Navigating New Beginnings

Starting a professional practice has always been the goal of the careers we developed over the years, from university to the special work experiences we’ve been part of. We have lived, studied, and worked in Portugal, Japan, Spain, Chile, and Switzerland, and the sum of the people we’ve encountered along the way has contributed to strengthening our aim of founding our own practice. We decided to fully focus on Ortus after a combination of commissions and competition awards we achieved in 2021 and 2022, which gave us the opportunity to design a private house and a kindergarten in Bologna, as well as a small landscape and sports intervention in the city of Alba. The main challenge we faced has been transitioning from working in highly established offices such as Herzog & de Meuron, Peter Zumthor, Gonçalo Byrne, and Aires Mateus to running our own practice. Despite our background, we had to take on multiple roles simultaneously—architects, interns, image makers, interior designers, model makers, accountants, PR, HR, and more—building up, day by day, our own method of organising the funny chaos of every beginning. We learned a lot during this time, realising the importance of properly structuring a practice, regardless of its size, to develop a more efficient workload for both the founders and our collaborators. Starting a practice is a completely new journey compared to our previous experiences in architecture. Still, we’re happy with the path we’re following, the buildings we have built and are building, and the control we continue to improve in this professional stage of our careers.

Each Project, A New Lesson

The name ORTUS and its caption, Open Office for Architecture, reflect our core values and ambition to develop a multidisciplinary practice open to external influences. We frequently collaborate with colleagues on various competitions, fostering exchanges that often lead to positive and enriching outcomes. The inherently collaborative structure of these partnerships shapes how we work within the office, where team members are encouraged to contribute their insights, references, and ideas. In this way, ORTUS—and all of us—are continually enriched by those who have been and will be part of our controlled chaos. The office embraces a generalist approach to architecture, enabling us to engage with a wide range of topics, including private residences, universities, schools, landscapes, and public space interventions. This methodology unfolds uniquely with each project but consistently involves in-depth research and a thorough understanding of the architectural, economic, social, political, and geographical conditions we encounter. For us, each project is an opportunity to learn rather than a platform to impose our ideas.

Lessons from Many Voices

One of our earliest formative experiences was in Portugal, where, as interns at Aires Mateus and Gonçalo Byrne, we spent weeks cutting foam models and learning to abstract the essence of a place—its topography, landscape, and built environment—into meaningful proposals. Although we didn’t fully understand everything at the time, those lessons have significantly shaped our practice. Later, Japan provided a radically different perspective, challenging us to unlearn certain principles and adapt to new cultural angles, broadening our understanding of architecture. Switzerland has been a constant thread throughout our journey. From our studies at the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, founded by Mario Botta, to working with Herzog & de Meuron and Peter Zumthor, we’ve continually deepened our knowledge. Returning to Mendrisio as teachers alongside Muck Petzet feels like a full-circle moment. Additionally, being part of the Pedro Campos Costa chair at the Politecnico di Milano has allowed us to reconnect Italy and Portugal. A significant milestone in our early years came a year ago when we met Cino Zucchi during a workshop in Tuscany. This encounter led to an intense and inspiring joint competition for a new building at the IULM University Campus in Milan. The process, filled with ups and downs, culminated in an unexpected first prize and a major commission, marking a substantial shift in scale for our young office. Rather than being shaped by a single mentor or event, our practice has been influenced by a collection of experiences and encounters, each contributing to how we approach architecture, urbanism, and culture.

