Hello! My name is Andrea Fiorini.

I run an architectural studio Andrea Fiorini Arquitetura, study Kabbalah, make braver choices, and do things most of us didn’t think it was possible to do.

I love challenges and I approach them with the full heart. My goal is to create a better world through architecture, creating unity and understanding between people and promoting the quality of life.

If you’d like to learn a bit more about what I’m about, then keep reading. And, please, take a moment to explore our work. The answers are inside!

There was never any doubt about what I would be when I grew up. I was born here in Brazil. My father was an architect and my mother, a language teacher. They shared with me their love of art and music, and an appreciation for education and the environment.

Visiting my father at work was more fun than my piano lessons. I loved watching him work, hearing him explain the importance of the construction business, how important it is to create spaces for people to live. It was awesome!

So it was no surprise to anyone that once I finished high school, I would be off to Santa Ursula University in Rio de Janeiro to study architecture. I was lucky enough to get an internship and was a trainee on an important project called “Luiz Paulo Conde Arquitetura.” While I appreciated the opportunity to gain experience in designing commercial and residential projects with high-quality standards, I also felt there was something else I needed to learn and experience. So after I graduated, I joined a Social Housing Architectural Company, Cooperativa dos Profissionais do Habitat do Rio de Janeiro.

The Cooperativa was dedicated to building houses for the poor and giving back to those underserved communities what was a part of the very fabric of Brazil. I designed and constructed 630 social houses in Rio de Janeiro and 500 in São Paulo. The impact on the lives of those who benefited from having a new home was inspiring and it propelled me to continue working in the urban design of Vila Nova Peinha, a slum in São Paulo. I was honoured to have a story about my work published in a British Magazine, Architectural Review, in 2000. It was my first review. Yes, it was very exciting!

A short while later I met my future partner and spouse, Eduardo Horta, and we ventured out with our enterprise, Studio HF. Eduardo had been a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and while there, he won a National Competition for Architects an achievement that helped to open the door for many great opportunities for Studio HF.

Together, our experience and styles were a great compliment to each other. While he took on the creative work, I managed the business and for a long time, our partnership worked well and we achieved an impressive amount of success and recognition. Have a look at our awards.

But our partnership was not meant to last. When things don’t turn out the way you thought they would, you have a choice to accept failure or turn your life around, take a chance, and follow your dreams.

I studied Kaballah in 2009 and was moved into a new spiritual direction which affected every part of my life. I found an inner strength and confidence that had been instilled in me by my parents and nurtured by my beliefs. It was time to begin my solo career, and I had the passion and drive to make it happen.