THOUGHTFUL CREATIVITY

One is Italian and the other is French. Together, Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel founded their namesake architectural and design firm in 2000. They have been busy building the city of today and tomorrow, intent on improving the quality of life and creating a more sustainable and fairer society. They speak to writer Y-JEAN MUN-DELSALLE about their refreshing vision of timeless, deliberate and responsible design.

- Y-JEAN MUN-DELSALLE

Milan-based ACPV (Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel) Architects is one of the largest and most important architectural and interior design practices in Italy today.

Recent years have seen a series of flagship projects come to life: Covivio’s Fastweb headquarters and San Babila Business Centre in Milan, the Turin headquarters of international consulting company Reply and the Nove office building in Munich – all a reflection of ACPV’s workplace design expertise. Internationally, the practice has delivered the Arte oceanfront condominium in Miami and Havenkwartier master plan in Hasselt, Belgium.

In Taiwan, the La Bella Vita and Treasure Garden residential towers in Taichung employ stone construction and contemporary Italian geometric designs, while the mixed-use Taipei Sky Tower draws inspiration from Chinese bamboo and the vertical grooves of classic Greek columns, thereby revealing ACPV’s carefully considered East-meets-West approach.

Function with Form

The concept of liveability lies at the heart of the ACPV philosophy, conceiving spaces that connect streets, public spaces, services, nature and people. Not interested in making loud statements that break the mould or in following trends, Antonio Citterio is a world away from the starchitects of today. He prefers to go quietly to the essence instead, getting to the synthesis while integrating a form of clarity and exactitude.

“Designing objects is not about creating a mere expression of something, but rather about giving answers to concrete and real questions,” he states. “In architecture, the approach is the same: buildings are not about creating new icons, but about designing in a way that integrates into the context and the location.”