Studio Marco Piva is based in the creative, multicultural heart of Milan: a Research Centre and an Experimental Laboratory, rather than simply an Architecture and Design Studio. It is here that, on the basis of a methodological investigation into forms, materials and technologies, Marco Piva and the multidisciplinary design teams conceive and develop projects at various scales for the most prestigious private and public clients around the world, from Masterplanning to Architecture, from Interior Design to Product Design.
Constant research into the formal and functional characteristics of spaces, developed with great attention to the environment, is the foundation of the Studio's planning and design philosophy, pursuing design continuity between architecture and interior design, a strategic component in developing complex, cross-disciplinary and functional projects.
Starting again from nature
We have seen entire continents burn, we are watching live as a polar ice cap disappears, we have created enormous islands of plastic and generated permanent toxic clouds. Everywhere we are witnessing the devastation of the land; sprawling, inhuman cities are expanding everywhere, even in the poorest areas of the Earth.
We are facing choices that can no longer be postponed, and we – urban planners, architects and designers – can play a major role by proposing new visions and above all new strategic solutions, essential to achieving the necessary balance and defining a new pact with the Planet.
Within our Studio we are reviewing all our design processes, focusing on new content and values to include in our projects. We envisage a new model of polycentric city, in which buildings will help generate energy, recycle water, purify the air and cut energy consumption through the use of innovative technologies already available, while supporting an abundant presence of greenery.
Harmony with the environment
In our Studio we are focusing on the configuration of multifunctional architectural organisms that recall the model of the “neighbourhood”, based on the concept of integration and functional flexibility: buildings where people can live, work, meet, shop, enjoy parks and gardens, places of leisure and encounter. Extended buildings suspended between green areas, full of light with large balconies and terraces, buildings in osmosis with the city and the surrounding area.
In the medium and long term we are developing concepts and actions in the world of design, from architecture to product design, that can bring about change based on a different, more mature awareness of how our design work can contribute to achieving new goals that, ethically, can no longer be postponed.
It is necessary to develop a broader strategic vision, rethinking the territory and cities, how to rebuild a balance between centre and suburbs, between built-up and green areas, careful land use, urban regeneration through the demolition of dilapidated, unusable structures and buildings, the reduction of vehicle traffic, and conceiving cities, neighbourhoods and buildings on a more human scale overall.
Hospitality: a soft wellbeing Hub
In this context of major change and transformation, the concept of multifunctional complexes can easily be applied to the hospitality system too. The hotel is increasingly becoming a strategic place for welcoming travellers and connecting them with the environment in which it is set, both territorially, for tourism, leisure and sports activities, and culturally, for meetings, study and business.
In my view, the hotel is increasingly becoming a “soft wellbeing Hub”, in which the traditional functions of hospitality and dining are integrated with the features of private residences and offices, giving life to a complex where meeting, conference, exhibition and leisure activities converge, with spaces dedicated to body care and wellbeing and lounge bars that open from terraces and gardens onto views of the urban surroundings and the natural landscape.
It therefore becomes essential to implement all those spatial composition strategies that allow a complex yet highly flexible organism to be configured, able to operate at its best even when activities take place simultaneously, and where service users may be both hotel guests and occasional visitors.
With these goals we have taken part in projects and competitions with very positive outcomes, in which we have sought to pour in our humanistic and technological culture, always respecting the surrounding urban layout and pursuing, especially abroad, the creation of a meeting point between our Italian know-how and the local culture.
Residential: returning Home
Domestic spaces must also be rethought, with flexible yet separable rooms and more private and shared outdoor spaces, which will increasingly need to include exterior areas with energy-saving functions, to offer a better quality of life and, ultimately, a more cohesive social structure.
New light on the project
Light as a Design tool
Light is a fundamental element in interpreting architecture and interior design: it creates narrative, envelops and engages, relating harmoniously to all the other elements such as sound, forms and colours, with the aim not only of creating unique, emotional settings but also structured, functional systems for different intended uses.
The study of light is essential in our design process: it cannot be a process added on to or following the general design of the space, but must be a structural part of the initial concept, developing coherently through all the thematic stages, from the study of architectural volumes to interiors and product design.
The role of research
Light is research, experimentation and passion: it serves not only to illuminate spaces and rooms, but to create visual conditions able to convey sensations and emphasise the definition of forms and the choice of materials, patterns and textures. It must be able to play with colours and, if necessary, generate them in turn.
Light is magic
Technical light is needed to create the underlying visual structure, embedded in the very fabric of the architecture or of the main Interior Design elements: floors, walls, false ceilings.
This type of light is essential for describing spaces in a changeable, dynamic way, spreading halos of light, projecting targeted or adjustable beams, creating accents on specific functional or decorative elements. Decorative light, on the other hand, characterises the poetic and emotional aspects, becoming a more articulated, formal and material narrative.
Achieving the optimal coexistence of technical and emotional light generates an engaging formal richness, expressing an aesthetic narrative in which the design of lighting systems is recognisable and consistent with the broader discourse based on the perception of the values typical of Made in Italy design and products.
Light and solid matter
The relationship between light and matter is one of the themes on which we carry out experimental research every day, with the aid of the most advanced technologies.
Investigating processing techniques for the most innovative materials, cuts, texturing and the effect created with both natural and artificial light guides the definition of the compositional language and the sensory, perceptual journey I wish to give the work. It is not simply a matter of creating a shell, that is, the external finish of the material, but of deliberately defining its relationships with the surrounding space, so as always to give new life, or different expressive possibilities, to materials.
Technology: controlling space
One aspect that must be taken into account in design today is the extraordinary ability to combine lighting systems and other home functions with the most advanced technological devices, designed to improve quality of life, security and energy saving, while at the same time simplifying the design, installation, maintenance and use of the technology itself.
Home automation plays an increasingly important role in human environments: it makes equipment, installations and systems “smart” for the coordinated, integrated and computerised management of technological systems.
My idea of Design: Harmony, Elegance and a touch of Magic
I believe that research and experimentation are the founding elements of Italian Design. Elements that have always formed the basis of my work. Simplicity, harmony and elegance are the goals I pursue; research into materials and production processes, whether artisanal or industrial, is emblematic of my approach to a non-mass-produced form of design, which sometimes appears exclusive.
Quantum design
I have always been passionate about physics; I am particularly fascinated by the complexity of the cosmos, its lattice structure, the myriad combinations of matter and energy. I have sought to investigate these themes in my design and art works, driven by an unstoppable desire to experiment.
These excursions of mine between design and art have found expression in geometries that are sometimes sinuous and sometimes lattice-like. The lines create imaginary architectures that we can perceive but cannot realise in elementary forms. In my projects colours and forms distort, intertwine and knot together: sinuous motifs set the rhythm of atmospheres and spaces with new creative frontiers that know no boundaries.
Published in OnlyONE Magazine #4
Further reading