Spagnulo & Partners: Architecture with meaning
From historic Italian palaces to the volcanic landscape of the Galápagos, founder Federico Spagnulo explains how the studio approaches architecture through research, cultural exchange and close attention to context, creating contemporary spaces connected to the identity of each place.
In this episode of Behind, DesignWanted visits Spagnulo & Partners, a Milan-based studio specialising in architecture and interior design, particularly within the hospitality sector. Through a conversation with founder Federico Spagnulo, the episode explores a practice shaped by research, cultural awareness and the belief that architecture gains value when aesthetic quality and functionality are supported by meaningful content.
Every project is conceived as an opportunity to express ideas and establish relationships between spaces, their surroundings and the people who inhabit them, often incorporating references from music, art and history. These disciplines help the studio interpret each commission and define its cultural position, contributing to environments in which materials, proportions and atmospheres form a coherent narrative.
The relationship between modernity and tradition occupies a central place within this approach, reflecting an essential aspect of Italian culture, where contemporary life develops alongside monuments, historic buildings and inherited urban structures. Spagnulo’s early experience working with Aldo Rossi reinforced his understanding of architecture as a collective expression, informed by the idea of the monument as a concentration of memories, traditions and shared values through which a community recognises itself.
History provides a framework for understanding how architecture contributes to identity, allowing existing buildings, local materials and cultural practices to inform contemporary interventions. By examining what already belongs to a place, the studio develops an architectural language connected to its setting and capable of accommodating new uses and interpretations.
This sensitivity also shapes the practice’s international work across Switzerland, the Emirates, Qatar and the United States, where each commission begins with an investigation into the history, culture and social dynamics of the location. Understanding who will experience a space, which narratives have shaped it and which tensions define its present enables the team to develop projects grounded in their context.
Observation and respect guide this process, encouraging the studio to let the character of each site inform its decisions and to create contemporary architecture through the elements already present. The range of its work illustrates this adaptable attitude, extending from historic palaces in central Florence, defined by layers of architecture and urban memory, to a current project in the Galápagos, where volcanic terrain, exceptional ecosystems and wildlife establish a different set of parameters.
For Spagnulo, this continuous shift in perspective is one of the most engaging aspects of the profession, as every location encourages the studio to examine its methods and acquire new knowledge. Architecture becomes an ongoing learning process, enriched by encounters with disciplines, cultures and forms of knowledge beyond the practice’s immediate field.
Across its projects, Spagnulo & Partners maintains an attentive and exploratory attitude, placing research and dialogue at the centre of the design process. Architecture becomes a meeting point for history, culture, function and contemporary life, giving each intervention a meaning rooted in the place where it belongs.
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