OBR Open Building Research was established in 2000 to research contemporary living and to create a design network between Genoa, London and New York, later extending to Mumbai, Beijing, Cairo, Rio de Janeiro, Accra and Istanbul. The Team of OBR develops its experimental project through participation in international projects involved in public/private and social programs for urban development in emerging economies. The OBR research is focused on urban design producing widespread benefits in the built environment and promoting - through architecture - the sense of community and the individual identities of the final users. The founding partners Paolo Brescia and Tommaso Principi worked together with Renzo Piano.
They link their professional experience with the academic world as guest professor at Kent State University, Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, Helsinki Aalto University, University of Oulu, Academy of Architecture of Mumbai, College of Architecture of Pune, Politecnico di Milano, Luiss, La Sapienza, Università di Messina, Università di Trieste, Mimar Sinan Fine Art University of Istanbul and Hacettepe University in Ankara.
The projects of OBR have been shown widely, including at 10th Biennale di Venezia (2006), Architecture: Where to, London (2007), V Bienal de Arquitetura in Brasilia (2007), XI Bienal Internacional de Arquitectura in Buenos Aires (2007), AR Award Exhibition in Berlin, Budapest and Seul (2008), China International Architectural Expo in Beijing (2009), Shanghai International Expo (2010), UIA 24th World Congress of Architecture in Tokyo (2011), International Green Building Summit in Istanbul (2012) and MAXXI Museum in Rome (2013).
OBR has been awarded with AR Awards honorable mention for Emerging Architecture at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in London (2007), Plusform award for Best architecture realized by young architect under 40 (2008), Urbanpromo by INU Istituto Nazionale Urbanistica (2008), finalist for the Gold Medal for Italian Architecture at Triennale di Milano (2009), Europe 40 Under 40 in Madrid (2010), In/Arch and Ance premium in Rome for the best realized project in Italy designed by young architect (2011), LEAF Awards overall winner in London (2011), WAN Award Residential in London (2012) and Green Good Design Award in Chicago (2012).
Since 2004 OBR has been evolving its design parameters according to the environmental and energy certification LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) and since 2009 OBR is partner of the GBC (Green Building Council).
Paolo Brescia was born in Chiavari on 6 July 1970. After his degree in 1996 in Architecture from the Politecnico di Milano, he started in 1998 his collaboration with Renzo Piano Building Workshop. In 2000 he founded OBR Open Building Research with Tommaso Principi. Since 2000 he is guest professor in several athenaeums lecturing at Faculty of Architecture of the Università degli Studi di Genova, Politecnico di Milano, Università di Trieste, Luiss, Sapienza Università di Roma, Kent State University, Mendrisio Academy of Architecture, Helsinki Aalto University, Academy of Architecture of Mumbai. From 2004 to 2005 he was university professor in charge at the Faculty of Industrial Design at the Politecnico di Milano.
Tommaso Principi was born Firenze on 20 May 1970. Before his degree in 1999 in Architecture from the Università degli Studi of Genova, he studied Civil Engineering at Università degli Studi di Bologna and he worked with Renzo Piano Building Workshop. In 2000 he founded OBR Open Building Research with Paolo Brescia. Since 2000 he is guest professor in several athenaeums lecturing at Faculty of Architecture of the Università degli Studi di Genova, Politecnico di Milano, Sapienza Università di Roma, Università degli Studi di Bologna, Università di Messina and Kent State University. In the 2007 he coordinated the International Workshop ICAMP for the Sustainable Developmement of the Area of The Stretto di Messina, Italy.
Ex Cinema Roma, Parma, Italy, 2013
Ospedale dei Bambini, Parma, Italy, 2013
We House, Lavagna, Italy, 2002
Uffici Cugnasco, Cuneo, Italy, 2002
Vema, La Biennale di Venezia, Italy, 2006
Museo di Pitagora, Crotone, Italy, 2008
Residenze Milanofiori, Assago, Milano, Italy, 2010
KGK, Jaipur, India
Ponte sul Polcevera, Genova, Italy
Aeroporto di Reggio Calabria, Italy
Ex Cinema Roma, Parma, Italy
Riqualificazione dell’Area ex Nuit, Cesenatico, Italy
Ospedale dei Bambini, Parma, Italy
Galleria Sabauda, Manica Nuova Palazzo Reale, Torino, Italy
Hope City, Accra, Ghana
Royal Ensign, Jaipur, India
Lido di Genova, Italy
Marina Grande, Arenzano, Italy
Villa Boakye Accra, Ghana
RAK Financial City Towers, UAE
Waterfront Genova Levante, Italy
Masterplan Polo di Funo, Bologna, Italy
Rive di Bisentrate, Pozzuolo di Martesana, Italy
Centro Giovani Artigiani, Genova, Italy
Food & Beverage complex, Zayed City, Cairo, Egypt
Ex Istituto Dermatologico, Milano, Italy
Polo Intermodale of Trieste FVG, Italy (1° prize), 2001
Pitagora Museum, Crotone, Italy (1° prize), 2003
