• Arch. PAOLO BRESCIA

    Guest Speaker, AAP for Architectural Design 2016, Italy

    Arch. PAOLO BRESCIA

    Guest Speaker, AAP for Architectural Design 2016, Italy

    Biography

    POSITION

    Partner at OBR – Open Building Research

    PRESENTATION

    “Architecture as an evolutive process”
    “Design is the result of an evolutive process, crossing boundaries, taking risks, also making mistakes, but always exploring the future and the unknown, which is the only place we have to go to, if we have to go somewhere.” – arch. Paolo Brescia

    Lehariya Jaipur, India – OBR Open Building Research

    The Lehariya project defines a cluster through the articulation of four buildings laid out like a system of parallel fingers slightly tapered to open the internal spaces towards the view of the landscape. The ground floor dedicated to retail is completely open to the city. The upper floors are designed as extremely flexible open-plan offices. The buildings are encased by vertical screens, which extend themselves beyond the buildings, creating an overlapping effect of progressive transparency when seen from the street, while addressing the specific climatic conditions of Jaipur by functioning like vertical canopies that shade the buildings. Just like a textile, the screens are created by an interlaced structural system of tana (warp) and bana (weft), composing a system of 60,000 vertical ceramic baguettes woven onto vertical metal bars, to appear as a macro textile protecting the buildings. The design of the façade has been developed in collaboration with local artists morphing the traditional pattern of Lehariya with parametric modelling, incorporating climatic and technical requirements. The design intent is to reinforce the sense of place, promoting the sense of community, sharing the same values connected to local roots and enhancing the individual identities of the people. The screens forming the façades are thought as a medium to re-connect contemporary architecture to the art & craft traditional of Jaipur: the ceramic baguettes, hand-made by the craft producers from Rajasthan, broaden the meaning of multiplicity, where (handmade) repetition is not mere (industrial) multiplication, but a way to demonstrate the magnificence of local materials and iconography. Through the transposition from the small scale of arts & craft to the larger scale of architecture, the intrinsic variation in the hand-made ceramic baguettes becomes evident, without altering but, instead, enhancing the building process, as well as the life of the people involved in the building process at any level (designers, artisans, producers, inhabitants).

    BIOGRAPHY

    1994
    Faculty of Philosophy, Università Statale di Milano

    1995
    Architectural Association, London

    1996
    Graduated in Architecture from Politecnico di Milano
    Prof. Pierluigi Nicolin

    1998 > 2000
    Worked for Renzo Piano Building Workshop

    2003 > 2009
    University assistant professor at Faculty
    Università degli Studi di Genova

    2004 > 2005
    Professor in charge, Politecnico di Milano

    2006
    La Biennale di Venezia, Padiglione Italiano

    2007
    AR Award for Emerging Architecture
    Honourable mention, RIBA, London
    Bienal de Arquitetura de Brasília

    2008
    Bienal Internacional de Arquitectura de Buenos Aires
    Plusform Award, Best realised architecture under 40
    Urbanpromo Award, Biennale di Venezia
    Medaglia d’Oro all’Architettura Italiana
    Honourable mention finalist, La Triennale di Milano

    2010
    European 40 Under 40 Award, Madrid

    2011
    In/Arch Ance Award
    Best building realised by a young architect, Roma

    2011
    LEAF Award overall winner, London
    WAN Awards Residential, London

    2012
    Medaglia d’Oro all’Architettura Italiana
    Finalist, La Triennale di Milano
    Good Design Award, Chicago

    2013
    Ad’A Award for Italian Architecture
    Professor in charge, Università di Genova

    2014
    Building Healthcare Award for Best International Design, London
    Architizer A + Awards finalist, London

    2015
    Inarch International Award for Architecture and Design, Milano

    2016
    AAP American Architecture Prize for Architectural Design, New York

    FIRM

    In 2000 Paolo Brescia and Tommaso Principi established the collective OBR Open Building Research to investigate new ways of contemporary living, creating a design network among Milan, London and Mumbai.
    After working with Renzo Piano, Paolo and Tommaso have oriented the research of OBR towards the integration artifice-nature, to create sensitive environments in perpetual change, which stimulate the interaction between man and environment.
    The team of OBR develops its experimental line through the participation in projects concerning public-private social programs, promoting – through architecture – the sense of community and the individual identities.
    Today OBR is group open to different multidisciplinary contributions, cooperating with different universities, such as Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, Aalto University, Academy of Architecture of Mumbai and Mimar Sinan Fine Art University.
    Among the best known works by OBR are the Pythagoras Museum, the New Galleria Sabauda in Turin, the Milanofiori Residential Complex, the Children Hospital in Parma, the Galliera Hospital in Genoa, the Lido of Genoa, the Ex Cinema Roma, the Triennale di Milano Terrace.
    The under construction projects by OBR include the Lehariya Cluster in Jaipur and the Jafza Traders Market in Dubai.
    OBR’s projects have been featured in Venice Biennale of Architecture, Royal Institute of British Architects in London, Bienal de Arquitetura of Brasilia, MAXXI in Rome and Triennale di Milano.
    OBR has been awarded with the AR Award for Emerging Architecture at RIBA, the Plusform under 40, the Urbanpromo at the 11° Biennale di Venezia, the honourable mention for the Medaglia d’Oro all’Architettura Italiana at the Triennale di Milano, the Europe 40 Under 40 in Madrid, the Leaf Award in London, the WAN Residential Award, the Building Healthcare Award, the Inarch Award for Italian Architecture and the American Architecture Prize for Architectural Design in New York.

    AWARDS

    – 2016 AAP American Architecture Prize for Architectural Design, New York
    – 2015 In/Arch International Award for Architecture and Design, Milano
    – 2014 Building Healthcare Award for Best International Design, London
    – 2014 Architizer A + Awards, Finalist, London
    – 2013 Ad’A Award for Italian Architecture, Roma
    – 2012 Gold Medal for Italian Architecture, Finalist, La Triennale di Milano
    – 2012 Green Good Design Award, Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design, Chicago
    – 2012 WAN Awards Residential, London
    – 2011 Leaf Awards overall winner, London
    – 2011 LEAF Leading European Architect Forum Award, Residential Building of the Year, London
    – 2011 In/Arch Ance Award, Realized architecture by young architect, Roma
    – 2010 European 40 Under 40 Award, Madrid
    – 2009 Gold Medal for Italian Architecture, Finalist, La Triennale di Milano
    – 2008 Urbanpromo Award, INU Istituto Nazionale Urbanistica, La Biennale di Venezia
    – 2008 Plusform Award, Best realised architecture under 40, Roma
    – 2007 AR Award for Emerging Architecture, Honourable mention, RIBA, London

    PHOTO GALLERY

    All sessions by Arch. PAOLO BRESCIA

    Lehariya Jaipur, India

    06 Nov 2017
    13.00 - 13.30
    GRAND D