Alessandra Cianchetta

Alessandra Cianchetta is an award-winning architect, designer, cultural strategist, and advisor with over two decades of international experience shaping projects at the intersection of architecture, art, and urbanism. Her work spans Europe, the Middle East, the United States, and Asia, bridging strategy and implementation for public, private, and institutional clients. Cianchetta leads multidisciplinary teams delivering cultural strategies, museum and exhibition design, and large-scale urban and heritage regeneration initiatives. She has provided strategic and creative advisory to global governments and institutions—including Saudi Arabia (Vision 2030), France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Singapore, and Australia—developing culture-led regeneration frameworks, placemaking strategies, and national heritage branding programs. As a Cultural Strategy Advisor with ARD Advisory, she crafted initiatives combining architectural innovation, cultural programming, and heritage development aligned with regional visions for the Middle East.

Cianchetta has curated and designed landmark exhibitions across art, photography, and architecture for leading museums such as the Louvre, MAXXI, and the Musée National de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine (City of Architecture and Heritage, Paris). She has also collaborated with private collections and cultural foundations including Prada/Louvre, Hauser & Wirth, Art Basel, and DACRA Miami. Her curatorial and design work bridges museum collections, public art, and new forms of exhibition storytelling.

Her architectural portfolio includes the Stardust Pavilion in the Miami Design District (Art Basel), the media lounge for Design Miami, the Poissy Galore Museum and Observatory near Paris, a 51-hectare arts and creative district in Liverpool (UNESCO site), regeneration strategies for Malmo Quay in the UK, and high-profile cultural and commercial buildings across Europe and North America.

A recognized academic and thought leader, Cianchetta has taught and lectured at leading institutions including Columbia New York Paris Program, Yale, Cornell, The Berlage Center, and Hong Kong University - where she is currently Associate Professor - and as a guest critic at Harvard GSD and Rice University. Her writings and lectures address the evolving role of architecture and cultural strategy in shaping identity, memory, and place in global contexts.

Her work is part of museum and institutional collections worldwide—including MAXXI, MoMA, Storefront for Art and Architecture (NYC), the Design Museum (London), and Drawing Matter (UK)—and has been featured in Le Monde, The New York Times, Forbes, The Guardian, La Repubblica, and BBC News. Recognized among the most visionary women in design, Cianchetta is featured in the ongoing exhibition “Good News – Women in Architecture” at MAXXI, Rome, which has toured internationally (Doha, New Delhi, Berlin, Toronto, Athens, Stockholm, Montreal, Mexico City, San Jose). Her work is currently showcased in the MAXXI exhibition ‘The Large Glass’ curated by artist Alex Da Corte and showcasing the work of Francis Alÿs, Alighiero Boetti, Giuseppe Penone, Michelangelo Pistoletto and others.