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[title]Based in London but with a perspective still anchored in Mendoza, Sebastián Andía and Valentina Cerrone develop an architectural practice that moves across scales, cultures, and contexts. Since 2017, they have led OF Studio, a space where design is conceived as an open process: conceptual, sensitive, and in constant dialogue with its surroundings.
The duo brings a strong background from international firms such as Asymptote Architecture and Zaha Hadid Architects. At the same time, the Mendoza-born professionals maintain an active connection with their home province, where they promote their own projects that combine art, landscape, and technology. Works like Brutal Honesty embody this approach: an architecture that is not only built, but also integrated, inhabited, and felt.
OF Studio: thinking architecture through concept and experience
Andía grew up surrounded by unavoidable references: the son and nephew of architects (Carlos and Gerardo Andía, respectively), his connection to art, drawing, and form appeared early on. Valentina was also shaped within this world of plans and models, having been born into a family of architects.
Both studied at the University of Mendoza and later completed a master’s degree at the Architectural Association School of Architecture. For the past eight years, they have operated as an international studio with a flexible and collaborative approach, exploring architecture, art, and human experience to generate meaningful change at both local and global levels.
At OF Studio, everything begins with a clear idea: the concept as the backbone. “The conceptual aspect of our projects is very important to us. It’s something that is captured from the very beginning and must remain true until the end of the project,” they explain.
This focus translates into projects that seek balance between context, identity, and symbiosis. “We always talk about a triangulation between the sociocultural, technology, and the sensory. We design for the contemporary world, taking into account the user of the space and the social impact it will have,” they add.
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Their training within the Hadid universe is evident, especially in their use of curiosity as a driving force behind OF’s work. “Every day is about trying to do something that hasn’t been done before and that makes you proud to see it all the time. The impossible is our everyday currency,” they say with a laugh.
One of the projects that best captures this vision is Land Mark in Dubai Creek Harbour, a sand plaza that integrates desert symbols into curves that seem carved into the ground. “The challenge was to create a space that would function as a meeting point for a culture that wasn’t our own, but the process was the same: thinking about how people become part of the place and finding ways for them to use it. We always look for identity—something relevant to the place and to its people,” Cerrone explains.
Brutal Honesty: where landscape and architecture merge
Although their base is in London, Cerrone and Andía maintain a constant connection with Mendoza. They return every year and observe the province from a dual perspective: that of someone who belongs and someone who visits. “We feel proud when we see something new—we love Mendoza. There’s a lot of potential, and we want to be part of its growth because we believe we have something to contribute,” they say.
This connection translates into projects that focus on sustainability and local innovative development, from high-mountain homes designed in dialogue with their environment to a boutique hotel in the Uco Valley. Among their most notable works is Brutal Honesty, a house in Chacras de Coria that has gained international exposure and recognition from China, Australia, Turkey, and Taiwan. “It received a lot of attention, and that makes us very happy,” they admit.
The house encapsulates their approach to design from an international perspective with a local, authentic identity. Its walls, in earthy tones, emerge from the terrain like rock formations, continuing the mountainous landscape. Rather than imitating nature, they integrate with it through a contemporary logic where the organic and the inhabitable coexist without artifice. In this pursuit, each project is understood as something broader than a single work.
“What you design transforms the experience of an entire community, and every project is a collective construction,” say the founders of OF, where architecture is conceived and built collaboratively—a constant intersection of ideas, disciplines, users, and perspectives.
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And so, between London and Mendoza, between the global and the intimate, the work of Cerrone and Andía becomes a bridge. At OF Studio, every project is an opportunity to rethink how we inhabit the world today—with identity, awareness, and a perspective that never loses sight of either origin or future.