///byn was founded in 2001 in Barcelona by the architects Bittor SANCHEZ-MONASTERIO and Nicolas SALTO DEL GIORGIO. It started as a think tank about design and architecture. Conceived since the beginning as a nomadic studio, ///byn has the flexibility to travel around the world and get adapted to new cultures.
While working with world renowned architects such as Carlos Ferrater, Ramon Sanabria, SOM, Archi-Tectonics, HOK and MADA spam, Bittor & Nicolas learnt about excellence in Design and achieved an international professional experience.
From 2001 to 2004, Bittor & Nicolas practiced in Barcelona and where invited to participate in the Venice Biennale in 2002. In Oct 2004 they decided to start a personal journey and moved to New York to learn from the world’s most cosmopolitan city. In May 2008 they decided to enlarge their vision of the world incorporating the Asian culture and selected Shanghai as the new world hub for contemporary architecture.
In May 2009 ///byn reshaped into a full time practice, since then ///byn designed and built numerous projects published worldwide. The variety of projects spans from cutting-edge proposals for the fashion industry (shops, showrooms, studios and runways), art exhibitions, private residences and public buildings (office complexes, museum, public schools and kindergartens) to master plans and urban design. ///byn developed its own work methodologies that could be applied globally always getting adapted to the local society.
In March 2013 ///byn expanded with its current base in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Each ///byn location is chosen based on our vision of the world’s future. We are always searching high-intensity points on earth, where new trends are emerging and there is a global dynamism. Spain and Argentina are our birth backgrounds; New York is our reference towards quality, efficiency and excellence; Shanghai is an open-minded canvas for experimentation and São Paulo is a culturally advanced growing society where we can investigate on the sophistication of our design approach.
///byn will always be learning and in continuous search for new challenges.
Today ///byn is a multicultural office with a young vision backed up with 12 years of high level professional experience. We are interested in integrating conceptual research, academics, new technologies and contemporary culture into human-oriented designs of any scale. We do not specialize in any aesthetic outcome or in any particular program, we prefer to design landscapes for future lives based on today’s realities. We use today-world’s simple means with a large ambition and imagination to achieve free and unique outcomes.
