Trailer The tailored project

Not eligible for AIA CES Credits

The lesson deals with the design themes proposed by the Piuarch architectural studio, founded in Milan in 1996 by Francesco Fresa, Germán Fuenmayor, Gino Garbellini and Monica Tricario. Building on the architects’ biographies and their various educational paths, the lesson highlights the multiplicity of perspectives and references that are the basis of the multidisciplinary and transversal approach of the studio. In particular, from the founders’ words emerge influences and cultural references that sink into the Latin American and Oriental culture.

The modern South American utopia; the abstract and kinetic art; architects like Carlos Raúl Villanueva and Gio Ponti. Different research and learning paths for the Piuarch founders who had shared the experience in the Gregotti studio, the project for the Bicocca, time when we can set the beginning of the studio. The lesson continues by addressing the practice and the method of the work proposed by Piuarch, a process that involves continuous reflection and reinterpretation starting from the project, where the goal is that of simplification and where the relationship with the context, with the place, are fundamental elements to be taken into consideration.

A work that involves three phases: the idea, the development and the construction site, then passing from the creative act to the relationship with the client up to the moment of verification of the project, with its execution. An architecture, the one proposed by Piuarch that does not aim at being "recognizable" but at fitting into the context, as if the works designed "had always been there". Projects that are the central part of the lesson, a path that addresses and analyzes the most important achievements of the studio, revealing the compositional aspects and the challenges faced: from the Porta Nuova building in Milan, "the white wave", to the offices "Quattro Corti” of St. Petersburg, passing through the "Espaço" urban regeneration project in São Paulo, Brazil and finally the various projects carried out for Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci.

An itinerary that highlights the themes that characterize the Piuarch studio: the search for architectural dynamism, the inclusion of buildings within the context, experimentation through competitions, the architect's "social" role, the urban transformation also through little but real interventions, the tailored approach to the project and the constant search for quality, also given by the attention to detail. Themes and projects that herald the section of the lesson that deals with the advice, even practical, of the Piuarch studio to tackle the profession today, trying to "always look back" to the place where you design, to the history and to the Italian city.

Educational objectives

• You will get to know the educational and professional experience of Piuarch's founders: Francesco Fresa, German Fuenmayor, Gino Garbellini and Monica Tricario, focusing in particular on cultural and architectural references
• You will understand the importance of context analysis in the broadest sense of the term (geographical, historical, cultural, economic and social) as a binding tool that guides and directs the design process
• You will learn the sartorial and site-specific design method of the studio, which then translates into the realization of office buildings, retail, residential complexes, recovery interventions and urban regeneration
• You will deepen the knowledge, details and dynamics of some Piuarch projects: from the work for headquarters of some of the major Italian and foreign fashion houses to experimentation and design research for social installations.