Speaker Info

Mario Cucinella, Hon FAIA, Int. Fellow RIBA
Founder, Mario Cucinella Architects

Mario Cucinella graduated with a degree in Architecture from the University of Genoa in 1986 he was mentored by Professor and Architect Giancarlo De Carlo (RIBA Royal Gold Medal 1993). From 1987 to 1992 he worked with world-reknowned Renzo Piano (Pritzker Prize 1998) in the Renzo Piano Building Workshop first in Genoa and then Paris. He founded Mario Cucinella Architects (MCA) in Paris in 1992 and later in Bologna in 1999. He is currently leading two studios based in Bologna and New York.

In 2012, he founded Building Green Futures (BGF), a non-profit organization that promotes sustainable development through green architecture and urban regeneration. The mission of BGF is to create built environments that incorporate clean technologies and local knowledge for better living conditions and sustainable access to natural resources in developing countries. The flagship project of BGF is the Kuwait School in Gaza, developed in partnership with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. Further to this, since 2014, Cucinella has worked with Architect and ‘Italian Senator for life’ Renzo Piano on the G124 project for the recovery of the suburbs in Italy. In 2015, Cucinella founded SOS – the School of Sustainability – a multi-disciplinary post-graduate program in Bologna. SOS is an integrated education, practice and research experience intended to build a culture of sustainability

The impact and significance of his work –both environmental and social – as an architect and educator have been recognized world-wide and most recently (2017) with Honorary Fellowship Award by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) who bestowed upon him their prestigious International Fellowship (2016). In 2018, he was the Curator of the Italian Pavilion at the Biennale Architettura 2018 with “Arcipelago Italia” an exhibition project bringing the interior territories of Italy to the fore.