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Architensions

@architensions

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Architensions (ATE) is an architectural design studio & agency of research led by Alessandro Orsini @orsiniale & Nick Roseboro @nickroseboro NY & Rome

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From Space to Kinship
Alessandro Orsini @orsiniale | Architensions @architensions
A lecture on Architecture and the Practice of Commoning

October 12, 2026, 2:00 pm. 115 Avery

M.Arch. Core Studio I – Fall 2026
Cohabitation Acts:
Commons, Rituals, Conflicts, and Some Paradigms of Architecture
Valerio Franzone, PhD, Adjunct Assistant Professor — Bukhtawar Shahbaz, TA @bukhtawars

@gsappcore1 @columbiagsapp

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For this Neo-Grec Brooklyn brownstone, built circa 1878, @architensions approached renovation as a process of subtraction, removing non-historic alterations that had obscured the building’s original proportions and ornamental clarity. On the facade, the architects restored masonry details, introduced new high-performance windows, and reinstated the threshold between stoop and street via a custom-fabricated iron fence, modeled on archival references and neighborhood precedents.

“This was a project where we tried to preserve most of the existing materials and ornamentation as a design method,” explains Architensions co-principal Alessandro Orsini (@orsiniale).

Inside, the project reconsiders the spatial organization to align with contemporary modes of living. Existing skylights were retained and enhanced to draw daylight deep into the plan, while selective removal of interior partitions allows for a more fluid sequence of spaces across the parlor and upper floors, counteracting the inherent narrowness of the brownstone typology. Rather than neutralizing the interiors, the design celebrates the original ceiling moldings and woodwork, restoring them as a richly textured backdrop, set against a contemporary material palette of terrazzo, soft pastel ceramics, and continuous white oak flooring.

“The interior of a landmark brownstone always tells a story,” adds Architensions co-principal Nick Roseboro (@nickroseboro). “We wanted to add to its story integrating original and new elements which build on its character.”

📸 Courtesy of Architensions

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Must be the season of Mid Terms.

M.S.AAD STUDIO: Water Commoning Futures: Hidden Creeks, Ponds, & Rivers of New York City studies water politics and explores how these hidden bodies of water relate to the city above, through architecture, policies, traditions, and histories, creating ecological and social relationships that shapes the city and its spaces.

Studio Instructor: Alessandro Orsini from @architensions
Studio TA: Arryan Siingh (@arryan_s_siingh @_asa.made)

Picture credits: Arryan Siingh

The mid term was critiqued by:

Nick Roseboro of @architensions
Edoardo Capella of @velia.biz
Val Flanon

M.S.AAD cohort of 2027 sit for their Studio Midterm held at Cornell Tech.

Students present their research on the history of Minetta Creek.

Students:
Qian (Julia) Xiang - left
Hanna Jun - centre
Zigyang (John) Xu - right

Students present their design ideas for Collect Pond

Students:
Daniel Girgis - left
Chung-En (Brian) Lin- right

Haochen (Harry) Weng presents Critical Cartographies on Collect Pond.

Students present their design toolkits for Canal Street.

Students:
Nishanti Srinivasan - left
Hsin-Ju (Cheryl) Lin - centre
Hsingtzu (Jessica) Hsu - right

Hsin-Ju (Cheryl) Lin presents Assemblages for Canal Street.

Students present their critical cartographies for Harlem River.

Students:
Carmmel Taricka Edison - left
Xiaoyan (Tracy) Xu - centre
Ja’Shawn Keys - right

Students present their research on Sunfish Pond.

Students:
Molly Morgan - left
Ruikai Liu - right

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“On Participation, Identity, and Cohabitating San Ferdinando” is the conversation I had with the mayor of San Ferdinando and the citizens and nonprofits that participated in the @visioni.collettive.festival in 2023. It is part of the book “Architecture as Commoning Practice” (@ziczic_ 2025), edited by @orsiniale and @nickroseboro. The book presents the activities curated by @architensions and @disio.culturalcentre during the festival, and explores how commoning practices shape the built environment. It also includes the workshops authored by Hilary Sample of @mmmosarchitects, @annapuigjaner and @gguuiilloopp of @maioarchitects, and by Architensions, as well as a text by @marcelolopezdinardi.

