Symbiotecture

José Juan Barba (1964) graduated from ETSA Madrid in 1991. Special Mention in the National Finishing University Education Awards 1991. Ph.D. in Architecture ETSAM, 2004. He founded his professional practice in Madrid in 1992 (www.josejuanbarba.com), he is an architecture critic and editor-in-chief of METALOCUS magazine since 1999, he was advising different NGOs until 1997. He has been a lecturer (in Design, Theory and Criticism, and Urban planning) and guest lecturer at different national and international universities (Roma TRE, Polytechnic Milan, ETSA Madrid, ETSA Barcelona, UNAM Mexico, Univ. Iberoamericana Mexico, University of Thessaly Volos, FA de Montevideo, Washington, Medellin, IE School, U.Alicante, Univ. Europea Madrid, UCJC Madrid, ESARQ-U.I.C. Barcelona,...).

Maître de Conférences IUG-UPMF Grenoble 2013-14. Full assistant Professor, since 2003 up to now at the University of Alcalá School of Architecture, Madrid, Spain. And Jury in competitions as Quaderns editorial magazine (2011), Mies van der Rohe Awards, (2010-2019), Europan13 (2015). He has been invited to participate in the Biennale di Venezia 2016 as part "Spaces of Exception / Spazi d'Eccezione".

He has published several books, the last in 2016, "#positions" and in 2015 "Inventions: New York vs. Rem Koolhaas, Bernard Tschumi, Piranesi " and collaborations on "Spaces of Exception / Spazi d'Eccezione", "La Mansana de la discordia" (2015), "Arquitectura Contemporánea de Japón: Nuevos territorios" (2015)...

Awards.-

- Award. RENOVATION OF SEGURA RIVER ENVIRONMENT, Murcia, Sapin, 2010.
- First Prize, RENOVATION GRAN VÍA, “Delirious Gran Vía”, Madrid, Spain, 2010.
- First Prize, “PANAYIOTI MIXELI Award”. SADAS-PEA, for the Spreading of Knowledge of Architecture Athens, 2005.
- First Prize, “SANTIAGO AMÓN Award," for the Spreading of Knowledge of Architecture. 2000.
- Award, “PIERRE VAGO Award." ICAC -International committee of Art Critics. London, 2005.
- First Prize, C.O.A.M. Madrid, 2000. Shortlisted, World Architecture Festival. Centro de Investigación e Interpretación de los Ríos. Tera, Esla y Orbigo, Barcelona, 2008.
- First Prize. FAD AWARD 07 Ephemeral Interventions. “M.C.ESCHER”. Arquin-Fad. Barcelona, Sapin 2007.

Carlos Campos. (1963). Architect, Artist, Musician. Full Professor at FADU Buenos Aires, Visiting Professor at several uniersities: UF USA, DIA Germany, Vanvitelli Italy, Marchi Moscow, IUAV Venezia, St. Etienne, France, UniRC Italy, Universitá di Bologna, Politecnico di Milano and others. Main projects: Argentine Pavillion at XI Biennale di Architettura di Venezia, Museo ESMA, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Awarded in many national and international architecture competitions. Author of books: "Antes de la Idea", "La performance arquitectónica", "Traducciones Intersemióticas".

Alessandro Melis, RIBA ARB AOU, is a professor of architecture innovation at the University of Portsmouth and the Director of the Cluster for Sustainable Cities in the UK. In 2019, he was appointed by the Italian Minister of Cultural Heritage (MIBAC) as the curator of the Italian Pavilion at the 17th International Biennale of Architecture in Venice 2020.
Previously, at the University of Auckland, he was the head of the technology area and director of postgraduate engagement. In the period 2010-2013 he has been the Director of Urban City Lab at the university of Applied Arts Vienna (Die Angewandte) and visiting professor in Germany (Anhalt University, Dessau).
He holds a PhD in architecture design from the University of Florence. He has been an honorary fellow at the Edinburgh School of Architecture. He has also been invited as a keynote speaker at the China Academy of Art, the MoMA New York, the University of Cambridge, TED, the Italian Institute of Culture in London, and the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.
In 1996, he founded Heliopolis 21, a multi-awarded architecture practice based in Italy, Germany, and the UK.
The recognition of Alessandro’s research is corroborated by a record of publications and by as many citations. His work was the object of several exhibitions and of a recent monograph (Rome, 2020) edited by Francesco Fallacara Chirico, titled “Alessandro Melis, Utopic Real World.”