BOLOGNA, ITALY -- Chilean architect Felipe Assadi is the first guest to have been invited to speak at Cersaie 2019 as part of the “building, dwelling, thinking” cultural program. He will take part in a conference in the Architecture Gallery during the International Exhibition of Ceramic Tile and Bathroom Furnishings, which is scheduled to be held in Bologna, Italy, from September 23 to 27, 2019.

Born in Santiago, Chile in 1971, Assadi studied architecture at Finis Terrae University and gained a Master’s degree in architecture from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. In 1999, he received the Young Promotion Award from the Architects’ Association of Chile, an honor bestowed on an outstanding Chilean architect under the age of 35. Since 2011, he has served as Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Design of the Finis Terrae University. He has taught at a number of different universities in Chile and abroad, including the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education and the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí in Mexico, the Pontifical Bolivarian University and the University of the Andes in Colombia, and most recently the IUAV in Venice, Italy.

He has worked in Chile, Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, the U.S., Ecuador and Colombia. He has been the subject of four monographs, as well as numerous articles in leading specialist international magazines. The underlying theme of his work is the use of low-cost materials that are easy to find and transport and can be assembled and disassembled rapidly. Two of his most innovative projects are the “Remote House” in Chile, an 80-square-meter house that can be assembled and disassembled in just six hours, and the “20x20 House,” also in Chile, based on a 20- x 20-cm ceramic tile module.

Now in its 11th edition, the “building, dwelling, thinking” cultural program will once again host a wide range of events, including conferences given by internationally acclaimed architects and designers in the Architecture Gallery.