Carlos Medellín is a spatial designer, artist, and educator who understands space as a living narrative shaped by the practice of daily life. His work—both in design and teaching—explores how architecture and design influence such spatial narratives: the ways we inhabit, interact with, and care for ourselves and the environment.
Through a research-driven approach, Carlos develops personalized daily practices for himself, individuals, and groups to explore and redesign the stories that define our relationships with space and one another. With deep respect for cultural and natural contexts, he creates spatial interventions, ceremonies, rehearsals, tools, experiences, and buildings that explore architecture’s capacity to convey meaning grounded in memory, place, and collective creativity.
Born in Bogotá, Carlos has experienced the lasting effects of Colombia’s decades-long internal conflict and the spatial segregation it produced. This personal history informs his dedication to designing responsive spatial strategies that honor the Earth and local histories while supporting the negotiation of personal, communal, and ecological needs.
As a designer, he has collaborated with other architects, artists, educators, and urban researchers on projects at multiple scales—from civic institutions, heritage centers, and public health facilities to neighborhood planning and waterfront developments. His professional partnerships span nonprofit organizations, cultural institutions, and international development agencies, including the United Nations, the Inter-American Development Bank, and various municipal governments. His work spans North America, South America, and Europe across disciplines including architecture, urban design, product design, interior design, and service design.
As a faculty member at Columbia GSAPP, he leads courses that focus on individual inquiry, sustainable design, and context-sensitive research that navigate spaces of memory, dialogue, and transformation. He has also taught at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Parsons School of Design, Universidad de los Andes, and Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.
He holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, a postgraduate diploma in Media Architecture and Design from Strelka Institute in Moscow, and a Master of Advanced Architectural Design from California College of the Arts in San Francisco. His training also includes mediation strategies, traditional fabrication techniques, magic and introspective practices such as Tarot and meditation.
Carlos lives and works between Bogotá and Brooklyn.
