We are PiM.studio, a London-based team of Architects with a global outlook, fresh ideas and big ambitions. We work on architecture, urban design and beyond.
We go beyond what is expected of us in everything we do. We’ve lived and worked in many different places – Italy, France, Japan, China, the Netherlands, the US, Switzerland, the UK – and this has given us broad horizons and a perspective unhampered by preconceptions. Our minds are open, and we believe that almost anything is possible.
We also feel strongly that the very best buildings sit happily in their context. Place is always our starting point. We love the feeling of arriving at a new site – in a new city or even a new country – and seeing it with fresh eyes. We take nothing for granted about a place but immerse ourselves in it, researching it thoroughly and from every angle. Out of this process comes a design that responds to its context and belongs.
We approach both big and small projects with the same passion, and every project is alive with possibility. We’re not confined by expectation or by precedent. Instead, every project is unlike any other, and our track record shows where an open mind and intelligent research can take us. We’ve led large international teams to deliver complex buildings, we’ve worked on urban master plans, and we’ve created museums and galleries, pavilions and temporary exhibition spaces, universities, schools, private houses and artists’ studios.
Whatever the project, and whatever the scale, we work closely with our clients at every stage – from that initial conversation, through construction and beyond. In every case, we find the best answer to the very specific question that the client and the site present us with, bringing together finely crafted details, natural materials and the latest technology. And then we go one step further to include something fresh and unexpected.
We have the experience, energy and sensitivity to create warm, welcoming spaces which invite you to use them in ways you might never have imagined.
PiM.studio Architects is a RIBA Chartered Practice
Maurizio Mucciola
MArch, MSc AAD, ARB, FRIBA, RIAS
Director
maurizio@pim.studio
Maurizio Mucciola is an Architect and Founding Director of PiM.studio Architects in London.
Working at the intersection between spatial practice, research and ecology, he investigates how architecture and design can contribute to creating more inclusive and eco-centric cities.
Maurizio is fascinated by the relationship between city, architecture and nature and about rethinking the way these interact. How can we create better connections between the space we live in and its surroundings? How can we design beautiful buildings and cities that, not only use fewer resources but can actually make a positive contribution to help restore the environment?
Before setting up PiM.studio with Maria-Chiara Piccinelli in 2016, Maurizio worked with Kengo Kuma & Associates in Tokyo, Edinburgh, and Paris, with OMA/Rem Koolhaas in Rotterdam, and with Jeffrey Inaba/C-Lab in New York.
In December 2019 he was elected as a Fellow Member of the RIBA ‘in recognition of significant contribution to architecture, the profession and the community’.
I am also a member of the RIAS (Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland).
Maurizio holds a Master of Architecture from the Politecnico di Milano
and a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from GSAPP – Columbia University.
He teaches at the London School of Architecture (MArch) and at UAL Central Saint Martins (BA Arch).
Maria-Chiara Piccinelli
MArch, ARB, OAPPC
Director
maria-chiara@pim.studio
Maria-Chiara is as interested in the technical aspects of architecture – the finer details, the way things fit together, the materials – as she is in the way we use the spaces in which we live and work.
She is a strong believer in the importance of public spaces for a city to thrive, and in the crucial role nature plays within architecture.
As a director of PiM.studio alongside Maurizio Mucciola, she brings to the practice many years of experience leading complex and high-profile projects. She began her career in Italy and has since worked in Tokyo, Edinburgh and Paris for Kengo Kuma & Associates, and in Rotterdam for OMA/Rem Koolhaas. Most recently, she applied her rigour and eye for detail as project architect on the much-heralded revamp of the Galleries Lafayette in Paris for Amanda Levete Architects.
Maria-Chiara holds a Master of Architecture from the Politecnico di Milano, and she is registered with the ARB (Architects Registration Board) and with the OAPPC (the Architects Register in Italy).
Maria-Chiara has been an Architecture Ambassador for the RIBA National Schools Programme and she currently teaches at the London School of Architecture..
Former collaborators:
Martin De Pablo Esteban
Martina Mellogno
Sheenwar Siti
Tyler Su
Chiara Dognini
Patricia de Souza Leão Müller
Daria A. Moussavi
Filippo Tognocchi
Felix Varaschini
Bertrand Robuchon
Chiara Cerutti
Davide Raffaelli