Matteo Fraschini

Matteo Fraschini is an architect, PhD and Adjunct Professor at the Politecnico di Milano, and former Senior Lecturer at the University of Cape Town. His work investigates the relationship between mass and surface, light and stratification, operating between architecture, installation and object scale.

At the core of his practice lies the idea of the matrix as a generative device through which ground morphologies are translated into inhabitable form. Geometry and algorithm operate as structural frameworks capable of producing variation, displacement and transformation. Form is understood not as a fixed image, but as a process unfolding across scales — from the contemporary city to the scale of the object.

This research, articulated in his book Design/Disegno. Geometry, Measure and Algorithm for Architecture and the City (Maggioli, 2018), informs recent works where three-dimensional matrices are translated into relief surfaces and luminous objects. Layered fabrication processes allow each piece to emerge as both repeatable and singular, positioned between sculpture and design.

Fraschini led the master plan of Euroflora Genova 2025, later presented at the Venice Architecture Biennale, and continues to develop a research-based pract...

Ph.D. in Architectural and Urban Design, Politecnico di Milano (2007, with honours)
Dissertation: Contemporary Architectural Designing Methods: Manual and Virtual Modeling

M.Sc. in Architecture, Politecnico di Milano (2001, 98/100)
Erasmus Program, Sint Lucas School of Architecture, Brussels (1998–1999)

Registered Architect, Italy (since 2002)

19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia (2025)
Euroflora Genova 2025 – Master Plan and Installations
GreenItaly Festival, Parma (2025) – Pavilion: The Transparency of the Ground (Villegiardini)
Orticolario, Cernobbio (2024) – Installation: Tangram Landscapes
13es Floralies Internationales – Nantes, France (2024) – Installation, 2nd Prize