Green architecture

Emilio Ambasz precursor of Green architecture

Emilio Ambasz is an architect and award-winning industrial designer. From 1969 to 1976 he was Curator of Design at the Museum of Modern Art, in New York. Ambasz was a precursor of ‘green’ architecture. Ambasz’s trademark style is a combination of buildings and gardens, which he describes as ‘green over gray’. He bucked the trends of the 1970s, hiding his buildings under grass or putting them on boats.

Born in Argentina, Ambasz is also a citizen of Spain by Royal Grant. He studied at Princeton University where he completed the undergraduate program in one year and earned, the next year, a master’s degree in Architecture from the same institution.

He will be a guest of the cultural program “build, live, think” of Cersaie 2019, with a conference to be held Thursday, September 26 at the Gallery of Architecture on the occasion of the International Exhibition of Ceramics for Architecture and Bathroom Furnishings in Bologna.

Ambasz’s distinctive style is a celebration of technology combined with a desire to return to nature, which he describes as “green on gray”. His architecture projects include the Grand Rapids Art Museum in Michigan, winner of the 1976 Progressive Architecture Award; the “Casa de Retiro Espiritual” in Cordoba, Spain, winner of the Progressive Architecture Award of 1980; and the Conservatory of the San Antonio Botanical Center in Texas, winner of the 1985 Progressive Architecture Award, from the 1988 National Glass Association Award for excellence in commercial design and the 1990 Quaternary Award. He won the first prize in the 1986 competition for the urban plan for the Eschenheimer tower in Frankfurt, Germany. His Banque Bruxelles Lambert in Lausanne, Switzerland, received the 1983 Annual Interiors Award.

Among the countless honors, he obtained the Honorary Fellowship at the American Institute of Architects, the 2014 ISA Medal for Science from the Institute of Advanced Studies of the University of Bologna and the Honorary International Fellow at the Royal Institute of British Architects. He won the Compasso d’Oro three times.

The cultural program ‘building, living, thinking’, now in its 11th edition, enriches the trade fair with important meetings and conferences, hosting – at the Architecture Gallery – leading international figures in architecture and design.