Studio

STARTT – studio of architecture and territorial transformations – works in the field of architecture, urban design, landscape and spaces for culture.
Founded by architects Simone Capra, Claudio Castaldo and Dario Scaravelli, STARTT thinks about architecture within the wider transformations of the territory: the design of STARTT is distinguished on a taylor-made approach to the project that guarantees specific responses in terms of scale, program and degree of complexity.

Through a multidisciplinary approach, STARTT combines the vision on the city and its buildings, with that on the ecological network, the social dynamics and the culture of a territory.

In this sense, the project for sustainability is interpreted not only as a technical answer for efficient buildings, but is conceived within a wider vision that proposes site-specific solutions for the improvement of urban life, in harmony with the climate and the environment, and for the enhancement of existing heritage.

STARTT’s projects range from the architectural scale to the urban and landscape dimension; they aim to increase the quality of the places where we live by making the tangible and intangible values of a territory perceivable. This attitude responds to the challenges of urban regeneration, proposing solutions for environmental, economic and social emergencies. Each intervention is therefore subject to a sustainable balance, capable of adhering to the client’s requests and investments, while respecting the different forms and lifestyles of the inhabitants.
STARTT gives shape to the plurality of instances, challenges and needs that animate the architectural project with curiosity, mastery, and with its own well-proven method. The goal is to design narrative spaces that reveal themselves through the experience of the people who inhabit them.

TEAM WORK, MULTIDISCIPLINARITY AND “TAILOR MADE” RESEARCH
Each project is an opportunity to generate a culture of shared knowledge, both in studio and within the network of professionals STARTT collaborates with: researchers, geologists, archaeologists, engineers and landscape designers.
The work is organized in teams of people with specific skill sets; it allows STARTT to respond to the different themes and degrees of complexity of an intervention in a short timeframe: the common study is the foundation of the design process and consists in the investigation of the program, the space and the cultural context that affect every project.
This well-proven method allows STARTT to tackle “tailor made” projects that differ in program, context, scale, and degree of complexity; intertwining the aesthetic, technical and functional requirements of architecture with the essential themes of historical awareness, of its landscape image, of cultural, ecological and economic realities.

OUR TEAM

STARTT’s research is based on the study of history understood as stratification of knowledge and repository of artistic values. The project is investigated in the relationship between real landscape and imaginary landscape: the first manifests itself in the physical, material and formal characteristics of the site; the second, on the other hand, is that conveyed by art and culture – paintings, writings, photos etc. – that recall it in the collective imagination. Through the device of history, STARTT works with the cultural, social and economic dynamics of a place, generating meaningful projects able to improve the site.

STARTT has received several awards and mentions, including the European Prize for Architecture under 35, YAP MAXXI 2011, with the Whatami project; in February 2013 the exhibition on the office’s projects FUTURE: Architecture e(s)t Paysage_STARTT was inaugurated at the Italian Cultural Institute in Paris.

In December 2013 STARTT was selected for Piccole Utopie, Small Utopias, the exhibition promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to present the Italian architecture abroad. In 2014 STARTT displayed its work at Fundamentals, the 14th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale.

In 2018 Tribute to Luigi Ghirri, the work for the renewal of the Pavaglione in the city of Lugo has been awarded with the first prize at S-ARCH AWARD, category Urban Design, and with the Honorable Mention at Premio Gubbio promoting contemporary interventions into historical contexts.

In 2023 Tribute to Kounellis, the work for the renewal of the Archaeological Museum of Pesaro has been selected for the Shortlist of the Italian Architecture Prize 2023.