The celebrated Italian architect and designer Claudio Silvestrin is a champion of what he calls a 'strong and elegant' minimalism.
Claudio Silvestrin was born in 1954 in Italy. He studied under A. G. Fronzoni at the Politecnico di Milano, and later at the Architectural Association in London.
It was in London that he founded his own studio, Claudio Silvestrin Architects, in 1989. The studio also has a branch in Milan.
Silvestrin regards the creation of spaces and forms as his calling, and sees architecture and design as a single creative process united by shared ideals and philosophy. In both disciplines, aesthetics takes precedence over functionality.
'There are people who feel compelled to fill space with things. I think this betrays a kind of insecurity. I believe that beauty lies in stripping away the superfluous.'
Kanye West's Manhattan apartment, New York, 2007
Oblix Restaurant, London, 2013
Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation, Turin, 2002
Many of Claudio's forms resemble sculpture — objects made for contemplation. It is hard to imagine them being practical or convenient for everyday use. Yet in practice these pieces are not without function; what they lack is only what society and civilisation have imposed upon objects.
Ornamentation and décor hold little appeal for the architect, even though he admires in equal measure the spare objects of Mies van der Rohe and the elaborate structures of Gothic cathedrals.
Although Silvestrin is regarded as a fashionable architect, what he creates is, in essence, work that will remain relevant for many years to come. There is just one device that helps him achieve this: the use of natural materials. His projects carry the presence of the elements — fire and water, earth and air.
'I dislike useless things; I dislike ornamentation. An object is beautiful in itself — it is charged with power when its form is simple and its content concealed behind that form.'
Fire, or light, is the starting point. It makes it possible to read the forms of architecture. The lighting Silvestrin creates is as close to natural light as possible — there is no place here for cumbersome chandeliers or lamps, only light sources concealed within niches or furniture.
Apartment, London, 2009
Claudio's work is often directly connected with water. In private villa projects, where no natural body of water exists nearby, an artificial one is created. At the Villa Neuendorf in Majorca, water became an expressive element on a par with the architectural ones.
In Silvestrin's projects, earth finds its most direct expression through stone. The use of stone is almost a claim to eternity — raw and unrefined as it is, stone is as ancient as the Earth itself. The architect experiments with ways of working natural stone, drawn to finishes that allow a physically heavy material to appear light.
The Le Giare sanitaryware collection for Cielo directly reflects forms found in nature — specifically the shape of an egg. It is universal, immediately recognisable, and carries symbolic resonance. Every piece resembles an egg cut in half. The collection takes its name from the ancient Roman storage vessels known as le giare, in which oil was kept, a reference chosen for the obvious affinity in form.
Sketches for the Le Giare sanitaryware collection for Cielo
Claudio Silvestrin, as he describes himself, is an architect of the "old guard". He does not draw on a computer; instead he fills pages with sketches of whatever comes to mind. A rough drawing that captures the essence is enough — there is no need for detailed renderings. The final form of a piece only becomes possible after several prototypes, through which proportions and curves are carefully studied. For some objects, entirely new material-processing techniques had to be devised.
"I am more than a perfectionist. I am obsessed with perfection"
Much of the architect's work is driven by memories of his Italian childhood. Remarkably, in one interview Claudio Silvestrin spoke of how he is inspired by the work of Andrei Rublev — describing a shared philosophy of beauty: a beauty that does not announce itself, but is pure and elevated.
The architect has one dream — to design a place of worship where nothing would stand between a person and their conversation with God.
Among Silvestrin's best-known projects are the Oblix restaurant in the Shard tower in London, the Giada boutique on Milan's Via Montenapoleone, and the Sandy Island 18 Villas Development in Singapore. Claudio has received international architecture awards for the Victoria Miro private interior in London, as well as for his work presenting the Giorgio Armani brand worldwide.
We live in a complex world that has room for everyone and everything. What matters is to shape oneself — to form a clear position in relation to the world, to life, and to architecture. Silvestrin has found both himself and his style.
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