Place
Responding precisely to climate, culture and context.
Studio
CTRL_SPACE is an international architecture studio working across scales, cultures, and disciplines.
We create places around a simple question: what should this mean to the people who experience it?
Core idea
We don't design buildings.We design what buildings mean.
Meaning comes before form. We begin by interrogating the brief: what a place should represent, how it might be remembered and where belonging can take root.
Architecture becomes more than an object. It carries identity, shapes experience and creates an enduring relationship between people and place.
Approach / Research
Design intelligence, integrated.
Nature
Working with natural systems, material intelligence and environmental conditions.
Performance
Balancing environmental intelligence with lasting value.
Research
Architecture, engineering and environmental knowledge operating as one design process.
Leadership
FrancescoStefanini
Founder / Managing Director
Francesco Stefanini is an architect and design leader with more than twenty years of international experience across architecture, masterplanning and multidisciplinary design.
His work spans Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America, across projects ranging from major transport infrastructure and mixed-use developments to hospitality, residential, cultural and public projects.
Before founding CTRL_SPACE, Francesco held senior design and leadership roles at internationally recognised practices including KPF, AtkinsRéalis, Design International and Kling Consult, contributing to projects such as Changi Airport Terminal 5, KAIA Jeddah, AlUla Airport City, NEOM and Wasl Island in Dubai.
At CTRL_SPACE, he leads a design approach that begins with meaning rather than form — exploring how architecture can respond to place, identity, nature and human experience while integrating environmental performance from the beginning of the design process.
20+ years of international experience across architecture, masterplanning and complex multidisciplinary projects.
DavidValent
Studio Director / London
David Valent is a digital design specialist with a background in architecture and extensive experience working across multidisciplinary teams in the construction industry.
His expertise sits at the intersection of architecture, computational design, BIM, data, and emerging digital technologies, bringing together creative design thinking with technical development and practical delivery. With experience spanning architecture, structures, building services, masterplanning and complex building projects, David develops intelligent digital workflows that improve the way projects are designed, coordinated and delivered.
His work includes computational and parametric design, BIM strategy and coordination, automation, software development, interoperability and data integration, using technologies such as Revit, Rhino, Grasshopper, Dynamo, C# and web-based platforms. He is particularly interested in transforming complex design and construction challenges into efficient, adaptable digital solutions, connecting people, processes and technology to create better ways of working across the built environment.
Connecting design, data and technology to turn complexity into better architecture.
International presence
An international practice connecting projects, knowledge and collaborators across the Middle East, Europe and Latin America.
Dubai
Middle East
London
United Kingdom
Rome
Europe
São Paulo
Latin America
One studio across four cities, connecting local knowledge with international experience and a shared design approach.