Enric Ruiz-Geli, Professor of Practice in Collaborative Discovery and Design

Enric Ruiz-Geli was born in Figueres in 1968 and became an architect through the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB, UPC). He is the founder and principal architect of the Cloud 9 studio in Barcelona, founded in 1997. He is the stage designer associated with Bob Wilson: ‘Danton’s Tod’, Salzburger Festspiele and ‘Time Rocker’ in Hamburg's Thalia Theater from 1995-2000. He was the curator of the Spanish Pavilion at V Biennale of Architecture in São Paulo in 2003 and has been the World Ambassador of iGuzzini since 2018. Since 2007, he has worked with Jeremy Rifkin on Global Green Growth (GGG) and has been co-chairman of the Third Industrial Revolution Architects Roundtable committee. He was also a Science Advisory Committee of TECNALIA member from 2011 to 2017 and an HP Experts Committee member from 2012 to 2017.

Enric Ruiz-Geli’s interdisciplinary approach to architecture includes multiple collaborations across the disciplinary spectrum: theorist and philosopher Paul Virilio, visual artist Frederic Amat, artist and scientist Zush, ceramist Toni Cumella, designer and educator Simon Taylor, artist Inma Femenía, performer Pep Bou, sculptural designer Pere Gifre, soundscape’s musicians Josep Manuel Berenguer and Rioji Ikeda, architect Frei Otto, landscape architect Margie Ruddick, physicist Josep Perelló and Neil Gershenfeld,  fashion design Bless, photographers Daniel Riera and Iwan Baan, and most recently with El Bulli chef Ferran Adrià.

Enric Ruiz Geli’s teaching experience comprises the roles of Director of the Self-Sufficient Buildings Studio at IAAC, MasterTutor of Diploma Unit 18 at the Architectural Association, and most recently Full Professor of Practice at Virginia Tech.

Currently Enric Ruiz Geli is developing his PHD dissertation “It’s All About Particles” with RMIT.

The New York Times calls the work of Cloud 9 a “seismic mental shift, as Machines for Living.” The Wall Street Journal selected Cloud 9 as one of four firms leading sustainable architecture in Europe, “making waves, shaping new landmarks.” WIRED magazine calls the work of Cloud 9 the “most spectacular Spanish Projects”. Cloud 9 works belong to the collection of MoMA in New York, CCA in Montreal, FRAC Centre Collection in Orleans, Centre Pompidou in Paris, Empordà Museum in Figueres, and Design Hub in Barcelona.