Alejandro Zaera-Polo is an architect and co-founder of London/Barcelona/Zurich/Princeton based Alejandro Zaera-Polo and Maider Llaguno Architecture (AZPML). He graduated from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid with Honors and obtained an MARCH2 degree from Harvard GSD with Distinction. He worked at OMA in Rotterdam prior to establishing first FOA in 1993, and Alejandro Zaera-Po
lo architecture in 2011, the vehicles where he has developed a successful international professional practice since. In parallel to his professional activities, Alejandro Zaera-Polo has developed a substantial role within academia. He is currently the dean of the school of architecture at Princeton University and was the former Dean of the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam. Foster Visiting Professor at Yale. He has published extensively as a theorist in El Croquis, Quaderns, A+U, Arch+, Volume, Log and many other international magazines and is a member of the London School of Economics Urban Age project. He has recently published Sniper’s Log, a compilation of his most relevant writings. Maider Llaguno, becomes Alejandro Zaera-Polo's partner in 2013 after having worked for Foreign Office Architects in London since 2006 where she was involved in several projects such as the Trinity office complex in the city of London and the Ravensbourne college of design and communication as well as in various design competitions. She graduated from ETSASS/ETSAB with honors in 2006 and from GSAPP Columbia University with distinction (excellence in design) in 2009. She has taught at different universities in USA and Europe, Barnard college and GSAPP Columbia University in New York, the Structural design department at the architecture school at the ETH Zurich, and together with Alejandro Zaera-Polo at Yale School of Architecture and Berlage Institute in Rotterdam. She has finished the doctorate coursework at the Institute of Technology in Architecture ETH Zurich, and she is currently developing her thesis on urban physics, focusing on the role of architectural form and materiality in the microclimate of the street canyon, research that is being developed between the Environmental Engineering department at Princeton University and the architecture school ETH Zurich. Alejandro Zaera Polo's award-winning projects include the Yokohama International Cruise Terminal in Japan, noted for its use of dramatic form, innovative materials, and fascination with the interplay of architecture, landscape, and nature, credited by the Design Museum as a design sensation alive with bustling urbanity and seaside tranquillity. Other projects include a new building for Ravensbourne in Greenwich, the John Lewis Department Store, Cineplex and Footbridges in Leicester, Carabanchel Social Housing in Madrid, Meydan Retail Complex and Multiplex in Istanbul, the Spanish Pavilion at the 2005 International Expo in Aichi, a large coastal park with outdoor auditoriums in Barcelona, a Municipal Theatre and Auditorium in Torrevieja, La Rioja Technology Transfer Centre in Logrono and the Dulnyouk Publishing Headquarters in Paju, South Korea. AZPML’s current projects in the UK include Birmingham New Street Station in Birmingham and Trinity EC3 office complex in the City of London. In Spain, AZPML is involved in a new Hospital in Lleida, a Biotechnology centre in Barcelona, the redevelopment of the Santander Waterfront, including the design of a new ferry terminal and the yacht club which will host the World Cup in 2014, the Gurrutxaga Winery in Lekeitio and the Cerezales Foundation. AZPML is also involved in the development of two high-rise residential towers in Busan, Korea and the Locarno cinema film festival headquarters in Switzerland. The work of Alejandro Zaera-Polo has been widely published and exhibited, and represented Britain at the 8th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2002; he has received the Enric Miralles Prize for Architecture, five RIBA Awards, the 2004 Venice Architecture Biennale Award, and the Charles Jencks Award for Architecture.
