Alfonso Femia and Gianluca Peluffo, founders of Studio 5+1AA confront the contemporary in the way they address the relationship between territory, city and architecture, constructing this relationship as a representation of reality.
The perception and the transformation of reality are, therefore, the keys to a conception of architecture as both body and idea, at once real and emotional, pragmatic and sensual, acceptable and yet also capable of engendering wonder as a catalyst of new understanding.”
They founded 5+1 in 1995 and they first designed the Visitor Centre and Antiquarium in the Forum of Aquileia, the University Campus of Savona, the Wyler Vetta Pavilion in Basel, the headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior in Rome, the Low Emission Building in Savona, the Palazzo del Ghiaccio e dei Frigoriferi Milanesi in Milan, the Assago Retail Park, the Villa Sottanis and Exhibition Centre in Casarza Ligure, the Blend Building and the Blend Tower for General Properties in Milan, the Marina Residence in Cotonou (with Peia Associates) and the Fiera Milano business headquarters. In 2003, for research activities, they were awarded with the title of “Benemerito” from the Culture and Art School of the Ministry of Heritage and Culture. In 2005 they created 5+1AA. In this year they won, with Rudy Ricciotti, the competition for the new Palazzo del Cinema in Venice. In 2006 Simonetta Cenci became a partner of 5+1AA, and they opened a studio in Milan. In 2007, they opened an architectural office in Paris together with Nicola Spinetto, who in 2009 became an associate. They developed the Master Plan on the basis of which Milan would prepare for the Expo in the city in 2015. In 2008 they won the competition for the new Fiera Milano business headquarters, built in 2010. In 2009 they won the competitions for the redevelopment of the docks of Marseille and for the Officine Grandi Riparazioni Ferroviarie in Turin, where the 150th anniversary celebrations of the Unification of Italy were held. In 2010 they won the competition to design the Generali SGR residential complex in Milan, and they also built the Museo del Giocattolo e del Bambino in Cormano, the ‘Torre Orizzontale’ in Milan, and residences in San Giuliano di Puglia. In 2011 they won the Philippe Rotthier European Prize for Architecture.This was awarded for the best combination of urban activity and local integration, for the Frigoriferi Milanesi project. In the same year they won the International Chicago Athenaeum Prize for the best global project of 2011 with the ‘Torre Orizzontale’: new headquarters of the Fiera in Milan.
In 2012 they completed the New Italian Space Agency building in Rome, the requalification of the former Metalmetron industrial site “Ex Officine” in Savona and the new integrated project of social housing for Aler, S. Polo Torre “Tintoretto” in Brescia. They develop in conjunction with Jean-Baptiste Pietri and Christian Biechier a residential project for the city of Evry, in France, they designed a strategic masterplan for the city of Palermo in Sicily, a urban programming and study for the sector around the Grand Paris area, a masterplan for the “Yeni Shenir” in Istanbul and for the “Secteur Étoile” in Ginevra. In the same year they won the competition for the new BNL/BNP Paribas headquarters in Rome and for the complex of social residences in wood in Brescia. They won the Award “Architetture Rivelate” with the Officine Grandi Riparazioni Ferroviarie in Turin and the “Trimo Architectural Award” with the project of Ex Metalmetron Area in Savona. In 2013, they built the Deledda Centre and the area of the Beleno Barracks in Venaria Reale, the new school complex in Zugliano and the fourth section of the headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior in Rome. They won the competition for the regeneration of the former Fitram site in La Spezia and the competition for the urban requalification of the Michelet RRG site in Marseille with Carta Associés for Altarea-Cogedim. In the same year, they were entrusted for the reconversion of the Lots 4 and 9 of the Harbour of Tangier, in Maroc, and for a residential project in Paris, as well as being invited to participate in international competitions in Algeria, Germany and China. In 2014, they won the competition for the restructuring of the Bank of Italy in Rome, they have been entrusted with the project for the new tramway in Istanbul and have been invited for the new Ferragamo logistics centre in Florence. In March 2014, the IULM Knowledge Transfer Centre in Milan, received a special mention in the section of “best architectures” at the AIT Awards ceremony in Frankfurt, Germany. In 2015 they complete the IULM project in Milan, the GLF/MSC towers in Genoa and they are commissioned for the El Sokhna Masterplan in Egypt.
They have recently received invitations to take part in International limited competitions in Algeria, Germany and China. Their Projects currently under construction includes the second parcel of “CM” residential and officies complex in Brescia, the new Port Authority Headquarter in Savona, the new BNL-Paribas Headquarters in Rome and the requalification of the Marseille Docks.
