Carlos Medellín (he/him) is a spatial designer who believes that design is not
only an exterior but also an inner work and approaches design as a relational
process and a social and transdisciplinary practice. By exploring the role of
design in producing the structural inequities that shape society, he orients his
work toward finding ways to repair environmental and social injustices and
support repairing the relationship breaches that such reality has caused.
As a citizen, Carlos has witnessed the extremes of Colombia’s armed conflict
and the resulting spatial segregation and profound violence that has defined its
society. As a queer man has experienced the danger of moving through spaces
shaped by absolute notions imposed on individuals’ class, race, or sexuality:
what does not fit in the pre-existent idea must be forced to fit or left aside. As an
immigrant, he had learned that a house is not a home and that rebuilding it in
often unwelcoming and unfamiliar environments requires creating transformative
and supportive relationships while resisting betraying yourself and your
traditions. And, as an architect, he has become aware that building is also to
govern and that architecture is a political act that can define how we live and
relate.
That context explains why he understands that space is in constant conflict
because we are different and live in it together. But most importantly, why he
believes space and designers can have a role as mediators to overcome the
different kinds of violence that come with deep social divisions and structural
inequities. Therefore, he is interested in holding spaces for social engagement
and individual empowerment.
Independently and in collaborating with design teams at Designing Justice +
Designing Spaces, Fundacion Horizontal, El Equipo Mazzanti, The Embassy of
The Netherlands in Bogota, The United Nations Against Drugs and Crime,
Bogota’s District: Secretary of Security, Coexistence, and Justice, the
Interamerican Development Bank and the World Bank, The Queens Museum,
The Institute of Contemporary Art at VCU, La Biennale di Venezia, The Chicago
Architecture Biennial, Triennale di Milano; Carlos has conceptualized, designed,
and managed transdisciplinary projects in art, architecture, urban, interior,
product, and service design across the globe.
Medellín has also developed and led social entrepreneurship and research on
how design processes can be more fair by learning from Restorative Justice and
ancestral Land Acknowledgment practices. As a teacher at Universidad
Javeriana, Universidad de los Andes, The Rhode Island School of Design,
Parsons School of Design, and Columbia University, he has focused on creating
a new studio-classroom culture. So, together with the students, they explore
their professional roles as reality builders and engage with the land more
respectfully by collaboratively investigating their stories and contexts. Students
also learn team-based design by practicing relationship-building, coaching
mechanisms, and negotiation skills.
Carlos Medellín holds a B. Arch from Universidad de Los Andes in Bogotá,
a Postgraduate in Research on Media Architecture and Design from Strelka
Institute in Moscow, and a Master of Advanced Design from the California
College of the Arts in San Francisco. He is also a magician apprentice, has
training in mediation strategies, and practices Tarot and swimming.
He is currently located and moving between the ancestral and unceded
territories of the Muisca and Lenape peoples: Bogota and Brooklyn.
