Giorgio Palù (Cremona, 1964) graduated in architecture from the Milan Polytechnic in 1989. He began freelancing in 1991 and in 1994 with colleague Michele Bianchi founded Arkpabi Giorgio Palù & Michele Bianchi architetti in Cremona. In 2004 he opened an office in Milan - Arkpabi Milano. He realizes several works in the public and private sector, approaches design issues with an approach based on architectural research, type-morphological, technical-material experimentation and technological innovation. With personality and creativity he mainly deals with architecture investigating all possible facets of the discipline, realizing buildings for tertiary, hospitality, industrial architecture, residences, both for public and private clients. In 2002, one of his first major projects, the "DelleArti design Hotel" in Cremona, was awarded in London as Best New Hotel in the international competition "The European Hotel Design Award 2002" winning the Architectural Award.
Driven by the need and desire to create "total projects," he began to work steadily in design as well, seeking answers to specific needs and addressing design issues at all scales. Lighting objects, tables, chairs and sofas are born. Between 2002 and 2008 he carried out several projects for residential use that highlight how volumetric research, material experimentation and the use of color wisely combined can give rise to innovative architecture; examples are the project called "gli attici di Doberdò" in Milan, the building in Cremona in Viale Trento e Trieste, and the villa in Padenghe sul Garda. Projects published in the most prestigious international architecture magazines such as The Plan, Mark, A10, Hauser, Domus, Abitare, L'Arca. In the following years, among other projects, architectures with strong implications with respect to the built context are elaborated: restaurants in Cremona and Verona, stores in Cremona, two banks in the center of Milan, the complex of suspended villas of the "Ex Consorzio Agrario" in Cremona, the Continental Hotel and the citadel of Services at the "Ex Gasometri" in Cremona, the Violin Museum and the Giovanni Arvedi Auditorium as well as the Marconi Square in Cremona. The design of the Violin Museum and the Giovanni Arvedi Auditorium initiate the dual confrontation with the theme of museography and architecture for performing arts venues. In 2013 he won the "Best Communication Stand" award with the exhibition stand designed for the company M&M Forging for the Made in Steel event in Milan.
The design of important villas, such as Villa Es Cubells in Ibiza, Villa Wadia and Villa Shajena in Monte Carlo, and the restoration of the Villa Machiavelli complex in Fiesole are from this period.
After several years of intensified collaboration with artists for the creation of site-specific installations, since 2010 he began the production of works properly related to the world of art, and in 2014 the exhibition "Pathos: fluendo verso" was set up at the Civic Museum "Ala Ponzone" in Cremona, with art installations by Giorgio Palù and canvases by the international artist Marco Nereo Rotelli.
In 2015, awarded by the Lombardy Region as Lombardy Excellence for his professional activity, he began his second collaboration with Nagata Acoustics for the realization of a new concert hall for the Lilla Academy in Stockholm and the project for the realization of the Diocesan Museum in the Episcopal Palace in Cremona.
He opened his first solo exhibition in Pietrasanta entitled "SUBSTANTIA" in 2016 where he presented a series of works investigating the deep relationship with matter, experimenting with new forms of artistic representation on different materials: iron, bronze, concrete, travertine and glass.
2016 also saw the inauguration of his first urban sculpture called "The Soul of the City"; an 8-meter-high site-specific work donated to Cremona depicting a violin.
Also in 2016, he won with the Giovanni Arvedi Auditorium the XXIV ADI Compasso d'Oro Award "for having realized with beauty and elegance the concept of harmony equal to a great musical instrument, the Violin." First Compasso d'Oro to be awarded to an architecture that has been likened to a large-scale sculptural and design object.
In 2017, an Honorable Mention in "The Plan Award 2017" competition was given to the project "Villa Wadia," a private villa in Monte Carlo, and in the same year he became Designer and Art Director of the "Metalli d' Autore" collection with the design of limited edition artistic design pieces, many of which furnished a private home in Soncino, also designed by Palù by restoring an old textile mill.
In 2020 a second urban sculpture entitled Tree of Change is inaugurated in Milan as part of the Christmas of Trees event.
In June 2022, The Queen Silvia Concert Hall in Stockholm is inaugurated in the presence of the Swedish royal family, a project with which it won the Light Prize in Sweden in September 2023. Also in 2022, the Diocesan Museum in Cremona and the new Civic Archaeological Museum in Remedello were inaugurated, for which he oversaw the redesign.