Elena Farini

Elena Farini is a Swiss-Italian architect, researcher and educator. She graduated in Architecture from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and later completed a European Doctorate in Architecture at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, awarded cum laude and the UPM Extraordinary Doctoral Prize.
She is co-founder, with Christophe Widerski, of FWG Architects, a European practice based in Lausanne, Paris and Madrid. The studio has received 14 prizes in international competitions and has developed a substantial body of work in Switzerland focused on healthcare, education and social infrastructure. Key projects include the medical-social residence in Leysin, socio-educational workshops and accommodation for people with disabilities at the Fondation L’Espérance in Étoy, the centre for young adults in Aubonne, and the new Maison d’Enfants de la Fondation La Feuillère at Le Mont-sur-Lausanne.
Her work is particularly concerned with care, adaptive reuse, flexibility and the long-term transformation of buildings, together with a strong commitment to environmental responsibility, landscape and biodiversity. Sustainability is embedded in the design process through low-resource strategies, material reuse, bioclimatic principles and a careful relationship between architecture, existing conditions and living systems.
Alongside practice, Farini has developed an extensive academic and editorial activity. She has directed and contributed to publications including Time and Cities, Cities and Time, Coexistences, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Flowscapes: Exploring Landscape Infrastructures. FWG’s work has also been featured in Divisare, ArchDaily, TRACÉS and The New Together.
Her work has been presented in exhibitions and cultural programmes including the Venice Architecture Biennale, as well as exhibitions in Geneva, Lyon, Madrid, Seville and Rome. She has taught at ETSAM and currently teaches architectural design at Universidad Francisco de Vitoria in Madrid, while maintaining academic collaborations with institutions including TU Delft, ENSAL Lyon, HEPIA Geneva and Sapienza University of Rome. She has also been invited to reviews and juries at EPFL, ENSAL and HEPIA and regularly participates in international architectural juries and academic programmes.
Across practice, research and teaching, her work focuses on architecture as a long-term framework: adaptive, resource-conscious and capable of responding to changing social and collective needs.