The Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena has been in practice since 1994 and since 2006 has also served as Executive Director of ELEMENTAL S.A., a “Do Tank” for the design and implementation of urban projects of social interest and public impact.  His work includes the Mathematics Faculty, the Medical Faculty, the computer facility “Siamese Tower,” and the Architecture School at the Universidad Católica, Santiago, Chile; House for a Sculptor; House in the Pirehueico Lake; new residence and dining halls for St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas; children’s workshops and training facilities for Vitra in Weil am Rhein, Germany; a Villa in Ordos, Inner Mongolia; and social housing and urban projects for Elemental. In 2009, Aravena was appointed a member of the Pritzker Prize Jury.

He has received several awards, including Silver Lion at the XI Venice Biennale, 1st Prize in the XII and the XV Santiago Biennale, the Erich Schelling Architecture Medal 2006 (Germany), finalist in the Mies van der Rohe Award (2000), top 10 finalist in the Iakhov Chernikhov Prize 2008 (Moscow), and finalist in the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture 2008 (Paris).

Aravena has been published in A+U, Icon, Domus, Azure, Architectural Record, Dwell, and Praxis, amongst many other international journals and magazines. He is author of Los Hechos de la Arquitectura, El Lugar de la Arquitectura, and Material de Arquitectura. In 2007, Electa published a monograph of his work, entitled Alejandro Aravena, progettare e costruire.

He has lectured extensively and was Visiting Professor at the Harvard GSD from 2000 to 2005. He is currently professor at the Universidad Católica (since 1994) and Elemental Copec Professor at the UC (since 2006).  Aravena received his architecture degree from the Universidad Católica de Chile and has studied history and theory at the Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia.

Support

This program was made possible in part by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.