Award in recognition of 50 years of professional practice

On 27 October 2022, at Palazzo Comitini, the Palermo Order of Architects presented an award to members celebrating 50 years of professional practice. Among them was Prof. Arch. Fausto Provenzano, the studio’s founder, who expressed his thanks in the following words.

"A few months after graduating, I made a pilgrimage to Geneva to study Le Corbusier’s work. There I met and interviewed the Master’s niece, eager to get definitive answers to questions I considered profound. In reality, the niece, understandably bored, quickly dismissed me and gave me a lithograph featuring the famous image of the open hand drawn by her grandfather for Chandigarh. The book about Le Corbusier that I had planned to write was never published, but that lithograph, which still hangs in my office today, represents a principle of our profession I often refer to: with open hands, we receive; with open hands, we give back.

I am grateful to have practised, and to continue practising, this wonderful profession, which calls on us every day to profess optimism of both heart and mind.

I hope I have given back, and will continue to give back, and dedicate this small milestone of fifty years in the profession to my younger colleagues: those pictured here with me, whom I thank for bringing our studio to life every day, and those I have yet to meet, who are just beginning their careers.

To everyone I say: Design, design, design, because designing is a wonderful way to be in the world, to receive and to give back.

Fausto Provenzano