Philia
Magazine

Brendan MacFarlane – Jakob+MacFarlane
Brendan MacFarlane is a New Zealand-born architect and co-founder of the Paris-based architecture, urbanism, research and design practice Jakob+MacFarlane, established with Dominique Jakob in 1998. A graduate of SCI-Arc, he received his master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Through Jakob+MacFarlane, MacFarlane has developed an experimental and socially engaged approach to architecture, responding to contemporary environmental, cultural and urban challenges. Key projects include the Frac Centre-Val de Loire, the Orange Cube, the Docks – Cité de la Mode et du Design and Restaurant Georges at the Centre Pompidou. In 2025, the practice represented France at the Venice Biennale of Architecture, in association with Eric Daniel-Lacombe and Martin Duplantier, with Living With, exploring adaptation to climate and geopolitical crises.

Matteo Ferrari
Matteo Ferrari is an Italian architect based in Madrid and founder of Matteo Ferrari Studio. Since establishing the practice in 2015, he has worked internationally across retail, hospitality and residential projects, collaborating with both global brands and independent clients. His experience across different contexts and scales has shaped an approach grounded in sensitivity to place, material and the particular requirements of each project.
His work is defined by a continuous dialogue between international perspectives and local craftsmanship, rather than by a fixed or recognisable aesthetic. For Ferrari, architecture begins with an attentive reading of its context and brief, allowing each project to develop its own identity in response to its surroundings, purpose and circumstances.

Hugo Toro
Hugo Toro is a French-Mexican architect and multidisciplinary creative whose practice spans architecture, interiors, design, and art. Originally from eastern France, he graduated with a Master’s degree in Interior Architecture from Penninghen in Paris before completing a second Master’s degree in Architecture between Vienna and Los Angeles. From his Paris-based studio, Toro has built an international portfolio including the atelier of Villa Albertine in New York, the Michelin-starred restaurant PUR’ on Place Vendôme, JP at Louis Vuitton in Seoul, and the Orient Express La Minerva in Rome. His work is distinguished by a strong attention to atmosphere, materials, and craftsmanship.
Alongside his architectural practice, Toro works across furniture, drawing, painting, and sculpture. He unveiled his first furniture collection at Christie’s in 2022 and presented Aguas que murmuran at the Institut Culturel du Mexique in Paris in 2025. In 2026, his first solo exhibition in the United States, Ojo de Agua, was presented at Perrotin in New York, bringing together paintings, bronze sculptures, ceramics, and installation. Today, his architectural and artistic practices continue to explore the relationships between space, material, memory, and emotion.

Irene Goldberg
Irene Goldberg has built a practice that crosses architecture, interiors and collectible design, moving between the conception of spaces and the creation of objects. Born in Venezuela in 1970, she relocated to Israel in 1983 and later studied at the Mackintosh School of Architecture in Glasgow, graduating in 1997. This ability to work across different scales has become integral to her approach, in which architecture and object-making are understood as part of a continuous creative language shaped by simplicity, materiality and emotional experience.
Goldberg co-founded Baranowitz & Goldberg Architects in 2017 before establishing her independent studio in 2025. Today, she works from the heart of Tel Aviv, where she shares a design gallery with her partner in life, Gal Gaon. The space provides a setting for her evolving collections of collectible design while remaining connected to her ongoing architectural and interior projects, allowing the different aspects of her practice to develop alongside one another.

Sérgio Rebelo
Sérgio Rebelo is a Portuguese architect and designer and the founder of Sérgio Rebelo Atelier, an independent architecture and design practice established in Porto in 2018. He studied architecture at the University of Porto in Portugal and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland, developing an international perspective that would continue to shape his professional trajectory. In 2010, Rebelo also served as a thesis reviewer at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) in New York.
Prior to founding his own atelier, Rebelo was Design Director at FR-EE (Fernando Romero Enterprise) in New York City, where he contributed to major architectural projects on an international scale. During his tenure, he played a leading role in projects including the construction of the Soumaya Museum and the winning competition proposal for Mexico City’s New International Airport. Through Sérgio Rebelo Atelier, he has since developed an independent practice spanning architecture and design, building on the experience gained through his work across Portugal, Switzerland, Mexico and the United States.







