable to afford an internet connection; among people at risk of poverty, the figure reached 7.6%. Rural areas remain especially affected by inadequate infrastructure, while affordability and limited digital literacy continue to restrict access to information, education, remote employment, public services, and civic participation, often leading to migration.
Uni(wi)fied is a dialogical design-and-research project that develops architectural prototypes for community-designed, community-owned WiFi structures providing free internet access in rural areas and underserved communities. By engaging residents, municipalities, activists, technologists, and grassroots organizations in collaborative knowledge-building and discursive design processes, it seeks to instigate self-sustaining, culturally grounded internet infrastructure that centres and empowers residents.
Uni(wi)fied employs the synthetic capacity of architecture to translate multiple needs and aspirations into coherent spatial interventions. Combining WiFi equipment with public space, the prototypes provide an immediate response to communities lacking this essential infrastructure while creating places for gathering, learning, working, and exchange, while also testing signal coverage, technical feasibility, and patterns of internet use for future implementation of permanent infrastructure.
Uni(wi)fied proposes a replicable design methodology that explores new forms of public engagement and infrastructure at the intersection of architecture, connectivity, and social equity. Through workshops with multigenerational and multicultural groups, particularly from social-housing and low-income communities, it repositions the figure of the architect as a facilitator of collaborative design that shapes shared environments grounded in participation and long-term stewardship.