About the practice
Italian craft.
Gulf codes.
One studio.
P+A Design began in Italy in the 1980s and now works from Abu Dhabi and Cortina d’Ampezzo. Architecture, interiors and engineering sit in the same studio, on the same drawing, under one appointment.
P+A
40+
Years of practice
24
Projects delivered
7
Countries
9
Integrated services
2
Offices
Our story
Four decades.
Two offices.
One process.
The practice was founded in Italy in the 1980s, in a design culture where a drawing was expected to describe how something is actually made. Four decades later that has not changed — it has simply been applied to a different climate, a different set of codes and a different kind of client.
Work has been delivered across seven countries: Greece, the United States, Ukraine, Italy and, since the practice established its Abu Dhabi office, an expanding UAE portfolio of villas, majlis, hospitality interiors and residential developments.
What holds it together is the process rather than a house style. Architecture, interiors and engineering are developed as one solution from the first sketch, so there is never a moment where a second consultant has to reinterpret a first consultant’s intent.
1980s
Practice founded in Italy
2005
Bobotis Architects office — Athens, Greece
2014
77 Warren Street — New York, USA
2017–18
5-star hotel and penthouse — Odessa, Ukraine
2019
Desert Villa Majlis — Al Ain, UAE
2022–23
Reem Island, Jubail Island and Saadiyat projects — Abu Dhabi
Today
Offices in Abu Dhabi and Cortina d’Ampezzo
1980s
How we think
Four rules we
actually work to.
Not values on a wall — these are the arguments we have internally before a drawing leaves the studio.
01
Design before decoration
A plan that works is worth more than a finish that photographs well. We resolve orientation, circulation and privacy before anyone opens a material board.
02
Drawn to be built
Every sheet we issue is meant to survive a contractor, a site engineer and an inspector. Detail that cannot be built is not detail — it is decoration on paper.
03
Approvals are design work
Codes, Estidama targets and Civil Defence requirements shape a building as much as a brief does. We design with them open on the desk, not after the first rejection.
04
Quiet over loud
Our work is meant to still look considered in fifteen years. Restraint in material, proportion and light outlasts whatever the current reference image happens to be.
PRINCIPLES
Under one roof
Six disciplines,
one payroll.
Nothing on this list is subcontracted to a partner practice. That is the whole reason the coordination holds.
Architecture
Concept, massing and the building itself — the discipline everything else coordinates around.
Interior design
Planning, joinery, material and lighting, developed with the architecture rather than after it.
Structural engineering
Framing, spans and foundations resolved early enough to serve the design instead of constraining it.
MEP engineering
Mechanical, electrical and plumbing routed inside the architecture — where site clashes are prevented.
Authority approvals
DMT, ADDC, Estidama and Civil Defence submissions prepared and defended by the people who drew them.
Project management & fit-out
Programme, contractor coordination, supervision and snagging through to handover.
PRACTICE
The people
A studio, not
a letterhead.
Architects, interior designers and engineers working in one office, with the same person accountable to you from concept through to handover.
[Full name]
Founding Partner
[Full name]
Partner — Architecture
[Full name]
Head of Interiors
[Full name]
Head of Engineering
[Full name]
Approvals Lead
[Full name]
Project Director
Where we are
Two offices,
one practice.
The Gulf work is drawn, engineered and approved from Abu Dhabi; the European work and the material culture come from Cortina.
Delivery office
Abu Dhabi, UAE
Office 2nd Floor, Lamar Building
Al Nahyan Camp
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Al Nahyan Camp
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Design, engineering, authority submissions and site supervision for the Gulf portfolio.
European studio
Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
Via Roma 19
Cortina d’Ampezzo (BL)
Italy
Cortina d’Ampezzo (BL)
Italy
The practice’s European base, and the source of the material and detailing culture the studio was built on.
OFFICES
Trusted by
Developers and
private clients.
P+A Design brought architecture, interiors and technical coordination together through one clear process. Their team understood the project vision, resolved details carefully and maintained clear communication from concept through delivery.
CLIENT REPRESENTATIVE · RESIDENTIAL PROJECT · ABU DHABI
Let’s create together
Work with the team
that stays to the end.
Send the plot, the brief or just the idea. We will come back with the services you actually need, a stage programme and a fee — usually within two working days.
P+A