Juan Manuel Balsa, Rocio Crosetto Brizzio, and Leandro Piazzi of BALSA CROSETTO PIAZZI

BALSA CROSETTO PIAZZI is an architecture firm based in the United States and Argentina. Founded in 2014, the practice is led by Juan Manuel Balsa, Rocio Crosetto Brizzio, and Leandro Piazzi. Grounded in thoughtful attention to materiality and building methods, BALSA CROSETTO PIAZZI describes their design approach as inclusive of “the networks and cycles of materials, people, ecologies, knowledge, and resources that are part of the construction of architecture,” in their own words. The firm works across multiple scales in both urban and rural contexts, from public installations to the design and construction of houses, gathering spaces, and other commissions. 

Recent projects include:

• Quincho Built with locally crafted bricks, this pavilion on a lakeside site is designed to host the Asado, an Argentinian social and culinary tradition of celebratory gatherings centered around a meal of grilled meat.
• Rural Restroom Inspired by the industrial landscape of the Pampas plains, this bathroom complex for dairy farmers outside of Córdoba, Argentina is primarily composed of galvanized steel sheets folded to achieve structural capacity.
• House with a Tilted Roof Thick brick walls, a prefabricated steel roof, and two structural concrete beams that facilitate rainwater collection and sun protection make up this home for young professionals in a transitional region between the city and countryside.  

Juan Manuel Balsa holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Diseño at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba and a master’s degree in Theory and Architectural Design from Escuela Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura at the Universidad de Navarra ETSAUN. He is currently a visiting professor at the Rhode Island School of Design’s School of Architecture.

Rocio Crosetto Brizzio holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Diseño at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba and an Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University GSAPP, where she won the 2022 William Ware Prize for Excellence in Design and Saul Kaplan Travelling Fellowship. Crosetto Brizzio is the 2024 MIT Pietro Belluschi Fellow at the MIT Department of Architecture.

Leandro Piazzi holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Diseño at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba and a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Projects from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. He is a full time lecturer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s School of Architecture.

BALSA CROSETTO PIAZZI is the recipient of a 2024 Independent Projects Grant for the project In-Process: Alternative Methods in Reading Evolving Buildings. Their work has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, the Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism, and The Miami Center for Architecture and Design, among other venues. 

Learn more about BALSA CROSETTO PIAZZI:

• Latin American Architecture Biennial 2025: Meet the 14 Selected Emerging Practices, ArchDaily
• brick-walled communal space embraces argentinian barbecue ritual, designboom
• Woodstock pavilions showcase intersection of “digital and analog” construction, Dezeen

Support

The Architectural League Prize is made possible by Judlowe, Tischler und Sohn, and Delta Millworks. 

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Support is also provided by the Next Generation Fund, which supports the League’s investment in early-career architects and designers and provides unified support for the League Prize, Emerging Voices, and the League’s Student and Mentorship Programs, and by the J. Clawson Mills Fund of The Architectural League. League Prize public programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.