francescatorzo.it

present team

arch. nicolò conti, arch. giacoma di vieste, arch. august kraft fossmark, arch. gabriele pace, arch. silvia ponte, arch. yang tian, arch. francesca torzo

past collaborators:

arch. riccardo amarri, logan amont, emilie appercé, laura bertagno, pablo brenas, tomàs cabral, yangnan cai, francesca caravello, massimo contini, letizia fuerer, lorenzo gatta, daniel giezendanner, arch. előd zoltàn golicza, arch. marco guerra, arch. liaohui guo, kaidan hou, felix jungo, cyril kamber, besart krasniqi, arch. antoine lebot, jovan minic, arch. julia nahmani, arch. andrea nardi, leone nicolis di robilant, arch. anna oliva, anna opitz, davide orsi, costanza passuello, alessandro pecci, arch. martina piccolo, giovanni rinaldi, arch. francesco rizzi, juri schonenberger, shaohan tang, domenico singha pedroli, xin tang, nicola torniamenti, gion balthasar von albertini, jianfeng wang, jie zhang, yatong zhao, tong zhao

website design ramdath mos from an idea by jovan & nicola

curriculum vitae

Francesca Torzo (Padova 1975) studies in TU Delft, ETSAB Barcelona, AAM in Mendrisio and IUAV in Venezia. She develops the diploma at AAM in Mendrisio, thanks to winning the scholarship of the first Borsa Borromini, and graduates with honours by IUAV in Venezia in 2001 with arch. P. Zumthor, prof. U. Tubini, arch. M. Kreisler, eng. J. Conzett. In 2001 develops an experimental dry construction in stone together with eng. Jurg Conzett and HTW, Chur. In 2001-2002 works as project architect by Peter Zumthor Architekturburo Haldenstein, and in 2003 by Bosshard Vaquer Architekten Zurich.

In 2008 she starts her own office in Genova.

Her teaching activity begins as an assistant at Atelier Bearth in AAM in Mendrisio, from 2009 to 2017, and continues as professor at Bergen Arkitekthøgskole in Norway, from 2017 to 2021; since 2020 chairs a design atelier at AAM in Mendrisio.

She has lectured at a number of international schools and cultural institutions.

In 2018 she was invited as participant to the 16th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, FREESPACE, curated by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara and appointed Chairman 2018-2019 of Maarten Van Severen Foundation in Gent.

In 2020 she wins the Moira Gemill Prize for Emerging Architecture.

The project Z33 house for contemporary art in Hasselt is awarded the international 2018 Piranesi award, the Premio Italiano di Architettura in 2020 and is among the awarded five finalists of the Mies van der Rohe Award 2022.

office profile

The studio consists of a small international team of young architects with a core of few stable ones and a high turnover of the others. Collaborators are named project architect for individual assignments, but they are required to train knowledge and awareness of all projects running in the office. Such an approach calls for an honest and straightforward engagement. The choice of entrusting with the combination of individual responsibility with a common dialectic is grounded on the belief that thoughts need to be daily exposed to a critical process in order to achieve a shareable clarity.

The teaching and the academic research, the collaboration with builders and the design practice challenge and influence each other in the perspective of building a public discourse, which may support the awakening of curiosity for understanding our way of living and confidence in taking responsibility for it.
The studio has intentionally chosen for more than 10 years a defiladed position to gain the time and the necessary quietness to focus on the work.

The process of design starts for us from an understanding of the material constraints and of the cultural context where we are called to operate. The goal is that of formulating the primary spatial relations, which have to be preserved as a narrative through the complete process. We start from a kind of “nebula”, diffused yet made of atoms and molecules. We draw over and over chasing a vision of something that does not exist yet but that hosts the world we live in and its memory. This activity of collecting, hunting, and discerning demands patience and a sort of empathy with the contradictions of human life.

selection of works

e18 “Day by day” exhibition design at aut, Innsbruck, AU

2022 - 2023 on going

n27 Giardini residential building, Celle Ligure, IT

2022 - 2026 on going

n26 Campi Olmo sport club, Celle Ligure, IT

2022 - 2026 on going

r22 private family house, Montreuil Paris, FR

2022 - 2024 on going

n24 Bagni Olmo restaurant, Varazze, IT

2020 - 2024 on going

n22 Villa di Plinio residential complex, Celle Ligure, IT

2020 - 2025 on going

n15 Podere La Pianella, holiday house, Procchio, IT

2016 -2024 ongoing

e22 “Loose times” exhibition proposal, London, UK

2022 invited by the Barbican, non realized

r14 Pavilion house, holiday house, Sorano, IT

2016 - 2025 on going

e22 “I nostri tempi” proposal the Italian Pavilion, Venice, IT

2022 invited by Biennale di Venezia, non realized

n20 Lemaire accessories boutique, Paris, FR

2020 - 2021 realized

n20 Lemaire HQ, Paris, FR

2020 - 2021 realized

n20 Edison apartment, Paris, FR

2021 - 2022 realized

p12 Stelo, exhibition display, Mestre, IT

2021 commission by Fondazione M9, realized

n19 Tenda, stone pavilion, Verona, IT

2020 - 2021 invited by Marmomacc, non realized

r21 Priamar student housing, Savona, IT

2019 - 2020, preliminary and definitive design

n16 Bamboo Library Pavillion, Yangshuo, CN

r18 Bishan Dance School, Huangshan, CN

2019 ongoing

e11 “Chaosmos” solo exhibition at Triennale Milano, IT

2019 realized

p11 Paolo low chair