biglia®

An architecture office. Fifteen years of built work across LATAM — retail, boutique residential, and collaborations with Paulo Mendes da Rocha (Pritzker 2006).
Germán Biglia  ·  director  ·  architect since 2012
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about

We're an architecture and design studio. We design authored projects, unblock stalled corporate briefs, and work as an extended team for other studios — three ways in, one craft at every scale.

Sectors

Retail · Agri · Banking · Airport · Cultural · Boutique residential

Languages

English · Portuguese · Spanish — professional across the three.

Base

Córdoba, Argentina  +  São Paulo, Brasil

Project history in Brazil, France, USA, Peru.

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Commercial.

Retail rollouts, branded environments and Fortune 500 work. biglia currently leads the Tottus retail network rollout across Peru (Falabella Group). The earlier Brazilian projects and the Tottus Jockey Plaza flagship were developed as part of partner-studio teams in São Paulo — Miguel Goes Arquitetura for the Brazilian retail roster, and Marcas com Sal on the Jockey Plaza concept.
Tottus — Network Rollout
01 — Hypermarket network · Peru · biglia-led
Tottus — Network Rollout
Deployment of the new Tottus retail identity across Peru — 10+ stores adapted, 120 graphic pieces per store. Falabella Group · 2025–ongoing
Tottus Jockey Plaza
02 — Flagship · Peru · with Miguel Goes Arquitetura and Marcas com Sal
Tottus — Jockey Plaza
Flagship hypermarket design inside Jockey Plaza, Lima — the largest shopping mall in Peru. The concept and brand image change that biglia later deploys across the network · Falabella Group
Bayer
03 — Fortune 500 · Agri retail · with Miguel Goes Arquitetura
Bayer
Point-of-sale rollout, mobile units and Espaço Bayer brand environments · Brazil
Raia Drogasil
04 — Pharmacy network · with Miguel Goes Arquitetura
Raia Drogasil
Store development across Brazil for LATAM's largest pharmacy chain (B3-listed, ~3,300 stores)
Aeroquip
05 — Airport infrastructure · with Miguel Goes Arquitetura
Aeroquip
Master plan for 8 Brazilian passenger terminals — phased 2031 and 2051 · 2019
Olfar
06 — Agri industrial · with Miguel Goes Arquitetura
Olfar
Point-of-sale customer experience for a consolidating agri-inputs player · Brazil
Ademicon
07 — Banking / financial · with Miguel Goes Arquitetura
Ademicon
Branch design for the largest independent consortium in Brazil · Curitiba · 2020–21
Korin
08 — Organic retail · with Miguel Goes Arquitetura
Korin
Supermarket concept for Brazil's pioneering organic food brand · São Paulo · 2018
Ekoa
09 — Trade show · brand · with Miguel Goes Arquitetura
Ekoa
Demountable trade-show stand for a sustainable products brand · AgroBrasília
Cartório
10 — Institutional retail · with Miguel Goes Arquitetura
Cartório
Contemporary redesign of a notary office · Curitiba · 2021
capabilities
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Residential.

Boutique residential — Paris, São Paulo and Córdoba. Apartments and houses where the brief centres on material detail, light and craft rather than scale. biglia develops patrimonial reconstruction and author design, usually in close dialogue with the owners.
01 — Apartment · Paris
8 Rue Voltaire.
Paris 11ème · 2024
A compact Parisian apartment reorganised around light and verticality. Full renovation of a narrow unit — a kitchen under a loft bed, bespoke storage along the circulation, and a bathroom distilled to its essentials. Glass block, lime-washed walls, oak floor and ceramic tiles.
8 Rue Voltaire — kitchen under loft
8 Rue Voltaire — mezzanine detail
8 Rue Voltaire — bedroom nook
8 Rue Voltaire — living room
8 Rue Voltaire — kitchen galley
8 Rue Voltaire — storage stair
8 Rue Voltaire — bathroom
02 — Apartment · São Paulo
Reverte.
Vila Mariana, São Paulo · built 2023
Modernist mid-rise apartment, reorganised around the exposed concrete structure. Reorganisation of a dated plan into one continuous space — a full-height library wrapping the structural column, a quiet reading alcove, and a wood-and-stone kitchen set against raw ceiling slabs. Material study of oak joinery, white Corian and bare concrete.
Reverte — library wrapping structural column
Reverte — reading alcove
Reverte — kitchen counter detail
Reverte — kitchen and dining
03 — Apartment · Paris
34 bis Bv Saint-Marcel.
Paris 5ème · 2018
Patrimonial Haussmann apartment, fully restored and reorganised. Preservation of mouldings, cornices and chevron parquet, with a new kitchen and bathroom inserted as quiet contemporary volumes. Material study of oak, cement tiles and matte-black metalwork.
34 bis Bv Saint-Marcel — restored living room
34 bis Bv Saint-Marcel — floor and tile study
34 bis Bv Saint-Marcel — kitchen detail
34 bis Bv Saint-Marcel — façade sign
34 bis Bv Saint-Marcel — site document
34 bis Bv Saint-Marcel — mantle and light
34 bis Bv Saint-Marcel — pre-renovation panoramas
04 — Reconversion · France
Houplines, Lille.
Lille, France · 2024
Reconversion of a historic brick storefront — the former La Gaufre du Pays Flamand — into a family home. Preservation of the Flemish brick façade and arched vitrine, with a full new interior organised around a double-height living space, mezzanine floor, and two kitchens finished in sage green and powder pink.
Houplines — pink kitchen island with mezzanine
Houplines — original brick storefront
Houplines — double-height living with staircase
Houplines — sage green kitchen
Houplines — dining and circulation
05 — Patrimonial reconstruction · Argentina
Laprida 139.
Córdoba, Argentina
Patrimonial reconstruction of a late-19th-century casa chorizo in central Córdoba. Full restoration of the stucco façade, moulded cornice, wrought-iron balcony and arched vitrine, with a new contemporary interior layout preserving the original rhythm of door-and-window openings. One of the office's flagship completed cases.
Laprida 139 — restored façade
Laprida 139 — façade detail with figure
Laprida 139 — interior entry with industrial window
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Collaborations.

