A bit about us
Unless is an interior architecture office based in Lisbon, Portugal, with a strong international profile: it puts together experience and practices from different countries, looking past the local conventions and resorting to the best products and ideas emerging all over Europe.
Unless was founded in attempt to respond to unsolved inefficiencies and contradictions in conventional architecture. Commonly the profession status quo and consumer induced expectations define the final product. This mindset, however, does not fit the needs of the contemporary, evolving society and consistently contributes to worsening our lifestyle and economy.
Unless focuses on sustainability, innovation and minimalism, offering alternative and functional approaches to overcome these inefficiencies.
Why Unless
We believe in people and we believe that individuals can be persuaded to pursue a better living. Our goal is to empower people with new ways of thinking to enable them to make better choices and find better solutions.
We think that we can change the way we live and inhabit the planet, starting by how we use our private space and how it affects our community, our cities, our planet.
Unless is an unconventional way of thinking that opens up architectural solutions that are better for you. Improve your life by improving the spaces in which you live.
Interior architecture to improve space efficiency and add value to your space, being it an apartment, an office or a shop.
We approach the problems from an unconventional perspective. During the whole process, we work in close contact with the client to design smart and multifunctional spaces with attention to the materials, the energy efficiency and the acoustic comfort.
We realize custom and intelligent furniture to fit perfectly in the context and maximize functionality. We pay attention to the identity of our products to allow the client to recognise herself or her brand in the new designed spaces.
Smart minimalism is the reduction of the overall physical space needed to carry out a specific group of activities, thus resulting in a more compact environment. It means minimalism not just as a philosophy, but as an instrument adopted consciously towards a goal. The space becomes less dispersive, more efficient, easier to use and maintain. A simplified design and interface for the user results in an increased comfort and overall wellbeing.
When a device, furniture or space is not used all of the time, when gets used only for one function or when the efficiency of this one function is less than 100%. Too abstract? Compare houses with gasoline cars: a big investment for a machine that stays still most of the day and when it moves carries far less persons than its capacity. Therefore, people came out with car sharing, Uber, smaller cars, and electric cars, that can charge while staying still.
The qm you are paying for are empty for most of the day and when you are actually at home you hardly use all rooms at the same time: they sit there, waiting for you to walk in, very much like the car. We want to change all that.
Meet the Founder
Stefano Cocuzza
founder & architect at Unless
I am a driven Italian architect with international experience and a great love for details and architecture.
I was born in Milan, Italy and graduated at the renowned Politecnico di Milano University. I started my career by working at two distinguished architectural firms in Milan, engaging in national and international projects and competitions, always with an integrated and multidisciplinary approach, focused on integrating technology and environment, functionality and style.
I then moved to Germany and started working there first as interior architect and then as team lead architect, developing extended knowledge in the design of interiors, project management, sustainability, lighting and acoustic design.
Now I am living in Lisbon, Portugal and looking forward to have new professional challenges and explore new possibilities and design projects. I decided to start an individual carrier and business created Unless, in order to channel my energies, experience and passion in a new personal project, that focuses on subjects close to my heart. My final ambition is to reach as many people as possible, which can share my same perspective and values, and with them improve together our cities and our lives, one space after the other.