The Background

Evelina Francia is a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), and a graduate of the School of Architecture in Venice, where she and her partner ran a joint practice for the first years of their professional career. Wanting to expand her repertoire, and gain wider experience, Evelina left Italy in 1988, and for the next eight years pursued a dual career as design architect and university lecturer in architecture, going first to Nairobi, Kenya, then to Cape Town, South Africa, and finally to Harare, Zimbabwe. In 1996, she returned to Europe, settling in London. After four years in England, working as a design and project architect for three different practices, and as a freelancer, Evelina felt she had acquired enough experience and made enough contacts to be able to go it alone, and set up her own practice. Hence Francia Design, which came into being in May 2000.

Francia Design is a small but entirely professional concern, fully computerised, and capable of tackling almost any kind of project, from house extensions to hospitals, from restaurant refurbishments to banks, from houses to high-rises, from furniture to carpets. Architectural design is the practice's core activity, but its approach is a holistic one, and the practice can draw on its experience in urban planning studies and interior design work to complement the core.

Francia Design's philosophy is straightforward. Working in close consultation with the client, and with all other parties involved (e.g. the local authority's planning department, structural, electrical and mechanical engineers), and paying very careful attention to environmental, health and safety regulations, the practice aims to produce structures and interiors that are aesthetically pleasing, functional, and exactly suited to the client's budgetary requirements.