Carmelo Zappulla is an Italian architect, graduated with honours and special mention at the University of Palermo. He also earned a PhD (European Mention) with honours from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Barcelona.
He is founder and CEO of the External Reference international studio, based in Barcelona, which deals with architectural and interior design, urban planning, architectural redevelopment and exhibition space design.
The architectural firm, which has always focused on the search for sustainable materials, has adopted a type of “Cradle to Cradle” approach, where architecture is composed of elements that can be inserted into a circular economy that allows the complete re-use of them.
There are numerous international projects realised and built by the studio including the Spanish Pavilion “Spain Explores” for the EXPO2012 of Yeosu, in Korea, the commercial projects that won international awards for the “24Kilates” brands in Bangkok, Thailand, or for ” Presented by ”in Doha, Dubai London and Manchester and the modern building for the Janè Licors in El Vendrell, Tarragona in Spain. He curated the exhibition for Leonardo Da Vinci’s Young MonaLisa exhibition at Palazzo Bastogi in Florence. Other important works will soon be carried out by the studio led by Zappulla, including the building for Desigual and the landscape project for the connection between the seafront and the W-Hotel in the most modern area of La Barceloneta in Barcelona.
He has also directed and won the competition for the exhibition project of the Spanish Pavilion for the EXPO2020 in Dubai which will be developed during 2019-2020. The study of Carmelo Zappulla, External Reference was awarded in 2011 by New Italian Blood as the best Italian architect under 36 and won several international competitions, including the project for the Buenos Aires courts in Milan and the well-known Aerospace Campus in Toulouse in collaboration with Foreign Office Architects.
Carmelo Zappulla is currently director of the Master in experiential design at LCI Barcelona and for 7 years he was the director of the Master of Interior Architecture at the IED (European Design Institute). He collaborates with schools and international architecture institutions, including Strathclyde University, the WSA (The Welsh School of Architecture), the Department of Architecture of the University of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. In addition, he is a member of Giras-Tec, an international architecture and society research group at the Universidad Politecnica de Cataluña.
His works have been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, during the 12th International Architecture Exhibition, at the National Museum of XXI Century Arts-MAXXI in Rome, at the International Architecture Festival EME3 in Barcelona and at the prestigious EUROPAN 8 competition in Oslo.
