Juan Balsa

Juan Manuel Balsa is an Argentine architect and educator, and co-founder and  principal of Balsa Crosetto Piazzi, an award-winning architecture office based in  Córdoba, Argentina, and the United States. He graduated from the School of  Architecture, Urbanism, and Design at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (2012)  and pursued a Master’s degree in Architectural Design at the Universidad de  Navarra in Spain (2017). In addition to teaching at RISD, he is an associate professor  at the School of Architecture, Urbanism, and Design. He has also taught at  Universidad Andrés Bello in Chile and Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston. 

The work of Balsa Crosetto Piazzi is characterized by an interest in local construction  techniques, precise geometries, and a continuous exploration of radical typologies  and hyper-local material and technical solutions. Through its innovative approach,  the office has received numerous awards in both national and international design  competitions, and its work has been exhibited at renowned biennales such as the  Venice Biennale and the Ibero-American Architecture Biennial. In 2024, the office  was awarded the FADEA Prize, one of the most prestigious accolades in Argentina,  and in 2025, it will be featured in the Latin American Architecture Biennale (BAL), a  major recognition for emerging architectural practices. 

Notable achievements include first prize for the design and restoration of the  National Argentine Bank’s historic headquarters in Buenos Aires, first prize for the  IX Ibero-American Architecture and Urbanism Biennial pavilion, and first prize for the  design of Manuel Belgrano Square in Córdoba. In 2023, the office was shortlisted  for the design and curation of the Argentine pavilion at the Venice Architecture  Biennale with the project Invisible Structures. 

In 2025, Balsa Crosetto Piazzi was selected as a participant in the Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB): SHIFT, Architecture in Times of Radical Change,  in the United States. The office was also recognized as a winner of The  Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers 2025 in New York, and was shortlisted for the Lisbon Triennale Début Award 2025 in Portugal.