Totalook: interview with the designer
Interview with DFA Partners
DFA Partners studio selected the Provoak by Provenza collection for the ambitious residential project "I Chiostri" created with Emilgroup ventilated facades.
The project used the Provoak collection in an innovative way, ensuring a harmonious continuity of surfaces and making full use of the potential and flexibility of the ceramic material. Right for this reason, the project won in the Evolution category of the Emilgroup Project Awards 2022.
Right on the occasion of the EPA 2022 award ceremony, held at our premises on 26 September 2022, we had the opportunity to interview Arch. Andrea Lapasini, partner and head of the design area of DFA Partners.
1. How does it feel to have been awarded among hundreds of architecture and interior design projects?
We are very proud and happy to have won the Emilgroup Project Awards 2022 in the Evolution category. We are aware that porcelain stoneware is a material used in most architectural projects, so to have been chosen among all these projects makes us realise that we have done a really good job. We are very happy to have been able to enhance your products.
2. What led you to select our collections for your project?
For our "I Chiostri di Milano" project, we were looking for a material that would allow us to best clad the entire residential complex. We wanted a product that would recall the elegance of wood but at the same time could withstand the weather and air of Milan. The choice took some time, we made a thorough technical study of the quality of the material. Emilgroup collections and in particular the Provoak by Provenza one met all our needs.
3. What did you most appreciate about our collections?
A project like this is a complex one and finding the perfect material to realise 2,500 m² of ventilated facades is not easy. When we had to choose the product, it was not enough for it to be beautiful, it also had to have high technical and performance characteristics. And this is what we appreciated most about the Provoak by Provenza collection, the possibility of high quality standards without giving up the beauty of the wood effect.
4. How do you see the use of ceramics in future interior design?
Ceramics, and porcelain stoneware in particular, have undergone tremendous development over the last twenty years thanks to extensive investment in R&D. I have to be honest, initially we architects were a bit sceptical about the use of this material, but over time we came to appreciate it. We realised that it is an interesting alternative and has superior technical and performance qualities compared to the natural material. We learnt to appreciate porcelain stoneware, also culturally, and plan to continue using it for future projects.
02 December 2022
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