(“Text as submitted by architect”)
Camillo Botticini
Born in Brescia on March 11, 1965, he graduated in architecture from the Politecnico di Milano in 1990. In 2003, he obtained a Ph.D. in Architectural and Urban Design from the same institution with a dissertation titled “Relations, Design, and Identity in Contemporary Architecture.”
A university assistant since 1993, he began his academic career as a professor of architectural design in 2004, serving as a Visiting Professor at the Politecnico di Milano, IUAV University of Venice, the School of Architecture at the Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona, and the University of East London (UEL).
Among his main publications are “Progetto relazione ed identità dell’architettura contemporanea” (Clup, 2007), the monograph on Mansilla and Tunon (Testoimmagine, 2002), “Urban Strategies” (Maggioli, 2017), and “Nuove forme dell’abitare” (LetteraVentidue, 2022).
He has received major architectural awards, including the Special Mention of the Gold Medal for Italian Architecture in 2012 and the First Prize of the Italian Institute of Architecture IN/ARCH-Ance as the Best Young Italian Architect in 2006. In 2023, he won the InArch/Lombardia Prize. He was also selected for the Mies van der Rohe Award in 2007 and 2014.
Furthermore, he has been a finalist in international architecture competitions such as the WAN Award, A Prize, Copper Prize Batimat, Hauser, and Ugo Rivolta, and his projects have been showcased multiple times at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2000, 2010, 2014, and 2018.
His works have been published in some of the most renowned architectural magazines, including Casabella, Domus, Architectural Record, Bauwelt, A10, Mark, A.D., Metalocus, Detail, Hauser, and the Phaidon Atlas of 21st Century Architecture.
Matteo Facchinelli
Architect and designer, he was born in Brescia in 1977. In 1999, he won an Erasmus scholarship to Brussels, where he attended his third year of university at the Victor Horta Institute under the guidance of professor and architect Dominique Perrault. He graduated in architecture from the Politecnico di Milano in 2003.
From 2003 to 2006, he lived and worked in Paris with internationally renowned firms, including the studios of Massimiliano Fuksas and Francis Soler, engaging in numerous competitions and projects. Through this experience, he developed a strong ability to manage large and complex projects, which now enables him to coordinate and lead teams for various types of architectural interventions at different scales.
He has also won two competitions in France, where he completed significant projects that led him to be a finalist for the Gold Medal for Italian Architecture in 2016 and the French Trophée Eiffel in 2017. In 2023, he won the InArch/Lombardia Prize.
Practice Ideology
ARW is an architectural research lab founded in 2016 with offices in Milan, Brescia, and Paris, aiming to examine the meaning and purpose of architecture as it relates to each location’s unique context. Led by founding partners Camillo Botticini (1965) and Matteo Facchinelli (1977), ARW treats projects as explorative endeavors, addressing contemporary living challenges from urban to individual scales.
The studio seeks a site-specific identity, reflecting Italian tradition by integrating locally resonant elements within a global framework. Architecture, viewed as placemaking, emerges from the interplay between a site’s unique characteristics—geography, historical depth, morphology—and a visionary spatial concept. This dual approach informs transformative design that harmonizes with the complex landscape and environmental conditions.
