Archiplanstudio has been carrying out a research activity linked to the architectural project for years, investigating the relationships with the context. The architectures are translated into gestures and punctual interventions, which seek in their own construction, the reasons for belonging to places, appropriateness and spirituality.

Yinjispace：The diversified designs of your studio cover a wide range, from architecture, interior design, landscape to restaurants, public spaces, etc. How do you develop your own unique style in multiple fields?

Archiplan Studio：We can't properly talk about style. Our approach to the project is predominantly literary. We usually find questions and themes in each project that make it communicable regardless of formal outcomes. Reading and understanding the context, especially when designing new buildings or landscapes, holds particular importance for us, while in restoration projects we pay close attention to the historical evolution of the structure. Ours is a continuous and ever-evolving research process, as the conditions in which we operate are always changing.

Yinjispace：What do you think of the relationship between extreme and quiet design aesthetics?

Archiplan Studio：We believe that this two opposing visions represent two distinct ways of seeing the world. We must not forget that our homes, offices, and collective spaces in general will be inhabited by people. We believe that architectural design cannot solve the world's problems, but it can help people live happier lives.A measured, sensual, and spiritual approach to design represents for us an attentiveness we have in general for people and the nature of human beings.

Yinjispace：You have many renovation projects. How do you view the relationship between the new and the old? What do you think is most worth preserving during the renovation process?  

Archiplan Studio：In the case of restoring existing buildings, we always aim to build relationships between the old and the new. We try to find a balance between the existing elements, tied to aesthetic canons of other eras, even though we may not fully understand or recognize at the moment, and the new elements we introduce. It's a sort of ambiguous approach that seeks to hold things together without denying or replacing any of them.When it comes to the restoration and reuse of existing buildings, we work on the stratification of meanings. The signs of different hystorical periods are a heritage we preserve in all our restoration and renovation projects.
Imperfections created by the action of time on materials are, according to us, a physical materialization of abstract concepts like memory and fragility of matters, and they become a sort of ornament inherent in the materials and artifacts.
We seek beauty in opposites, in the capacity of different elements to relate to each other. Ambiguous and imperfect relationships represent a key aspect of our architectural process exploration.
A building that harmonizes the present and the past, in a form that doesn't allow one to overshadow the other but keeps them together in their diversity. It's a plural, ambiguous, non-absolute, and ever-evolving form that aims to unite differences and the duality of things.
Regarding restoration projects, we try not to overhaul the existing building in pursuit of stylistic homogeneity. Instead, we aim to read and preserve the layers of signs from different historical periods, even recent ones, and find relationships that can hold together this complexity of meanings.
The signs of time, human work, and the aesthetic intentions of different eras endure, while new signs overlay them in a complexity that doesn't deny other knowledge. It's in these relationships that we focus the efforts of our design.

Yinjispace：In your works, you use a lot of materials. How do you view the relationship between natural materials, local culture and architecture?

Archiplan Studio：We use natural materials as much as possible, such as wood and stone. When it comes to residences, we are deeply connected to materials capable of expressing sensuality, like wood, stone, clay, and oxidized metals—materials that provide a tactile experience. Natural materials allow us to convey an energy and sensuality that artificial materials do not possess, at least not until many years have passed when the passage of time manages to contaminate them and imbue the material with a bacterial dimension. The use of predominantly natural materials can be completed by the use of artificial materials, finding a way to relate them to each other correctly.
In fact relationships characterize our approach. It is in the quality of these relationships that beauty is generated. We strongly believe that beauty is not derived from the presumed intrinsic value of a single object or material used, but from the ability to build relationships with the context and with each other element, not only in their physical but also in their cultural features.

Yinjispace：Your studio has a history of more than 20 years since its establishment. How did you develop your current design style?

Archiplan Studio：Architecture, and the approach to the design process in general, does not represent an exact science. We are closely tied to the observation of the state of things and the ability to construct contemporary visions. As I mentioned before, there is no pre-established key.
We believe in the ability to build relationships, perhaps unexpected ones, between the existing building and the new intervention. Relationships constitute our most important field of research and experimentation. We like to incorporate time within the surface of architecture. It's a work that explores the beauty of impermanence, imperfection, and incompleteness, sometimes it also becomes a sort of beauty in decay. The viewer must closely examine our work to discover intimate details while simultaneously grasping the essential fragility of materials and their memory.
If we are working on a new building, we reflect on the context and seek to identify themes we find interesting to establish relationships with the surroundings and the landscape.

Yinjispace：As far as we know, Mr. Stefano Gorni Silvestrini is an expert in the field of landscape and environmental protection. Would you mind giving our designers some advice on landscape design?

Archiplan Studio：A necessary introduction for landscape design is the understanding of the territory and the culture of the people who inhabit it and have inhabited it in the past. Landscape design starts from these considerations and envisions a future rooted in the contemporary context.
From a compositional perspective, we pay attention to the large territorial systems, while also striving to maximize the value of small, emotionally evocative realities that represent the spirit of the place and the new project. Whenever possible, we use local materials suitable for the context in landscape design. When this isn't feasible, we ensure that the materials used have at least a chromatic relationship with the placement site. The successful implementation of a landscape project requires also the establishment of strong relationships with the people who will support territorial promotion over time, both from a tourism and a local perspective.