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Getting ready for desert design week, aka @coachella 2026. The Coachella Art Program has a tradition of being a testing ground for architects, designers and artists wishing to experiment—a way to put long-simmering ideas about public space, scale, and fantasy to the test in a playful environment.
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In 2022, Architensions (@architensions) debuted “The Playground.” Inspired by Constant Nieuwenhuys’s New Babylon, the installation consisted of four steel-framed towers that provided festivalgoers with a space to realign the spirit and rediscover leisure in a way not inherently tied to commerce or digital interpolation. The materials reacted with the sun—the dichroic film projected colors on the ground and the people, while the mirror film amplified the perspectives and reflected the surroundings. ⁠
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“The Playground is a fragment of a city,” says Architensions co-principal Nick Roseboro (@nickroseboro), “a node for engaging festivalgoers in collective interactions and in performance, relaxation, and play.”⁠
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The Playground is the result of a client-architect match made by This by That. The Coachella Art Program is curated by Raffi Lehrer (@raffileh) of @publicartcompany in collaboration with Paul Clemente of @goldenvoice.⁠
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📸 Slides 1-3 & 5 by @lance.gerber / Courtesy Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival⁠; Slide 4 by @mvahrenwald / ESTO.⁠
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#coachella #architensions #theplayground ⁠

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The new slowly overtakes the old in House on House, Architensions’ (@architensions) striking transformation of a compact suburban home in Babylon, New York. Informed by extensive research into the cultural history and architectural taxonomy of the surrounding neighborhood, the project subverts the American single-family suburban typology, which fosters the isolation and introversion of the nuclear family, rather than community.

“We wanted to ‘hack’ the typology of the American suburban single-family home, which is so influenced by the Cult of Domesticity,” explains Architensions co-principal Alessandro Orsini (@orsiniale). “The house is historically the place for defining the individual and the individualization of society,” adds Architensions co-principal Nick Roseboro (@nickroseboro) in a 2023 interview with Valerio Franzone (@v.franzone) for @koozarch. “Housing related to capitalism thrives on individualization but excludes the collectivization of social interactions and exchange.”

Architensions began by producing a taxonomy of architectural elements (windows, porches, roofs, additions) typical of suburban houses in the neighborhood—which they would then “hack” and remix on the home’s new volume. Elements that reinforce seclusion were eschewed for those that foster communal life. A semi-circular terrace extends from the second-floor bedroom and faces the street, creating a new connection to the neighborhood. The primary bedroom features a communal sink, rejecting the traditional single-family separation of bed and bath.

“House on House is an exercise in ideas and styles, applied to the heart of sleepy suburbia, the disturbing bridgehead of contemporary architecture culture in a land yet to be conquered,” writes Alessandro Bennetti in the April 2022 issue of @domusweb.

📖 Read the full interview in KoozArch for more on Architensions’ work and their ongoing exploration of housing as a site for collectivity. (🔗in bio) The project was also featured in Domus, @wallpapermag, @detailmagazine, @dezeen, and others.

📸 Michael Vahrenwald / ESTO⁠ (@mvahrenwald)

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Caught the tail end of SHIFT @chicagoarchitecturebiennial — organized w less time, fewer resources, and smaller footprint, @flor_ness faced a heavy lift. there are some interesting individual installations, but without conjuring a politic or a poetic, it simply doesn’t congeal into a thesis. if this a snapshot of how the discipline navigates uncertainty, then we are still on shifting ground. certainly, architecture has more to say… and is more than beautiful inflatables. the videos about multifamily housing could have been a whole show. highlights included @juandu_dujuan hong kong housing studies, Fragments of Disability Fictions from @nachoglezgalan @davidgissen @architensions and @futurefirm proposal for deep water swimming as part of Common Chicago @mascontext .. plus always great to revisit a @diller_scofidio_renfro favorite

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It’s your last chance to explore work by Architensions (@architensions) and French 2D (@french2d) at the 6th @chicagoarchitecturebiennial—“SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change,” curated by Artistic Director Florencia Rodriguez (@flor_ness).

A reimagining of New York City through the past, present, and future experiences of disabled individuals, “Fragments of Disability Fictions” by Ignacio Galán (@nachoglezgalan), David Gissen (@davidgissen), and Architensions (@orsiniale and @nickroseboro) invites viewers to rethink who cities are built for. Through a series of architectural models, storytelling, and interactive artifacts, the installation explores how disabled communities shape and adapt the city with resilience, creativity, and care.

