ABOUT US
We founded CON_TRA in 2023, after years of designing together at FAU Mackenzie.
Brazilians with Italian roots, our work blends the best of both cultures — merging the artistic tradition of Italy with the richness of Brazilian nature.
Our architecture goes beyond the material. We design what doesn't need to be said.
Ricardo Bianco
Ricardo Bianco is an architect graduated from FAU Mackenzie and studied Industrial Product Design at the Università degli Studi di Ferrara. He lives between São Paulo and the Mantiqueira Mountain Range — a region that inspires his integrated approach to architecture and design, marked by sensitivity to materials, light, and spatiality.
Since 2023, he has been working at CON_TRA, the studio he co-founded, where he leads and develops projects that translate perceptions and emotions into spaces and objects capable of engaging both users and their surroundings.
Mariana Manarelli
Mariana Souza Rezende is an architect graduated from FAU Mackenzie, with experience living in various regions of Brazil — a background that deepens her understanding of space, daily life, and the relationship between people and objects. She currently lives and works in São Paulo, where she develops projects that move between architecture and the scale of design.
As co-founder of the CON_TRA studio, she finds fertile ground for creation in details and small-scale elements. Her work is driven by the desire to give form to what does not yet exist — pieces born from the need to design beyond what the market offers, with careful attention to use and spatial relationships.
Our Studio
Nestled in a mountain in the Mantiqueira Mountain Range, our studio was carefully designed and built by hand. Surrounded by nature, the space reflects our deep connection to the environment and serves as a source of inspiration, silence, and sensitivity for every project we create.
Manifesto
Our work rejects what is merely material.
It emerges from the soft morning light, the deep silence of the forest, the voids that inhabit the space. It is made to be felt, lived, breathed.
We don’t design walls or volumes just to occupy space: we create atmospheres — silent dialogues between light and shadow, matter and emptiness.
Our work pulses at the intersection of art and architecture, guided by a sensitive, contemplative gaze that values the invisible and the intangible.
At CON_TRA, we believe the true project is born from what cannot be seen, born from what is felt.
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_TRA