Innovation, experimentation and contamination are perhaps the words that best define the philosophy of Simplex Design, a leading design and architecture firm based in Malaysia, China and Italy. The studio of Simplex is configured as a place of technological research where professionals coming from different places of the world apply their specific knowledge to projects of great ambition. But not only that.

Simplex is also a creative forge where the A&D world is given the opportunity to meet with ideas and forms of contemporary as well as past art, with different creative fields, such as the fashion realm, and with dimensions still little known, not to mention the highly discussed metaverse. We investigated these themes with Sebastiano Granetto, Director of Simplex & TecnicaBIM in Milan, BIM technology expert and project designer behind a number of remarkable constructions.

Another field that deserves attention is that of hybridization between different sectors, such as architecture and fashion. In this regard, we have just been at the Courmayeur Design Week-end 2023 where, in collaboration with professor Troy Nachtigall from the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences and designer and researcher Malou Beemer, we employed artificial intelligence technologies for a fashion design project. This has allowed us to broaden our perspectives and to face a new challenge in the field of architecture. Working with fashion designers for an approach of unity between the arts certainly gives the opportunity to experiment, and this is what interests us the most.

I’ll start with a metaphor. Putting words together does not mean writing a poem, just as erecting walls does not mean doing architecture or defining volumes does not mean raising a statue. In each of these cases, the question is: “What is the component that turns all this into art?”. The point is not to define or provide meanings, but rather to let people imagine

In this sense, Henry Moore’s research consists in emptying volumes by creating voids inside the body with an operation of subtraction. In Singapore I had the chance to admire the Large Reclining Figure, a sculpture of great charm. Just like Moore with his artworks, we try to understand what aspects can be “subtracted” to activate a game of imagination, fantasy and perception, which in our opinion is the component of art that must reside in every project.

As for Caravaggio, he is related to my origins. I lived and studied in Rome, the city that gave more light to this artist. Those who live in Rome cannot fail to be fascinated by the paintings of Storia di San Matteo at the chapel of San Luigi dei Francesi. The focus of his artworks is the light. However, in order to represent light, that is, to define faces and objects, he must also represent darkness. Thus, what surprises the most is what is not defined and the extent of darkness represented to allow us to see the light. This search for the undefined, the empty and the dark also defines our approach to architecture.

We believe in the power of cultural contamination. Indeed, Simplex Design established its headquarters in Italy when I felt the need for an experience abroad, driven by the desire to discover different cultures. Thus, I moved to Malaysia, where I had the opportunity to work and became friends with Bon Eng, the Founder of Simplex Design in Malaysia. The strength of our work lies in the mix between different cultures, a factor that has also allowed us to win important competitions, such as that for the Baiyun University, in China. In this case the team comprised Iranian, Spanish, Malaysian and Italian architects.

I consider it particularly interesting to bring elements of Asian culture to Italy, and to some extent this is already happening. In terms of architecture and aesthetics, there are several forms of hybridization that are proving successful. For instance, in Southeast Asia there is a strong relationship with the green environment. In Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia, we can find bamboo houses within a marvelous nature. In the West, this relationship with nature has been translated with the term “biophilia”, that is the empathy we have towards natural systems. In Milan this type of approach is found, among the others, in the research done by Stefano Boeri for the Vertical Forest. On the other hand, the Singapore based studio WOHA Architects has been inspired by the modern architecture of Carlo Scarpa for the realization of a beautiful resort, proving that contamination moves in both directions.