Massimo Cattaneo (Balerna, 1962) and Gianni Birindelli (Florence, 1952) founded their architectural practice in Balerna in 1992; their friendship, however, dates back much earlier.
Both graduates of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ), they share the same passions for architecture and travel during which they have developed international contacts, research and experiments on wood and its derivatives since the early 1990s.
Academic activity has from the beginning flanked their architectural practice. Gianni Birindelli at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ) from 1981 to 2017, first as an assistant and then as a lecturer. Massimo Cattaneo, after years as an assistant at the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio (AAM) and several semesters as a lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture in Alghero, Italy, is currently a lecturer in design at the DACD of SUPSI in Mendrisio.
“Photography can capture the moment when the soul of the building stands before the observer; Alexandre knows how to fix it on the lens.”
