I help foundations, families and property developers open and run hybrid places.
I have been creating and operating hybrid places for twenty years. I co-founded Volumes in Paris, headed European research on creative and productive hubs, then opened Infinito Delicias in Madrid, a 25 million euro cultural hub, as Executive Director.
Today I help my clients create and build the concept and the business model of their hybrid place, working with them until it is ready to launch.
Track record
From practice to research to practice.
Infinito Delicias is a hybrid, experimental centre for food, culture and citizen participation, a 25 million euro project of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation. As Executive Director, from April 2023 until its opening in December 2025, I oversaw the construction works on the owner's side and was in charge of the brand and naming, the artistic direction, the programme and the operation model. The building, designed by Husos and elii, has been awarded the Holcim Awards 2023, Gold for Europe.
Volumes ↗
Paris · 2014-2025Co-founder and CEO of Volumes, a multi-site self-financed hybrid place in Paris - coworking, makerspace and foodlab - that opened in 2015 and ran for a decade. I built the economic model and the operations, incubated communities and projects that spun out as independent organisations, including the Fab City Grand Paris NGO and a consulting business for real-estate developers.
Centrinno ↗
European Union, Horizon 2020 · 2020-2024CENTRINNO was an 8.6 million euro research project focused on industrial historical sites and urban regeneration. I led the work on creative and productive hubs for 9 pilot cities in Europe and authored the Fab City Hub Toolkit.
CENTRINNO in 75 seconds, check the video ↗
Villae ↗
Potenza Picena, Italy · 2020-2024President of the citizens' association that pushed for a baroque villa to become public. The Italian Ministry of Culture pre-empted it in 2021, and since July 2025 it has been a national museum.
Dreamhamar ↗
Hamar, Norway · 2011-2012A city-wide participatory process in Hamar, Norway, with Ecosistema Urbano.
Four ways to work together.
We can start from here.
Creative direction and business model
For organisations that plan to open a place: uses & creative programming, operations, governance, business model.
Convert and regenerate empty buildings
For property owners, I explore possible use scenarios and build their operation model.
The uses and the programme
For architects and developers answering a tender: the programme, the future operators and how to make a vibrant ground floor.
AI-native operating models
For hybrid and cultural places, coworkings, hotels and restaurants: I help you embed AI into your operations or design an AI-native operating system to increase your margins.
New Clones · For company owners: build the AI-native clone of your company before someone else does. See itEach mission has a flat fee and deliverables at each stage. The scope is agreed in writing before we start.
You work with me directly, in French, Italian, Spanish and English. I currently have live projects in France, Spain, Italy and Denmark, and I take on selected projects in other countries.
I orchestrate the complex, multi-faceted aspects that make a place memorable.
People who are really serious about creating vibrant places should make their own hardware and software. The hardware is the architecture: what happens before the place opens and how the space is designed. The software is the operating system that makes the experience unique once it is open.
I programme the spaces, together with the architects.
I work on the brand and the identity of the place, its artistic and cultural direction.
I organise who runs it every day: the team, the accounts.
Planning to open a place?
Write to me.
hybrid@francescocingolani.comKnow someone with an empty building, a place to open or a tender to answer? Send them this page.
Not ready yet? Follow my notes on LinkedIn