Curators
Massimo Imparato
Curator
Director, SOS School of Sustainability
Architect and educator with over twenty years of professional practice in the creative industries, and over fifteen years of academic experience at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels in Italy and the Middle East, that now converge in the new role of director of SOS School of Sustainability
Massimo was trained as an architect with Giancarlo De Carlo, with whom he collaborated at the ILA&UD, the International Laboratory of Architecture and Urban Design. In the same years he founded StudioBau, an architects' collective where he developed award-winning projects, including the design for transformable furniture selected for the Compasso d'Oro. Massimo taught studio courses at the Polytechnic of Milan, at the University of Trento, the Florence Institute of Design and the Academia of Mendrisio; in 2012 he was appointed Visiting Professor at the American University of Sharjah, and then he joined as a full-time faculty the Canadian University Dubai. In the Middle East he established an important professional and academic network of institutional and industrial leaders in research and innovation. His curatorial project UAE Modern gathers local and international experts to share experiences and exchange knowledge on design innovation for sustainable environments.
Monica Mazzolani
Co-Curator
Managing Partner at MTA, Giancarlo De Carlo Associati
Monica Mazzolani trained as architect under the guidance of Giancarlo De Carlo, founding member of the TeamX, President of the ILA&UD, Director of the Magazine Spazio and Society, Riba Gold Medal in 1993; first as student and then as partner of his architectural firm. In 2006 she founded MTA, while carrying on in parallel “De Carlo & associated” the firm committed to the completion of works unfinished at the time of De Carlo’s death. Their research and architectural practice encompass the intervention on buildings subject to conservation constraints and their adaptation to new uses; the Conservation programs for buildings and complexes of the Modern Movement; Master Planning, Landscape Design, and buildings for education, commerce and residential.
Ivan Parati
Co-Curator
AU Faculty; Associate Editor, Compasses Magazine
Ivan approach focuses on a strong multidisciplinary and crossbreed process that connects diverse industries towards new unexpected opportunities. Ivan is currently teaching at Ajman University, focusing his research on modularity, geometric tessellation and digital fabrication, keen on technology but aware of its potential threat to contemporary society. He belongs since a decade to the cultural scene of the Emirates, enabling through caravan, a design collective founded with his wife Emanuela Corti, a dialogue among the local industry and the creative community with workshops, installations, exhibitions, and researches. He is one of the founders of Witsense, the Start-Up whose brainchild Sensewear, a collection of smart-garments with anti-stress functionalities, has been internationally recognized with design awards and prizes. Ivan recently joined Compasses, the architecture and design magazine with international vocation focusing on the Gulf scene, keen on strengthening the local presence of the magazine, promoting a model still new to the region where essays and projects’ reviews contribute towards specific themed issues.