Studiospazio
Practice and discussion
Mantova, IT and Zurich, CH

Studiospazio is the architectural practice established in 2014 by Samuele Squassabia, Tao Baerlocher, and Eugenio Squassabia. With offices in Mantova and Zurich, and through their meetings centralised around collective criticism, Studiospazio deals with the question of the relationship between architecture and the contemporary reality through projects, competitions, publications and the academic commitment.

 

Declaring intentions through a publication

Studiospazio’s first project is a book about the Japanese architect Kazunari Sakamoto. This book investigates the ambitions behind Sakamoto architecture over the 50 years of his practice, showing a few possibilities of how architecture can be embedded in today's reality, a critical challenge for the discipline in our time. The book is a declaration of intent that we are confronted with in every project we develop. The ‘Workshop Garage’ is the first building we realised immediately after the book.

 

Evolving timetables

In the beginning, we were working until late at night and would start quite late in the morning (sometimes even at noon!). However, when the first collaborators joined the team this schedule was not possible anymore (it also became difficult to combine with a family routine) and we started to go to the office very early in the morning. The core of our typical working day is the discussion around the project and meetings among ourselves and our collaborators take place almost every day. During meetings, each of us brings a few proposals that we discuss all together. 

 

Internal meetings where ideas are criticised

Our offices, in Mantova and Zurich, are both open spaces. We’ll soon renew the office in Mantova and the space we currently use will be connected to the terrace outside as we will open new windows. Our office structure is very flat and the discussion around the project is the centre of our work. During our internal meetings, as soon as somebody presents an idea, the proposal belongs to everybody and it is criticised very objectively and precisely. At every meeting we start the project all over again and through this process we gain consciousness about our intentions in the design. We keep this open discussion for many weeks until the projects emerge.

 

Gradually gaining consciousness

We believe architecture should be based on the experience of the space, it should be open, relational and avoid the character of isolation that is typical of postmodernism and that still informs a lot of the current architecture production. For a simple project, we can develop hundreds of very schematic designs until we realize what is relevant to propose in a specific site. We keep starting over and over again until we really know what we are doing. For young practices, getting consciousness of their own work requires a lot of energy; it is Studiospazio’s big challenge.

1 Studiospazio Portrait Samuele Squassabia

3 Studiospazio Sakamoto Book Samuele Squassabia

4 Studiospazio Workshop Garage Samuele Squassabia

5 Studiospazio Workshop Garage detail Samuele Squassabia

Photography Courtesy of Studiospazio

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