Galleria Sabauda of Palazzo Reale in Torino, Italy (1° prize), 2003
Sustainable Residential Complex Milanofiori, Milano, Italy (1° prize), 2005
Fiera Riva del Garda, Italy (short listed), 2006
Polcevera Bridge, Genova, Italy (1° prize), 2006
Reggio Calabria Airport, Italy (1° prize), 2006
Museo di arte nuragica, Cagliari, Italy (short listed), 2006
Campus Divino Amore, Roma, Italy (1° prize), 2007
Ex Cinema Roma, Parma, Italy (1° prize), 2007
Waterfront Reggio Calabria, Italy (2° prize), 2007
Museo Diocesano, Milano, Italy (3° prize), 2007
Urbanpromo, Urban Planning Prize, INU, Venice Biennale, Italy (1° prize), 2008
Xplusform under 40, Italy (1° prize), 2008
Masterplan Polo di Funo, Bologna, Italy (1° prize), 2009
Nuova Sede Provincia di Bergamo, Italy (short listed), 2009
Messina Fair, Italy (1° prize), 2009
Social Housing, Via Cenni, Milano, Italy (mentioned), 2009
Nuovo Ospedale Galliera, Genova, Italy (1st prize), 2010
Shantou University Center, China, 2010
Olympic Park Master plan, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2011
Museums of History, Science and Technology, Dalian, China, 2011
RIBA Royal Institute of British Architects, London, AR Awards for Emerging Architecture,honorable mention, London, UK, 2007
Urbanpromo by INU Istituto Nazionale Urbanistica, Biennale di Venezia, Italy, 2008
Plusform for realized projects under 40, Catanzaro, Italy, 2008
Honorable mention for the Gold Medal for Italian Architecture by Triennale di Milano, Italy, 2009
The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies prize Europe 40 under 40, Madrid, Spain, 2010
In/Arch Ance Award, Realized architecture by young architect, Roma, Italy, 2011
Leaf Leading European Architect Forum Award, Residential Building of the Year, London, UK, 2011
Overall Winner 2011 Leaf Award, London, UK, 2011
Wan Awards Residential, London, UK, 2011
13° Biennale di Venezia di Architettura, Common Ground, Padiglione Italiano, Venezia
Beyond Media 03, Università di Firenze, Image, Ospedale degli Innocenti, Firenze, Italy, 2003
Intimacy, iMage, Stazione Leopolda, a cura di Marco Brizzi, Firenze, Italy, 2003
Graz Biennal on Media and Architecture, ArtImage, Graz, Austria, 2004
NIB+ICAR travelling 2004, Roma, Glasgow, Belgrado, Helsinki, Finland, 2004
Temporary, Politecnico di Milano, Teatro Franco Parenti, Milano, Italy, 2004
2° Festival dell’Architettura, Laboratorio Italia, Parma, Italy, 2005
Biennale del Paesaggio Mediterraneo, Progetti di Paesaggio nel Mediterraneo, Pescara, Italy, 2005
V Biennale di Architettura, Contemporary Ecologies. Energies for Italian Architecture, Brasília, Brazil, 2006
Architecture: Where to, Cross Borders: concepts of a unified Europe/world, London, UK, 2007
Vivere l’ambiente: città e territorio tra crescita e sostenibilità, Hanoi, Vietnam, 2007
XI Bienal Internacional de Arquitectura, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2007
AR Awards exhibition, Berlin, Germany, 2008
Arup World Architecture Festival, Barcellona, Spain, 2008
AR Awards exhibition, Budapest, Hungary, 2008
Un'estetica del "disordine", Ordine degli Architetti della Provincia di Milano, Italy, 2008
AR Awards exhibition, Seoul, South Korea, 2008
Giovani Architetti verso il futuro, Auditorium di Palazzo Rosso, Genova, Italy, 2008
Medaglia D’Oro all’Architettura Italiana, La Triennale di Milano, Italy, 2009
40 Under 40, Madrid, Spain, 2010
Giovani Architetti Italiani, GiArch, Utet, Casa dell’Architettura Roma, Italy, 2010
Better City, Better Life, World Trade Centre, Shanghai International Expo, 2010
Dal Lido d’Albaro al Lido di Genova, Confindustria, Genova, Italy, 2010
Laboratorio di Progettazione Architettonica, OBR, Università di Trieste, Italy, 2010
Urban Transformation on the Waterfront of Genoa, USI Accademia di Architettura, Mendrisio, Switzerland, 2010
Spot on Architecture, Milanofiori, Università di Firenze, Italy, 2010
Giovani Architetti, GiArch, Casa dell’Architettura, Roma, Italy, 2010
LEED-GBC, Approccio alla sostenibilità nel Real Estate, Genova, Italy, 2011
Pragmatic Utopias, Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland, 2011
ASJ TV, New Wave in Architecture, OBR Open Building Research, Tokyo, Japan, 2011
In/Arch Ance, Roma, Italy, 2011
Young Blood, Annual dei talenti italiani, Roma, Italy, 2011
EDII European Design Innovation Initiative, Helsinki, Finland, 2011
Rassegna Italiana, Università di Roma La Sapienza, Italy, 2011
Changing Communities: does architecture have the power?, Academy of Architecture, Mumbai, India, 2011
Bhartiya Kala Prasarini Sabha's, College of Architecture, Pune, India, 2011
Ordine degli Architetti di Bologna, Saie, Bologna, Italy, 2011
Rigenerazione Urbana, Catania, Italy, 2011
Green City International Forum, Genova, Italy, 2011
Italy Now, Congresso UIA Unione Italiana Architetti, Tokyo, Japan, 2011
13° Biennale di Venezia di Architettura, Common Ground, Padiglione Italiano, Venezia, 2012
Medaglia D'Oro all'Architettura Italiana, Triennale di Milano, Milano, 2012
Workshop Circus Maximus, Roma 3.0, Rome, 2012
Right to Energy, MAXXI, Roma, 2013
Cellulae, Salone del Mobile, Milano, 2013
