Openfabric is an international landscape architecture and urbanism practice based in Rotterdam and Milan.
We design open public spaces at multiple scales. We focus on urban and rural geographies, investigating the global implications of urbanisation.

Studio

Openfabric is a landscape architecture and urbanism practice based in Rotterdam and Milan founded in 2011 by Francesco Garofalo.

Openfabric is composed by an international team of diverse professionals, active locally and globally, with projects extending in more that twenty countries in five different continents.

Our clients span from public administrations (Amsterdam, Milan, Moscow, Paris, Shanghai) to private clients and organisations (WWF, FAO, Strelka KB, Triennale di Milano).

Our research focuses on the implications of the contemporary planetary urbanisation (*cit.) condition at the global scale generating spaces, installations, cartographies from a critical standpoint.

Our projects address spontaneity rather than imposing rigid design solutions, favouring under-programmed spaces and flexible uses.

We value everything which is apparently unnoticed (*cit.), elevating the city as the stage of the everyday life.

Our work has been awarded and widely exhibited, from Venice Architecture Biennale, IABR Rotterdam, Triennale di Milano, AIA New York, Matadero Madrid and COAC Barcelona.

We are active in academia, holding teaching positions in various institutions such as Harvard Graduate School of Design, Politecnico di Milano, London Metropolitan University, Domus Academy, RAoB Rotterdam and Amsterdam Academy of Architecture AHK.

We lecture internationally on a continuous base, in several cultural institutions and universities, including Cornell AAP (New York), MIT (Cambridge MA), Cornell University (Ithaca, NY), Hong Kong University, IAAC (Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia), London Metropolitan University, Strelka KB (Moscow), Triennale di Milano, KU Leuven (Belgium), TU München and Pollenzo University of Gastronomic Sciences.

Lectures(*)

  • November 2023

    Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cambridge MA, USA

    Shaping the Void
  • September 2023

    Oslo School of Architecture, Oslo, Norway

    Shaping the Void
  • May 2023

    Instituto de Arquitectura, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Shaping the Void
  • June 2022

    Sole 24 Ore Business school, Milan, Italy

    Imprevedibilità e integrazione: lo spazio di tutti
  • October 2021

    University of Gastronomic Sciences, Pollenzo, Italy

    From food to landscape
  • October 2021

    London Metropolitan University, London, United Kingdom

    The sidewalk project
  • May 2022

    TU Delft, Delft, Netherlands

    Beyond port cities: designing the threshold in migrating landscapes
  • December 2020

    IAAC - Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain

    Internet of things (Critic)
  • December 2020

    ASOP Romania’s Conference, Timisoara, Romania

    Wild cities, artificial jungles
  • November 2020

    Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Landscapes of Migration
  • November 2020

    Università della Svizzera italiana, Mendrisio, Switzerland

    Progettare l’indeterminatezza
  • November 2020

    Hong Kong University, Hong Kong

    Posthumanism political ecology - Hong Kong / Shenzhen Deep bay (Critic)
  • February 2020

    Cornell AAP, New York, USA

    Simple Geometries
  • January 2020

    TU München, Munich, Germany

    Simple Geometries
  • November 2019

    World Forum on Urban Forest, Milan, Italy

    Into the forest
  • March 2019

    Strelka KB, Moscow, Russia

    Staging the Everyday
  • January 2019

    London Metropolitan University, London, United Kingdom

    The Street: on space appropriation, acidity, network and other mundanities of everyday life
  • April 2018

    TU Delft, Delft, Netherlands

    The Global Village
  • March 2018

    Big House Center for the Arts, Wuhan, China

    Water Landscapes
  • January 2017

    Università Federico II, Napoli, Italy

    The Blue Line: adaptive landscapes - three cases
  • October 2016

    KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Bridging territories, looking for the missing links
  • April 2016

    FilBo book fair, Bogota, Colombia

    Reclaiming the city, 6 memos for the next infrastructure
  • November 2015

    MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA

    Colonising Landscapes
  • November 2015

    Cornell University, Ithaca NY, USA

    Colonising Landscapes
  • February 2015

    Polis University, Tirana, Albania

    The Wild Dream

(*)selection of

Exhibitions(*)

  • September 2023

    Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2023

    Land Urbanism, Land Architecture
  • May 2023

    Palazzo Bronzo, Genova, Italy

    Shaping the Void
  • October 2022

    La Biennale dello Stretto, Reggio Calabria, Italy

    Invisible Mediterranean
  • September 2022

    IABR, International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, Netherlands

    Migrating Mediterranean
  • January 2021

    Triennale di Milano, Italy

    Urban Center public program 2020-2021
  • September 2015

    One Architecture Week, Plovdiv, Bulgaria

    Un-Common River
  • June 2014

    Venice Architecture Biennale, "Fundamentals", Venice, Italy

    2030 EXPOst
  • April 2012

    Center of Architecture, New York, USA

    A Plague Remembered: AIDS Memorial Design
  • May 2012

    Matadero, Madrid, Spain

    A new Tahrir Square
  • August 2012

    Architects' Association Catalonia (COAC), Barcelona, Spain

    Play

(*)selection of

Current Team

Openfabric is led by:

Francesco Garofalo, founder [IT]
Jacopo Gennari Feslikenian, director [IT]

Team members:

