Prima Materia, meaning "first matter" in Latin, is a concept in alchemy and philosophy that refers to the original fundamental substance from which all things are believed to be derived. Applied to architecture, it symbolizes the utter substance of space, that our studio’s holistic approach aims to reveal.
We are a multi-disciplinary design studio based in Paris and Istanbul. As our expertise spans from architecture to product design, we like to tackle every project as a global design experience. Our work is focusing on creating actual places rather than designing abstract spaces, putting a strong focus on private clients’ and customers’ experience.
Our office was created as a bridge between two countries, two cultures: we naturally understand the importance of opening up and inventing new, virtuous ways for people to inhabit the earth together. In the studio, ideas and aesthetics are permanently questioned, reinvented.
We believe that the future of design is about anticipating the challenges our world is facing globally, but also creating positive and desirable narratives about what’s coming next. Sustainability is for us more than a marketing concept bound by a restricted range of materials and resources: it is a real and exciting possibility to elope, as much as an opportunity to start inventing new ways. We prefer our designs, living spaces or custom-made retail elements, to convey a sense of ‘quiet ingenuity’ that’s able to meet the environmental and human stakes of today’s world.

Adèle Catherine
architect
adele@primamateria.archi
Adèle Catherine is an architect experienced in complex and ambitious projects. Her architectural practice of more than fifteen years, in various architecture firms in France and abroad, has been an opportunity for staying curious and open to the people, the world, the arts. Above all, it shaped her commitment to an architecture that’s coherent and simple, imaginative and sensitive.
Adèle graduated from l’ENSA Paris-la-Villette and collaborated with architects and designers on a number of prestigious projects over the years. Among them, the Collège de France’s historical renovation and extension in Paris or the Paris’ 2024 Olympics media village. She was also a EUROPAN Laureate in 2012 and led various smaller-scale projects for private clients, focusing on the links between words, space and human lives.
