Miguel Lopez Melendez
Doctor of Design in Architecture and Urbanism
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Miguel’s research combines architecture, art, environmental aesthetics, landscape architecture, philosophy, and urbanism. His research and teaching activities at Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD) comprised architecture and urban projects in Latin America and the United States, and courses on history and theory of architecture and landscape architecture. He has participated in international conferences in Latin America, the United States, Europe, and Asia, while his work has been exhibited internationally. Miguel holds a Doctor of Design degree and a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard University GSD, a certificate in Design of Sustainable Communities from Universidad Iberoamericana, and a Bachelor of Architecture from Tecnológico de Monterrey, México (ITESM). His dissertation, titled Urbanism and Autonomy, studied the term “autonomy” in postmodern urban thinking through Peter Eisenman’s and Aldo Rossi’s oeuvres. It documented the cultural engagement of “autonomy” as adopted from philosophy, art, and political theory to contradict the unjustified disciplinary detachment of architectural practice and theory from cultural concerns. The formulation of urban autonomy addresses urbanization through the analytical superiority of cinema over architecture and urbanism, praised by Rossi, to engage with urban transformations.
Education
2015 - 2021
Harvard University, USA
2012 - 2014
Harvard University, USA
2013
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
2011
Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico
2006 - 2007
Universidad CEU San Pablo
Escuela Politécnica Superior, Spain
2003 - 2008
Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Mexico
Doctor of Design
Dissertation: Urbanism and Autonomy
Main Advisor: Charles Waldheim
Master of Architecture in Urban Design
Thesis: Morphologic: Mexico City
Advisor: Joan Busquets
Cross-registration: City Science, Media Lab
Certification: Design of Sustainable Communities
Exchange Program (Study Abroad)
Bachelor of Architecture