Italian architect
Alessandro Melis |
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| Citizenship | Italian |
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| Occupation(s) | Architect, Art Curator, University Professor |
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| Employer(s) | Italian National Pavilion at the 17th Venice Biennale, University of Portsmouth |
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| Awards | Ambassador of Italian Design 2020 by ADI |
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Alessandro Melis (Cagliari, 7/6/1969) is an Italian architect and the curator of the Italian National Pavilion at the 17th Venice Biennale.[1] He is also a professor of architecture and the inaugural endowed chair of the New York Institute of Technology.
Career
Appointed by the Italian Government in 2019,[1] he follows the previous curators Mario Cucinella (2018) and Tamassociati (2016), as curator of the Italian Pavilion.
Alessandro Melis is the IDC Foundation Endowed Chair of the New York Institute of Technology. Previously he was director of the International Cluster for Sustainable Cities at the University of Portsmouth,[2] and the head of Postgraduate engagement at the school of Architecture and Planning of the University of Auckland.[3] He has also been invited as a keynote speaker at the China Academy of Art, the MoMA New York, the University of Cambridge,[4] TEDx,[5] the Italian Institute of Culture in London, the NZ Cycling Conference, the Foster Foundation (as an academic staff member),[6] and the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.
In 2020, he is appointed Ambassador of Italian Design in Paris, by Adi (Associazione Disegno Industriale) and the Italian Mnistery of Foreign Affairs.
In 1996, he founded Heliopolis 21, a multi-awarded architecture practice based in Italy, Germany, and the UK. The SR1938 Institute of the University of Pisa,[7][8] the Stella Maris Hospital [9][10] and the Auditorium of Sant’Anna, inaugurated by the president of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella,[11] are acknowledged both in scholar publications and in popular magazines as examples of excellence in sustainable design. The recognition of Alessandro's research is corroborated by a record of over 150 peer review journal and book publications (including practice based research outputs)[12] such as the seminal monograph on Alessandro Gherardesca, pivotal researches on the Algerian El Houma, in collaboration with Yazid Khemri, Temporary Appropriation, with Antonio Lara Hernandez, and by as many citations.[13][14][15]
Alessandro Melis is acknowledged, together with Telmo Pievani,[16] for introducing the concept of Exaptation in Architecture.[17][18][19][20][21]
His work was the object of several exhibitions and of a recent monograph (Rome, 2020) authored by several scholars of the universities of Palermo and Bari and edited by Francesco Fallacara Chirico, titled “Alessandro Melis, Utopic Real World.[22][23]
In 2017, Alessandro Melis and Steffen Lehmann created the interdisciplinary project CRUNCH: Climate Resilient Urban Nexus Choices: Operationalising the Food-Water-Energy Nexus.[24] This is a research project funded by Horizon 2020, Belmont Forum Belmont Forum, ESRC and other funding bodies. Alessandro Melis is leading the project on behalf of the University of Portsmouth, where he is professor of architecture innovation.[2][12]
Awards
He has been nominated as an ambassador of Italian Design 2020 by ADI and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[2][25][26]
