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, 2013Ospedale dei Bambini, Parma, Italy, 2013We House, Lavagna, Italy, 2002Uffici Cugnasco, Cuneo, Italy, 2002Vema, La Biennale di Venezia, Italy, 2006Museo di Pitagora, Crotone, Italy, 2008Residenze Milanofiori, Assago, Milano, Italy, 2010KGK, Jaipur, IndiaPonte sul Polcevera, Genova, ItalyAeroporto di Reggio Calabria, ItalyEx Cinema Roma, Parma, ItalyRiqualificazione dell’Area ex Nuit, Cesenatico, ItalyOspedale dei Bambini, Parma, ItalyGalleria Sabauda, Manica Nuova Palazzo Reale, Torino, ItalyHope City, Accra, GhanaRoyal Ensign, Jaipur, IndiaLido di Genova, ItalyMarina Grande, Arenzano, ItalyVilla Boakye Accra, GhanaRAK Financial City Towers, UAEWaterfront Genova Levante, ItalyMasterplan Polo di Funo, Bologna, ItalyRive di Bisentrate, Pozzuolo di Martesana, ItalyCentro Giovani Artigiani, Genova, ItalyFood & Beverage complex, Zayed City, Cairo, EgyptEx Istituto Dermatologico, Milano, ItalyPolo Intermodale of Trieste FVG, Italy (1° prize), 2001Pitagora Museum, Crotone, Italy (1° prize), 2003Galleria Sabauda of Palazzo Reale in Torino, Italy (1° prize), 2003Sustainable Residential Complex Milanofiori, Milano, Italy (1° prize), 2005Fiera Riva del Garda, Italy (short listed), 2006Polcevera Bridge, Genova, Italy (1° prize), 2006Reggio Calabria Airport, Italy (1° prize), 2006Museo di arte nuragica, Cagliari, Italy (short listed), 2006Campus Divino Amore, Roma, Italy (1° prize), 2007Ex Cinema Roma, Parma, Italy (1° prize), 2007Waterfront Reggio Calabria, Italy (2° prize), 2007Museo Diocesano, Milano, Italy (3° prize), 2007Urbanpromo, Urban Planning Prize, INU, Venice Biennale, Italy (1° prize), 2008Xplusform under 40, Italy (1° prize), 2008Masterplan Polo di Funo, Bologna, Italy (1° prize), 2009Nuova Sede Provincia di Bergamo, Italy (short listed), 2009Messina Fair, Italy (1° prize), 2009Social Housing, Via Cenni, Milano, Italy (mentioned), 2009Nuovo Ospedale Galliera, Genova, Italy (1st prize), 2010Shantou University Center, China, 2010Olympic Park Master plan, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2011Museums of History, Science and Technology, Dalian, China, 2011RIBA Royal Institute of British Architects, London, AR Awards for Emerging Architecture,honorable mention, London, UK, 2007Urbanpromo by INU Istituto Nazionale Urbanistica, Biennale di Venezia, Italy, 2008Plusform for realized projects under 40, Catanzaro, Italy, 2008Honorable mention for the Gold Medal for Italian Architecture by Triennale di Milano, Italy, 2009The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies prize Europe 40 under 40, Madrid, Spain, 2010In/Arch Ance Award, Realized architecture by young architect, Roma, Italy, 2011Leaf Leading European Architect Forum Award, Residential Building of the Year, London, UK, 2011Overall Winner 2011 Leaf Award, London, UK, 2011Wan Awards Residential, London, UK, 201113° Biennale di Venezia di Architettura, Common Ground, Padiglione Italiano, VeneziaBeyond Media 03, Università di Firenze, Image, Ospedale degli Innocenti, Firenze, Italy, 2003Intimacy, iMage, Stazione Leopolda, a cura di Marco Brizzi, Firenze, Italy, 2003Graz Biennal on Media and Architecture, ArtImage, Graz, Austria, 2004NIB+ICAR travelling 2004, Roma, Glasgow, Belgrado, Helsinki, Finland, 2004Temporary, Politecnico di Milano, Teatro Franco Parenti, Milano, Italy, 20042° Festival dell’Architettura, Laboratorio Italia, Parma, Italy, 2005Biennale del Paesaggio Mediterraneo, Progetti di Paesaggio nel Mediterraneo, Pescara, Italy, 2005V Biennale di Architettura, Contemporary Ecologies. Energies for Italian Architecture, Brasília, Brazil, 2006Architecture: Where to, Cross Borders: concepts of a unified Europe/world, London, UK, 2007Vivere l’ambiente: città e territorio tra crescita e sostenibilità, Hanoi, Vietnam, 2007XI Bienal Internacional de Arquitectura, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2007AR Awards exhibition, Berlin, Germany, 2008Arup World Architecture Festival, Barcellona, Spain, 2008AR Awards exhibition, Budapest, Hungary, 2008Un'estetica del "disordine", Ordine degli Architetti della Provincia di Milano, Italy, 2008AR Awards exhibition, Seoul, South Korea, 2008Giovani Architetti verso il futuro, Auditorium di Palazzo Rosso, Genova, Italy, 2008Medaglia D’Oro all’Architettura Italiana, La Triennale di Milano, Italy, 200940 Under 40, Madrid, Spain, 2010Giovani Architetti Italiani, GiArch, Utet, Casa dell’Architettura Roma, Italy, 2010Better City, Better Life, World Trade Centre, Shanghai International Expo, 2010Dal Lido d’Albaro al Lido di Genova, Confindustria, Genova, Italy, 2010Laboratorio di Progettazione Architettonica, OBR, Università di Trieste, Italy, 2010Urban Transformation on the Waterfront of Genoa, USI Accademia di Architettura, Mendrisio, Switzerland, 2010Spot on Architecture, Milanofiori, Università di Firenze, Italy, 2010Giovani Architetti, GiArch, Casa dell’Architettura, Roma, Italy, 2010LEED-GBC, Approccio alla sostenibilità nel Real Estate, Genova, Italy, 2011Pragmatic Utopias, Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland, 2011ASJ TV, New Wave in Architecture, OBR Open Building Research, Tokyo, Japan, 2011In/Arch Ance, Roma, Italy, 2011Young Blood, Annual dei talenti italiani, Roma, Italy, 2011EDII European Design Innovation Initiative, Helsinki, Finland, 2011Rassegna Italiana, Università di Roma La Sapienza, Italy, 2011Changing Communities: does architecture have the power?, Academy of Architecture, Mumbai, India, 2011Bhartiya Kala Prasarini Sabha's, College of Architecture, Pune, India, 2011Ordine degli Architetti di Bologna, Saie, Bologna, Italy, 2011Rigenerazione Urbana, Catania, Italy, 2011Green City International Forum, Genova, Italy, 2011Italy Now, Congresso UIA Unione Italiana Architetti, Tokyo, Japan, 201113° Biennale di Venezia di Architettura, Common Ground, Padiglione Italiano, Venezia, 2012Medaglia D'Oro all'Architettura Italiana, Triennale di Milano, Milano, 2012Workshop Circus Maximus, Roma 3.0, Rome, 2012Right to Energy, MAXXI, Roma, 2013Cellulae, Salone del Mobile, Milano, 2013