Francesca Torzo Architects

Salita Superiore di S. Rocchino 47
16122 Genova

The studio consists of a small international team of young architects with a core of a few architects constantly working in the office and a high turnover of changing architects. Employees are designated as project architects for individual tasks, but they must train knowledge and awareness of all projects running in the office. Such an approach requires an honest and direct commitment. The decision to entrust the combination of individual responsibility with a joint dialogue is based on the conviction that thoughts must be subjected to a critical process on a daily basis in order to achieve clarity.

Teaching and academic research, collaboration with builders and design practice challenge and influence each other in the perspective of building a public discourse that can support the awakening of curiosity about the understanding of our way of life and the confidence to take responsibility for it. For more than 10 years, the studio has deliberately opted for a defied position in order to gain the time and the necessary peace of mind to concentrate on the work.

For us, the design process begins with an understanding of the material constraints and the cultural context in which we have to work. The aim is to formulate the primary spatial references that must be preserved as a narrative throughout the entire process. We assume a kind of "fog" that is scattered, but consists of atoms and molecules. We draw again and again, chasing a vision of something that does not yet exist, but that houses the world we live in and its memory. This activity of gathering, hunting, and discerning requires patience and a certain empathy for the contradictions of human life.

Text: Francesca Torzo Architects