Projects developed by biglia inside Paulo Mendes da Rocha's studio in São Paulo. Pritzker Prize 2006. Competition proposals and cultural interventions across Brazil and Cuba.
MAC USP
01 — Museum · São Paulo
MAC USP
Museum of Contemporary Art, University of São Paulo · with Paulo Mendes da Rocha · 2014
Ciudad Vieja Habana
02 — Cultural · Cuba
Ciudad Vieja de la Habana
Intervention in Old Havana — circular structure over the bay · with Paulo Mendes da Rocha · 2014
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Competitions.

Competition entries developed with partner studios Oficina Transversal and Diagrama Arquitetos (São Paulo). Social housing, urban renewal and civic design across Brazil and Peru. A selection of the office's competition work since 2016, including four honourable mentions.
01 — Social housing · Brasília
CODHAB Santa Maria.
Brasília DF · 2016 · Honourable mention
Social-housing complex for CODHAB — a federal housing competition in Brasília. Entry developed with Oficina Transversal (São Paulo). Dense perimeter blocks organised around interior patios and a continuous elevated footbridge connecting the public and semi-public levels.
CODHAB Santa Maria — elevated footbridge
CODHAB Santa Maria — urban level
CODHAB Santa Maria — interior gallery
02 — Social housing · Brasília
Sol Nascente.
Brasília DF · Honourable mention
Social-housing competition in Sol Nascente, one of Brasília's largest informal settlements undergoing regularisation. Entry developed with Oficina Transversal (São Paulo). Long low-rise blocks with articulated concrete façades, galleries and shaded courtyards framing a continuous public ground.
Sol Nascente — street-level with courtyard
Sol Nascente — street elevation
Sol Nascente — interior courtyard
Sol Nascente — gallery and stair
03 — Urban design · Brasília
Ceilândia.
Ceilândia, Brasília DF · Honourable mention
Urban-design competition for a new residential sector in Ceilândia, on the periphery of Brasília. Mid-rise perimeter blocks defining a continuous public ground, with productive agricultural edges and rainwater collection integrated at building scale.
Ceilândia — street-level render
Ceilândia — axonometric
Ceilândia — agricultural edge axonometric
Ceilândia — building section
04 — Social housing · Peru
MUTUO Lima.
Lima, Peru · Honourable mention · International competition
International social-housing competition in Lima — prototype for the informal city. Entry developed with Diagrama Arquitetos (São Paulo), led by Dr. Arq. Jimmy Liendo Terán. A modular, incremental structure in wood and metal set into the misty hillside neighbourhoods of Lima, designed to grow with the family and the block.
MUTUO Lima — housing module in context
MUTUO Lima — misty hillside context
05 — Cultural · Rio de Janeiro
Fiocruz Pavilion.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil · 2024
International competition for a new cultural pavilion inside the Fiocruz forest campus, Rio de Janeiro. Entry developed with Diagrama Arquitetos (São Paulo), led by Dr. Arq. Jimmy Liendo Terán. A curved concrete wall skimming the forest floor and a shallow mirror of water, rooted in the Mendes da Rocha–school of silent civic monumentality.
Fiocruz Pavilion — curved wall over water
Fiocruz Pavilion — approach from the path
Fiocruz Pavilion — pedestrian bridge over the pond