Mario Cucinella was born in Palermo in 1960 and graduated in Architecture at the University of Genoa in 1986.

In 1992, in Paris, he founded MCA – Mario Cucinella Architects, an architecture and design firm that has now headquarters in Bologna and Milan, and of which he is also the creative director.

In 2015 he founded SOS – School of Sustainability, a school for young professionals and recent graduates that focuses on the application of sustainable architecture and design to give future decisions makers the tools necessary to tackle the environmental issues that are emerging globally with an open-minded, holistic, research-driven, and human-centered approach.

The importance of his work and continued commitment as an architect and educator on environmental and social issues have been recognized with the International Fellowship of the Royal Institute of British Architects (2016) and with the Honorary Fellowship of the American Institute of Architects (2017).

In 2018 he was curator of the Italian Pavilion at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale with the exhibition “Arcipelago Italia”.

Mario Cucinella has taught at the universities of Ferrara, Naples, Munich, and Nottingham.

He is the author of many publications including:
Building Green Futures (2020, published by Forma), a volume that investigates, through a collection of the latest projects and most representative architecture of Mario Cucinella Architects, possible answers that architecture can provide to the global challenges of the future.
Architecture of Education (2021, published by Maggioli), an analysis of how the most important places in civil society will be able to evolve thanks to architecture and the dynamics it is able to generate, through a multi-voiced narrative alternating with design solutions developed by Mario Cucinella Architects.
The future is a journey to the past. Ten stories about architecture (2021, published by Quodlibet) In this book Mario Cucinella – together with Valentina Torrente and Laura Zevi – describes ten trips to cities and places that gave him valuable insights into environmental issues and the rational use of available energy.

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Operations Director at Mario Cucinella Architects, Andrea was born in Messina and graduated in Management, innovation, and services engineering at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa with the final dissertation “Decoding innovation in Design” and, previously, in Architectural engineering at Politecnico di Torino with a thesis named “Computational Urbanism. Data, tools, and methods for tomorrow city planning”.

Over the past thirteen years he has gained a multifaceted experience inside creative organizations of various kinds by working as manager and designer for international design firms where creativity, technology, and research are the main pillars for developing projects that aim to produce a positive impact on our society and on our planet.

Driven by this idea and an investigative mindset, Andrea has also developed some internationally rewarded entrepreneurial projects that allowed him to build a hybrid profile. The variety of his skills, spanning from spaces, services and organizations design to business strategy and execution, today allows him to lead the growth of the operational dynamics in complex creative organizations which develop highly innovative projects for first class clients all over the globe.

His eclectic experience doesn’t prevent him to nurture his great passion for sport and for traveling on his motorbike for thousands of kilometers per year.

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Marco is an architect and works as Design Manager and Architects Coordinator at Mario Cucinella Architects in Milan (IT). He has extensive experience in complex buildings and urban projects, with special focus on sustainable design strategies.

He graduated in Sustainable Architecture at IUAV University of Venice (IT).

From 2010 to 2020 he worked as Architect and Project Leader in architecture and urban design firms in The Netherlands. He led projects in Europe, China and South-Eastern Asia, developing flexible and site-specific strategies to match local culture, diverse values and specific opportunities for sustainable design. Projects often required research work and the development of specific communication tools.

In 2022 he joined Mario Cucinella Architects. He has been working on projects in the metropolitan area of Milan and abroad which required switching between building and urban scale. His work involves the coordination of interdisciplinary teams of consultants in order to develop the most suitable design strategies.

As Architects Coordinator of Milan office, he takes part to events, gives lectures and presentations about Mario Cucinella Architects work and values.

Valentina Grasso is Senior Architect and Project manager at MCA.

After graduating with honors from the Faculty of Architecture of Reggio Calabria (2012), she was a teaching assistant for several architectural and urban design firms, and a researcher at i2a - International Institute of Architecture (Lugano, Switzerland), where she also co-authored “Beyond Urbanization,” a publication on contemporary urban conditions in the Lugano area.

In 2018, she obtained an Executive Master in Project Management (24ORE Business School, Milan).

She worked in international firms from 2013, where she gained experience in strategic and multidisciplinary projects at different scales - from new developments to the regeneration of historical and urban complexes - honing her design, management and relational skills.

She has managed complex projects in high-level national and international settings from concept to realization, including: Vitae - C40 Reinventing Cities 2019, Milan; AGO Modena Fabbriche Culturali, Modena; Parco Romana Masterplan; Italian Pavilion at Expo Dubai; Meet Digital Cultural Center, Milan; Fondazione Agnelli, Turin.

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