OBR Open Building Research was established by Paolo Brescia and Tommaso Principi in 2000 to investigate new ways of contemporary living, creating a design network between Genoa, London and Milan, further extended to Mumbai, Beijing and Istanbul.
The Team of OBR develops its experimental line through the participation in international projects concerning public-private social programs. OBR intends urban design as a discipline whose effects extend beyond the physical boundaries of the project, beyond the public/private and individual/community dichotomy. Their research promotes – through architecture – the sense of community and the individual identities, design being intended as the outcome of a cooperative and evolutive process.
The founding partners Paolo and Tommaso worked together with Renzo Piano and they have been invited as guest lecturers at various universities in Europe and in Asia.
OBR’s projects have been featured in international exhibitions, including the 10th Architecture Biennale in Venice (2006); Architecture: Where to (London, 2007); V Bienal de Arquitetura (Brasilia, 2007); XI Bienal Internacional de Arquitectura (Buenos Aires, 2007); AR Award Exhibition (Berlin, 2008); China International Architectural Expo (Beijing, 2009); International Expo (Shanghai, 2010); 24th UIA World Congress of Architecture (Tokyo, 2011); Gold Medal for Italian Architecture (Milan, 2012); Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design (Chicago, 2012); International Green Building Summit (Istanbul, 2012); MAXXI (Rome, 2013) and 14th Architecture Biennale in Venice (2014).