Ludovica Barcucci [IT]
Enrico Mancadori [IT]
Luigi Ettore Ricchioni [IT]
Edoardo Bracchi [IT]
Konstantinos Venis [GR]
Hengxing Cao [CH]
Zhuwan Li [CH]
Ryan Azhar [ID]
Ishaani Shah [IN]
Laura C. Parra [CO]
Irina Khanova [RU]

Previous Team Members

Asya Berfu Atalay [TR], Adrianl Dohm [NI], Burak Berker Çelik [TR], Reem Tarek Ihsan Hafez [EG], Anel Salykhova [KZ], Xinyi Xiang [CH], Olesia Sakhareva [RU], Paola Sade [AL], Maria Luz Saldutti [AR], Sinem Gucuyeter [TR], Matteo Motti, director [IT], Artem Tunikov [RU], Niloufar Kiarostami [IR], Inessa Mnatsakanyan [AM], Viola Guarano [IT], Wiam Becharef [DZ], Letizia Alderighi [IT], Tian Wei Li [CA], Raka Affa Arasia [IN], Mohamed Mustafa [SD], Thomas George [IN], Geronimo Felici Fioravanti [IT], Francesca Porro [IT], Martina Ciceri [IT], Daniel Barrero [CO], Simone Scalcinati [IT], Andrea Benedini [IT], Ahmed Ades [EG], Cai Huang [CN], Caterina Spadoni [IT], Allegra Tombolini [IT], Marya Zigouri [GR], Patricia Rodrigues [BR], Giulia Pregagnoli [IT], Martina Parma [IT], Caterina Malavolti [IT], Noel Evan John Bod  [US], Carmen Simone [IT], Claudia de Sas Trujillo [ES], Josefina Giobando [AR], Margherita Pascucci [IT], Mattia Tettoni [IT], Federica Padovani [IT], Marcello Corradi [IT], Amina Chouaïri [IT], Mariya Anishchenko [RU], Maria Teresa Pinna [IT], Tatiana Zozulya [RU], Shu Gao [CN], Garrett Craig-Lucas [US], Laura Lopez Iglesias [ES], Barbara Costantino, cofounder [IT], Olivier Sobels [NL], Agnieszka Popielak [PL], Ekaterina Andrusenko [RU], Emanuele Paladin [IT], Lou Besançon [FR], Michele Beraldo [IT], Andrea Caspoli [IT], Conxa Gene [ES], Christiaan Harmse [NL], Valentina Penna [IT], Ruohao Wu [CN].

Awards(*)

  • May 2023

    Oil Refinery Factory Park Hangzhou, China

    1st prize, competition
  • November 2022

    Metropolitan Cities - Biennale del Mediterraneo

    Merit
  • November 2022

    Bosco della Musica, Milan, Italy

    3rd prize, competition
  • July 2022

    Nuova BEIC, Milan, Italy

    2nd prize, competition
  • June 2022

    Parco della Giustizia, Bari, Italy

    2nd prize, competition
  • June 2022

    Magnifica Fabbrica teatro alla Scala, Milan, Italy

    Shortlisted, competition
  • February 2022

    Sino-Italian International Materplan, Jianshan, China

    1st prize, competition
  • February 2022

    Iset River embankment, Yekaterinburg, Russia

    1st prize, competition
  • April 2021

    BigSEE Architecture Award 2021

    Merit
  • December 2019

    Shimao Shenkong IC, Shenzhen, China

    1st prize, competition
  • April 2019

    Award of Excellence - World Landscape Architecture

    Merit
  • December 2018

    Campus Enzo Ferrari, Modena, Italy

    1st prize, competition
  • September 2018

    Parco di Rivalta, Reggio Emilia, Italy

    1st prize, competition
  • September 2017

    Zhangjiang Future Park, Shanghai, China

    1st prize, competition
  • June 2017

    City Play 2018 award - Topscape Paysage

    Merit
  • January 2017

    Ballyfermot Playground, Dublin, Ireland

    2nd prize, competition
  • December 2015

    Unveiling the Riviera, Saranda, Albania

    1st prize, competition
  • May 2015

    Lifelines, Berat, Albania

    1st prize, competition
  • July 2014

    The Voronezh Sea, Voronezh, Russia

    1st prize, competition

(*)selection of

Publications(*)

  • Ardeth #12

    Keywords

  • Atlas of an occupation

    Another nature

  • LAF Landscape Architecture Frontiers

    Altitudes: Vertical Economies and Local Ecologies

  • Snelweg x Stad - Highway x City

    Downgrading to Upgrade

  • Innesti - Grafting, la Biennale di Venezia

    Inverse Urbanism

  • IntAR, Interventions and Adaptive Reuse

    The Blue Line

  • Artribune

    Genova green strategy, Into the Forest

  • C3

    Sustainable Amenity

  • CNN

    Can Rotterdam become one of the world’s most sustainable port city?

  • Monocle

    Feel the breeze

  • Domus

    Into the wild, Gridgrounds, Urban forests in Mantua by Openfabric: Into the Forest

  • Abitare

    Openfabric, the open space project

  • A10

    Planning an Albania for the 21st Century

  • 'Scape

    To re-esthablish the coffee bean greenbelt in Peru

  • Archdaily

    Into the Wild, Gridgrounds, Into the forest, Urban Current[s]

  • Dezeen

    Urban living room, stacked plateaus for Shenzhen

(*)selection of