A European approach shaped by curiosity

Local culture plays a significant role in shaping architectural work, influencing the types of commissions, working methods, and often even the design outcomes. Although our experiences span many countries, we remain deeply connected to our roots in Piemonte, Monferrato, and Reggio Emilia, in the unique region of Emilia Romagna. Roots belong to trees, while humans have feet to walk the world. Yet, we believe that much of our curiosity and passion for architecture, cities, and society is inspired by our origins in small Italian towns, where we learned to be surprised by the world beyond us. Growing up in these places fuelled our desire to discover and understand the wider world, and it is from there that we hope to bring our contributions. Milan, in this sense, represents a great meeting point of international relations, not far from the vibrant context of the Northern Italian provinces. The sum of all these places has shaped an approach at ORTUS that we like to consider European more than anything else. Geographical conditions also influence the way we work by shaping local relationships on construction sites. Our curiosity inevitably leads us to engage with local experts and craftsmen who help us interpret solutions effectively and sensitively. Through these positive collaborations, each project takes on specific characteristics that we love to incorporate into our work. We are also avid travellers, and this condition inevitably reflects in our proposals, which strive to faithfully interpret the geography of the contexts we work in. This approach embraces a certain unpredictability, reminding us that every intervention is temporary and that the foresight to anticipate future changes leads to more essential and effective results.

Architecture as a constant discovery

We would say we are very focused on fostering an approach to architecture that is cultural rather than merely aesthetic. In Italy, we have witnessed a significant crisis in architectural production over the past 20 to 30 years, where the deeper value of architecture has been neglected in favour of a more superficial, outward-focused approach, losing sight of what it truly means to design spaces for human beings. The way we approach this process reflects a deep understanding of how the essence of a place shapes the development of a project. This recognition doesn’t necessarily imply strict contextualism, but rather finding the right response to what a place, a city, or a landscape communicates. We draw on what we’ve learned from our experiences about the importance of specificity, and we focus our efforts on pursuing it in every situation. In architecture, specificity is one of the most interesting aspects, as it involves a constant process of discovery and adaptation, which aligns seamlessly with our ongoing curiosity and desire to learn from every project opportunity. It is challenging for us to limit ourselves to specific topics, as we prefer to engage with a wide range of issues. Our primary focus remains on people—creating opportunities through design that enhance and enrich everyone’s lives.

With the public in mind

Two representative projects for us include the under-construction kindergarten in the small village of Molinella and the newly awarded building for IULM University in Milan, designed in collaboration with Cino Zucchi. While both projects share a common materiality, they each aim to open up public educational facilities to their respective cities and landscapes. In Molinella, we reinterpret the traditional Emilian typology of "case sparse" by creating a communal open-air space that harmonises with the existing landscape. This approach then extends into a contemporary and flexible layout, allowing the building to accommodate a variety of functions throughout its lifespan. In contrast, the IULM project operates at a different scale, situated within a dense urban fabric as part of a vibrant campus. Here, we draw inspiration from the area’s rich industrial heritage, transforming our proposal into a contemporary "Fabbrica della Cultura.” This design, with large openings and an exposed staircase, fosters an open environment that invites engagement with the student community. These two projects are important to us, as Molinella was the key moment that solidified our belief in the opportunity to found our own practice. Two years later, the chance to win such an important commission for the city of Milan motivates us to continue developing our position in the field of Architecture and Society.

Fostering Connections, Sharing Knowledge

Our journey with ORTUS began alongside a fruitful collaboration with the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, where we worked with various chairs and developed an academic path alongside esteemed professors such as Carrilho da Graça and Muck Petzet. This partnership continues to thrive as we take on new teaching roles at the Politecnico di Milano and participate in review sessions and seminars both in Italy and internationally. This complementary work invigorates us, allowing us to connect with the vibrant energy of our students. We aim not only to support their growth but also find ourselves learning from their fresh perspectives. Additionally, we actively contribute to the local architectural community by participating in workshops and collaborating with various architecture associations, fostering a dynamic exchange of ideas and experiences. Recently, we've also collaborated with entities such as WillMedia Italia, participating in festivals and podcasts aimed at a broader audience. These platforms have given us the opportunity to discuss architecture and urbanism with a diverse range of people, further expanding our dialogue and engagement with the public. Since 2023, ORTUS has also been part of the international collective ReduceReuseRecycle Architecture, a group of architects, urbanists, and experts aiming to develop a new understanding and approach to our profession. The collective focuses on reducing unnecessary interventions, reusing what is already on site, and recycling what cannot be reused.