“Bay State Cohousing” by Boston-based studio French 2D is a collectively initiated shared housing scheme shaped by the desires and needs of its residents. The resulting complex resembles an expanded single-family home with a bright, cheerful color palette, articulating core beliefs around communal living and self-governance. French 2D is also scheduled to participate in this Friday’s SHIFT Housing Summit, a free public program that reflects on housing as one of the Biennial’s central fields of inquiry (registration required).

📍Both projects are on view at the @chicagoculturalcenter through February 28, 2026. Visit chicagoarchitecturebiennial.org for more details.

📸 “Fragments of Disability Fictions”Photos by Omer Mohamed Gorashi (@go.rashi) / “Bay State Cohousing”Photos by Naho Kubota (@studionahokubota).

#chicagoarchitecturebiennial #architensions #french2d

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We are very excited to welcome @nickroseboro and @orsiniale, cofounders of @architensions , for an upcoming workshop series starting tomorrow, February 4th!

THE MUSEUM AS NEW PUBLICS: THE HOUSE-MUSEUM
Some of the world’s museums are housed in former residences, or homes, of wealthy families of the past. In New York, the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, The Morgan Library & Museum, and The Frick Collection are some examples of collections amassed by these families and displayed in their original settings, their homes. These museums are less encyclopedic, and the collections are tied to the history of the people who once inhabited them. This two-day workshop will visit one of these institutions, analyze their spaces, and ask students to map the existing domestic space and counter-map the current public spaces to envision thresholds of alternative uses. How can these former homes retain their original domestic functions while serving as museums and using their domesticity not as a display of wealth but to share resources for the commons?

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Think of your asset as the main stage 👇
Just like at @COACHELLA, the energy of a place doesn’t come only from the headline act, it comes from what surrounds it. Those large-scale installations become magnets for connection, places where people gather, linger, and orient themselves.

As curator Raffi Lehrer says, “The works act as landmarks, icons… People get shade, take photos, and use them as a place to find their friends and reconvene.”

That behaviour is exactly what we aim for in the public realm. When art becomes a social anchor, it changes how people move through a place, how long they stay and how they talk about it.

Imagine your asset as the main stage and each art intervention as a community anchor that attracts people, keeps them engaged, and amplifies the value of the place.

📸 @lance.gerber @colindouglasgray @calder @charles.reagan jamesfloriophotography

Curated by @publicartcompany

#CreativePlacemaking #PublicArt #PublicRealm #CulturalInfrastructure #PlaceExperience #RealEstateDevelopment

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"We live in a time of upheaval. Political unrest, climate crisis, inequality, new technologies, changing materials, and shifting cultures are constantly reshaping our lives. Architecture must also change. It can no longer be seen as fixed or static, but as a living practice - an evolving set of tools, ideas, and experiments that help us make sense of change and imagine worlds not yet here.” -From the Curatorial Statement given by Florencia Rodriguez, Chicago Architecture Biennial 2025. @chicagoarchitecturebiennial⁠ @flor_ness
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The 6th Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB), SHIFT: Architectures in Times of Radical Change, embraces this call with clear-eyed urgency. Celebrating ten years of welcoming international and local practices, this edition marks both a milestone and a turning point. It reflects on architecture’s desire to be an instrument of awareness, yet revealing the contradictions of traditional exhibition models and the limits of institutional complicity.⁠
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📝: Marya Kanakis⁠ @maryakanakis
Images/Projects:⁠
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1. Air Vapor Barrier by Oscar Zamora and Michael Koliner @oscarz_1991 @mikoliner⁠
2. Get out of the way, an inflatable sculpture by Sergio Prego, at the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts⁠
3. In Fragments of Disability Fictions by Ignacio G. Galán @nachoglezgalan, David Gissen @davidgissen, and Architensions @architensions (Alessandro Orsini, Nick Roseboro)⁠
4. Beauty for All by Roberto Behar and Rosario Marquardt of R&R Studios @rrstudiosmiami⁠
5. A House in the Sun by Nicolas Dorval-Bory @nicolas_db⁠
6. In Inhabit/Outhabit by Florencia Rodriguez @flor_ness, Igo Kommers Wender, with Alexander Eisenschmidt @eisenschmidt_a⁠, Magdalena Taglibaue and Camilo Restrepo
7. Hard Sun Interstate by Sam Chermayeff @samchermayeffoffice⁠
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#metropolis #metropolismagazine #chicagoarchitecturebiennial #chicagoarchitecture

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