Bio
After receiving a bachelor in architecture from Syracuse University, Alexander Fernández taught in Puerto Rico at the Interamerican and Polytechnic Universities. He gained professional experience working for several design-oriented firms and historic preservation consultants. In 1995 he received a grant form the U.S. Park Service and the Puerto Rico State Historic Preservation Office to research, document, draw and nominate four historically significant buildings from the 1920’s into the National Register of Historic Places in Washington D.C. In 1996, he was awarded a full fellowship to pursue a Master in Architecture 2 at Syracuse University’s program in Florence, Italy. Thereafter he taught design and theory courses at Syracuse University’s Pre Architecture program in Florence. Subsequently he was appointed assistant professor while teaching 1st, 2nd and 4th year design, various drawing and analysis courses in the U.S. and Italy.
During the Summer of 2000, he directed and co-taught a traveling program in Spain + Portugal, which focused on the analysis of traditional and significant contemporary architectural work through on-site drawings in different mediums and techniques. His formal research and analytical drawings of a Carthusian monastery near Pisa have been published in Italian journals, the Journal of Architectural Education (JAE) and exhibited at several U.S. universities. He has been invited to present lectures on drawing, Carthusian monasteries, Italian cemetery traditions and to design reviews at several architectural programs in Florence, Boston, Paris, Puerto Rico and Maryland. His extensive collection of travel sketchbooks, drawings and watercolors were exhibited at the AIA gallery in Baltimore.
In 2002, Fernández won the Gabriel Prize, a yearly award from the Western European Architecture Foundation. His drawing research titled Topography of the Dead, focused on the transformation of burial tradition in Paris before and after the Revolution of 1789. In the winter of 2006 he was given a residency at the Macdowell Colony in New Hampshire to perform a series of speculative drawings and maps based on Thomas More’s Utopia.
Recently Fernández taught design at Northeastern University and the Wentworth Institute. He is a senior associate and design director at Gensler in Boston, and has designed diverse corporate and higher education projects in New England, New York and master plans in Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Malaysia. He holds architectural licenses from Puerto Rico and Massachusetts, NCARB certificate and is an active AIA member.
During the Summer of 2000, he directed and co-taught a traveling program in Spain + Portugal, which focused on the analysis of traditional and significant contemporary architectural work through on-site drawings in different mediums and techniques. His formal research and analytical drawings of a Carthusian monastery near Pisa have been published in Italian journals, the Journal of Architectural Education (JAE) and exhibited at several U.S. universities. He has been invited to present lectures on drawing, Carthusian monasteries, Italian cemetery traditions and to design reviews at several architectural programs in Florence, Boston, Paris, Puerto Rico and Maryland. His extensive collection of travel sketchbooks, drawings and watercolors were exhibited at the AIA gallery in Baltimore.
In 2002, Fernández won the Gabriel Prize, a yearly award from the Western European Architecture Foundation. His drawing research titled Topography of the Dead, focused on the transformation of burial tradition in Paris before and after the Revolution of 1789. In the winter of 2006 he was given a residency at the Macdowell Colony in New Hampshire to perform a series of speculative drawings and maps based on Thomas More’s Utopia.
Recently Fernández taught design at Northeastern University and the Wentworth Institute. He is a senior associate and design director at Gensler in Boston, and has designed diverse corporate and higher education projects in New England, New York and master plans in Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Malaysia. He holds architectural licenses from Puerto Rico and Massachusetts, NCARB certificate and is an active AIA member.