House on the cliff by Fran Silvestre Arquitectos

Fran Silvestre Arquitectos is a Valencia-based studio founded in 2005 by architect Fran Silvestre. The firm consists of a multidisciplinary team of over 50 professionals and operates in the former workshop of sculptor Andreu Alfaro, a 7,000 m² space. Its work focuses on residential, cultural, corporate, and public projects worldwide, characterized by formal purity, modulation, serialization, and the innovative use of materials and technologies.

Fran Silvestre was born on July 5, 1976, and graduated in Architecture from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Valencia in 2001. A year later, he specialized in urban planning at the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TU/e) in the Netherlands. His training was enriched by a scholarship to work with Portuguese architect and Pritzker Prize laureate Álvaro Siza in Porto, with whom he has maintained collaborations ever since. Simultaneously, he has developed a strong academic career: he has been a professor in the Projects Department at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) since 2006 and at the European University since 2009. In 2011, he was deputy director of the Valencia School of Architecture, and in 2018, he received the Víctor L. Regnier Chair at Kansas State University (KSU) in the United States. He currently also directs the MArch Postgraduate School in Architecture and Design.

Throughout his career, Silvestre has received numerous awards, including the Fundación Caja de Arquitectos Prize (2001), the Colegio de Arquitectos COACV Prize (2010), and the Red Dot Design Award (2013). In 2012, he was named Ambassador of Spanish Architecture in the United States by the Ministry of Culture and Sports. He has also won the NYCxDESIGN Award (2016), the German Design Award in multiple editions (2016, 2020, 2021, and 2024), the IF Design Award (2021), and the Delta Bronze Award from the ADI Awards (2024).

His work has been exhibited at institutions such as the MoMA in New York and the Museu Serralves in Porto, and published in magazines like Architectural Record, GA Houses, On-Diseño, and Interni. In addition, publishers such as Phaidon, Taschen, and Thames & Hudson have featured his work, with a notable monograph published by Rizzoli in New York, written by critic Philip Jodidio.

Fran Silvestre Arquitectos’ projects are located in various countries, including China, the United States, Brazil, Thailand, Egypt, Croatia, Italy, Australia, Austria, Mexico, and Spain. Notable works include Casa Atrium (2009), Casa de la Ladera de un Castillo (2010), Casa del Acantilado (Alicante), Casa Balint (Valencia), Casa in Hollywood Hills (Los Angeles), the Zibo Master Plan (China), the Hotel-Boutique in Vis (Croatia), and the Eolic Tower (Valencia).

The studio's architecture is influenced by Álvaro Siza and sculptor Andreu Alfaro. According to critic David Cohn, Fran Silvestre’s work does not seek a lost authenticity or geometric perfection but instead creates environments that elevate everyday life through precise and innovative design.