Alessandra Cianchetta facts for kids

Alessandra Cianchetta is a talented Italian architect, designer, and artist. She is also a writer and helps plan cities. She is the founder and director of a company called AWP AWILDC. She used to be a co-founder of AWP France.

Alessandra is known for her big projects. One of her major achievements is helping to plan a huge area in Paris. This area, called La Défense, is a business district. She helped design a masterplan for developing about 161 hectares (about 400 acres) there.

Her Journey in Architecture

Alessandra Cianchetta was first interested in fashion. But a famous fashion designer, Emilio Pucci, encouraged her to study architecture instead.

She studied architecture at La Sapienza university in Rome. Then, in 2000, she earned a master's degree at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Barcelona. She also learned about landscape architecture in Paris in 2002. Later, in 2022, she studied business and finance online at Harvard Business School.

Alessandra works on many different projects. These include designing cities, landscapes, and even small buildings and interiors. She is very interested in how things like landscape, light, climate, and art affect city spaces.

Besides her plans for La Défense, she designed "Poissy Galore." These are public buildings and fun structures in a park in Paris. She also created the Lantern Pavilion in Sandnes, Norway. This building was made of timber. It was even nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award in 2009.

Her studio was chosen for the 17th International Architecture Exhibition. This is part of the Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2021. She presented an installation called "FIELD OF LINES." She also showed a film called "DIE ALLMEND/THE COMMONS."

Alessandra's built work was shown in an exhibition in Rome in 2022. It was at the MAXXI National Museum. The exhibition was called "GOOD NEWS / Women in Architecture." Her latest work, which mixes architecture and visual arts, was shown at the Lofoten International Art Festival in 2022.

Alessandra has also taught at many universities. She has taught at Columbia University in New York and Carlton University in Ottawa. She also taught at The Berlage in the Netherlands and University of Westminster in London. Other places include Pratt Institute in New York City. She has been a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. She also taught at The Cooper Union and Cornell University in New York.

Awards

Alessandra Cianchetta has received several important awards:

• 2006: French Ministry of Culture Prize for Best Young Architect.
• 2010: French Ministry of Ecology, Sustainability, Transport and Housing PJU urban planning award.