Carla Juaçaba and Eva Prats appointed Associate Professors in Architectural Design

Starting from the academic year 2023-24, Prof. Carla Juaçaba from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Prof. Eva Prats from Barcelona, Spain, will be joining the academic staff of USI as Associate Professors. They will teach "Architectural Design" at the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio. The selection process attracted 130 candidates from various countries worldwide.

In April, the report created by the Competition's Advance Notice Committee was unanimously approved by the Academy's Council of Professors. The Committee consisted of Academy of Architecture Director Prof. Walter Angonese, Academy of Architecture Prof. Valentin Bearth, Academy of Architecture Prof. Shelley McNamara, ETH Zürich Prof. Jan De Vylder, ETH Zürich Prof. Anne Lacaton, Faculty of Communication Culture and Society Prof. Giacomo Jori, and Academy Management Coordinator Marco Della Torre. The report was later ratified by the Senate and the USI Council. 

Carla Juaçaba, born in Rio de Janeiro in 1976, is an architect and urban planner who studied at the Universidade Santa Úrsula. Since 2000, she has been running her own architectural practice, focusing mainly on cultural programmes and private projects. In 2018, she was invited to the Venice Architecture Biennale with her project Ballast, curated by Grafton Architects. She has also designed one of the Vatican chapels for the Holy See Pavilion, curated by Francesco Dal Co, which is now part of the Italian architectural heritage. She resides in Paris and has taught at the IUAV University of Venice, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro and the City College of New York.

Eva Prats was born in Barcelona in 1965, graduated from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Barcelona (ETSAB) in 1992 and holds a PhD by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technolgy. After working with Enric Miralles and Carme Pinós, she established her own studio in 1994 and later co-founded Flores & Prats Architects with Ricardo Flores in 1998. Eva Prats specialises in repurposing old buildings, designing public spaces with community involvement, and creating social housing to foster community. She is also an associate professor at ETSAB and has taught at various international universities such as the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and the ETH Zürich.