Teresa Sapey: The Volcano of Italian Architecture

Teresa Sapey, born in Cuneo in 1962, is an Italian architect known for transforming parking lots with color and oversized graphic symbols, earning the nickname 'Madame Parking.' She studied at the Politecnico di Torino, in Paris, and at Parsons in the United States, moving to Madrid in 1990. Sapey gained fame for her work at the Hotel Puerta América in Madrid alongside Jean Nouvel, Arata Isozaki, Norman Foster, and Zaha Hadid, where her parking design was reportedly used by Madonna for parties. Wallpaper awarded her the Breakthrough Wallpaper Young Designer prize, and Marie Claire named her among the ten most influential designers worldwide in 2007. She was appointed Commendatore dell'Ordine della Stella della Repubblica Italiana. Sapey's approach is characterized by five principles: a free attitude toward reality, meticulous attention to budget, inversion of the architecture-object relationship, a ludic dimension, and sustainability as lightness. Her projects include the Abitazione Sancti Petri in Cadice (2007), a parking lot at Hotel Silken Puerta América in Madrid (2004), an apartment in South Kensington, London (2016), and Christmas lighting in Calle Serrano, Madrid (2012). She is known for using color to transform perception and for her dynamic, body-inclusive presentations. The article is an opinion piece by Luigi Prestinenza Puglisi, part of a series on Italian architects.