Patrick de Gayardon was a pioneer of the design and use of the flying wing suit. He relentlessly followed his childlike dream of flying till the end, occurring in a parachute malfunction in 1998. He was a dreamer, a stuntman and an inventor.

The Bureau is an office for architecture, landscape and cities, currently based in Italy. 

We operate as a collective intelligence within the threshold between project and research: here the pooling of skills aims to the most simple result, through a rigorous creative and rational process. 

We believe real and powerful design lies at the point where naiviete and magic meet rationalism, research, and experimentation. 

In 2018 the Bureau, in collaboration with Holt O’Brien wins 2nd prize in the open international urban competition in Gjøvik, Norway. The project is a masperplan for a radical transformation of a former industrial area, Huntonstranda, into a vibrant part of the city center.

In 2018 the Bureau is part of the research team investigating the future of the new Henrik Ibsen Library and cultural platform for performing arts in Skien, Norway. The multidisciplinary team included Holt O’Brien, Gattaca, de Gayardon Bureau and AP+E has been selected as the young wildcard team for the commission.

In 2017 the Bureau together with artist Andreco wins the 1st prize in the open international competition for the Jazzi in Camerota - Italy. The project Muricinari (drywall-builders), envisions a landart intervention as part of a wider regeneration strategy for the cultural landscape of the hills of Cilento.

In 2017 the Bureau is winner of the Climate Kick, idea competition in Rimini. The project for a cloud canopy, is awarded as an examplary practice of urban sustainability and water reuse.

In 2017 the Bureau won the 1st Prize for the Regeneration of the Gardens in the Como Lake in collaboration with ARUP- Italya and ARUP - Berlin as lighting consultant. The project is concerned with strengthening and expanding the green dimension within the site. A green space no longer just scenic and ornamental, but accessible and habitable by the informal practices of leisure. The park offers relaxation and sociability: a light and precious infrastructure for the city of Como, a contemporary piazza.

The strategy is simple: create a condenser, a canopy that collects all the programs under one very thin suspended roof and free space to leave it to the plant nature of the park

In 2016 the Bureau is selected among the 4 finalists in the international competition hosted by the Nordic Built Organization, for the proposal of a new central public space in Furuset, in the outskirts of Oslo, Norway.

In 2016 the Bureau gets selected among the 5 finalists of the Young Architecture Program, at MAXXI Rome - YAP 2016.

In 2015 de Gayardon Bureau won the 2nd prize in the international competition Euopan 13 - Germany. The project dealt with urban scale transformation strategies of a former mine into a new logistic hub.The project combines modest and simple devices i.e. biomass fields with sophisticated technology. Landscape, architecture and infrastructure are combined to design an efficient diagram of sustainability that includes energy production, reuse of resources and principles od industrial ecology.

In 2015 de Gayardon Bureau won the first prize for a Landfill Regeneration in Austria. The project was also selected and received the 3rd prize at the RI.U.SO. award (Sustainable Urban Regeneration) promoted by the Italian Board of Architects CNAPPC and SAIE Bologna 2015.

In 2014 de Gayardon Bureau was invited to the 14th International Architecture Exhibition of la Biennale di Venezia - Fundamentals (curated by Rem Koolhaas OMA), to display a survey about Italian Tourism. The exhibition Dancing Around Ghosts - Milano Marittima’s Panem et Circenses”took place at the Corderie dell’Arsenale, within the section of Monditalia.

In 2014 the Bureau won the 2nd prize for a public square in Kragero (Norway) and participated in the urban design competition with a preliminary selection for the new market square in Neustadt am Kulm (Germany). 

In 2013 de Gayardon Bureau participated to the team in charge of the project design of  the system of public green spaces in Borgo La Martella (Matera, Italy). The project, financed by the Ministry of Infrastructure, falls within the framework of Matera’s nomination as European Capital of Culture 2019.

arch. Sara Angelini

Architect, landscape architect and civil engineer, Sara Angelini founded de Gayardon Bureau together with architect Alessio Valmori in summer 2013.

The office merges the previous experience of the architecture collective Temporary-In (New Italian Blood selection among the 10 best Italian landscape architecture practices under 36). 

Before the Bureau Sara collaborated with Italian and international offices such as MasuPlanning (Copenhagen), stARTT (Rome), p’arc landscape architecture (Cesena). 

In 2012 she achieved numerous awards for landscape projects including 3rd prize at the Competition of Ideas Art Park in the district Casanova in Bozen (IT). Her projects were published in Domus and mentioned in two competitions promoted by magazines: Cityvision magazine (Pffff ... inflat- able pavillion) and Domus (Project Heracles competition). 

She participated as a tutor in the international workshop “Landworks Sardinia“ in 2012 (coordinator arch. Stephan Tischer). 

She is currently teaching Art Semiotics at IED Istituto Europeo di Design in Florence. 

She graduated in March 2009 from the Faculty of Engineering of Bologna with a thesis developed at the Escola de Arquitectura do Minho (during her Erasmus study period) and subsequently published in the journal Elements of Architecture “Journey to Portugal, inside and outside the territories of architecture“. 

Among her early work experiences: restoration of the Jewish Cemetery of Bologna (2008, with SGLab); participation in the Biennale of Landscape Urbanism in Bat Yam, Israel, 72 Hours Competition (2010). In 2008, she was an Italian correspondent for the project The Bears Walk - Uneternal City (Venice Biennale)

arch. Alessio Valmori

Architect and urban planner, he is a founding partner of de Gayardon Bureau.

His professional experience has mainly developed in Denmark, where he resides from 2009 to 2013, working for several international practices.

In 2013 he is at  COBE (Copenhagen) participating, in the competition for the redevelopment of the railway areas for Bari Centrale (3rd prize).  

In 2010, he works for BIG (Copenhagen), where he takes part to the project design for the Faroe Islands school, the early stages of the Manhattan West 57 and the landscape competition for a new energy park outside Stockholm (first prize). 

In 2009 he works at Transform (Aahurs) on a feasibility study for an integrated commercial district in Bergen (collaboration with COBE), an invited competition for a villa in Bratislava and  the renovation of a central district of the city of Drammen in Norway.

He achieves a Master degree in Architecture from the University of Florence in 2012, with a thesis in History and Urban Theory (Prof. Ezio Godoli) on the evolution of the tourist town of Milano Marittima, “The Machine in the Landscape”. The thesis book wins the prize studies Gino Pilandri 2013 in the city of Cervia. 

Before graduation, he participates to the Venice Biennale in “the City of Stone” (2006), and as an external collaborator in the project “The Bear’s Walk - Unaethernal City” (2008).

He is currently teaching Art Semiotics at IED Istituto Europeo di Design in Florence. 

The Bureau couldn't exist without its strong network of collaborations: talented architects who are and have been putting their best effort in making the collective cause possible and growing. 

our talented friends Holt O'Brien has contributed to the foundation and first projects of the office, and remains today an important consultant for the activity of the Bureau https://www.holtobrien.no/

arch. Dania Marzo + ing. Paride Piccinini + arch. Mimi Coviello

arch. Valentina Cavalli & Giulia Gori + Chrisothemi Kouloumenta brand-new junior architect

interns Denise Biondi, Martina Morelli, Elia Deias, Gemma Galassi, Matteo Manelli, Marta Rodrigues, Sandra Bueno, Rui Goncalves