Francesca Torzo

The studio led by Francesca Torzo consists of a small, international team of young architects. Their aim is to establish a close dialogue between academic research and the collaboration with builders in order to create designs capable of fuelling the conscience and curiosity about the way we are living.
The studio has situated itself in an almost solitary position in order to find the necessary time, quietness and focus that is needed for its carefully executed work. All projects start from an understanding of the material constraints and the cultural context in which they are placed in. In that way a distinct narrative can be formulated, which is capable of leading through the entire process. However, this vision formulated in the beginning of each project consists of an invisible construct of memories, thoughts and feelings, rather than anything concrete. At the end the final physical manifestation is formed by a repetitive activity of collecting, hunting and discerning – a practice that demands patience and empathy with the contradictions of human life.
 
Francesca Torzo (*1975 in Padova, Italy) established her own studio in Genova in 2008. She has studied architecture at the TU Delft, ETSAB Barcelona, AAM in Mendrisio and the IUAV in Venice. She has been working for Peter Zumthor in Haldenstein and Bosshard Vaquer in Zurich and has been a teaching assistant for Atelier Bearth at the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio in Switzerland. Since 2017 she is holding a professorship at the Bergen School of Architecture in Norway.
Torzo has been part of the 16th architecture Biennale in Venice as part of Freespace curated by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara in 2018 and was the chairman of the Maarten Van Severen Foundation in Ghent from 2018-2019.
Torzo has been the winner of the WA Moira Gemmill Prize in 2020. Her project for the extension of the Z33 in Hasselt has been awarded with the International Piranesi award in 2018, as well as with the Italian Architecture Prize in 2020. The project has also been nominated for the Mies van der Rohe award of 2020.