New at the department: Prof.'in i.V. Aura Luz Melis

Aura Luz Melis holds the substitute professorship for landscape architecture in the winter semester 2023/24.
Aura Luz MelisInga Powilleit

Aura Luz Melis is educated as an architect at the Technical University of Delft and The Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism in Sao Paulo.

She is a partner at Inside Outside, an Amsterdam based office specialized in landscape design and in interior architecture, since 2016. She is connected to the office since 2005, where her interdisciplinary approach was formed through the wide range of projects and scales, she has worked on. These projects include both landscape and interiors of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the Rothschild Bank in London, the Taipei Performing Arts Centre and the landscape master plan competition for the West Kowloon Cultural District with OMA.

She has recently realized among others: the extensive 3 years lasting exhibition for the Humboldt University in Berlin, art implementations in the New Generation trains of the Dutch Railways, auditorium curtains for the Mingei Museum in San Diego, the travelling Inside Outside Retrospective exhibition and the architectural textiles inside a former locomotive hall transformed into the Lochal Library in Tilburg, The Netherlands.

Together with the IO team she is currently researching the ability of textiles to become bioreceptive allowing microorganisms and plants to grow on them merging the textile knowledge with the landscape experience. Another ongoing research is the development of a visual language for soil life, and its underground symbiotic networks. The aim of this research is to get a deeper understanding of the underground soil life as a potential and strategic tool for the development of landscape projects.

She also lectures at prestigious universities and conferences. Past speaking engagements include a keynote lecture at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University as part of Techstyle Series 2.1, and her contribution to the future-oriented architecture conference “The Next Power of Dutch Architecture: A Change of Perspective” that included leading women of the Dutch architectural scene. She has also published in journals such as OASE #101 and is on the board of architectural platform, Archined.

Her vision on education:
„Education is driven by endless curiosity. This curiosity can be triggered by eye-opening inspiration and true experience. My goal is to open the mind of students to new perspectives to landscapes and to make them feel confident about their natural connection to nature. Everything can be learned and can be made your own, as long as you are curious and have the freedom to explore, experiment and fail. Learning by doing, while transcending the spatial and professional divergence of the landscape, architecture and interior fields.
During the course we will work on a wasteland in a regenerative way that positively contributes to the ecosystem.“

Notable Projects for Inside Outside (2006-present):
 

2019-2022
Series of curtains of the Springer building, Berlin

2018-2021
Exhibition design of the ‘Nach der Natur’ on a scientific objects collection of the Humboldt University in the Humboldt Forum, Berlin

2018-2020
Series of curtains for theatre Schauspielhaus, Düsseldorf, Germany

2018-2020
Auditorium curtain of the arts & crafts Mingei International Museum, San Diego

2017-ongoing  
Urban redevelopment Hogehilweg, Amsterdam, with Kees Kaan Architects

2018               
Exhibition design for exhibit “Theft is Vision” at LUMA Foundation, Zurich

2017               
Conference Room Curtains, Barkow Leibinger Offices, Berlin, Germany

2014               
Joli Coeur Glass House, Berlin, Germany

2014-2022       
Landscape, Stage Curtains and Interior Advisory, Taipei Performing Arts Center, Taipei, Taiwan

2014-2018       
LocHal, transformation of an old train depot into a library with a cultural program, Tilburg, the Netherlands

2011                
Landscape Masterplan for the West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong, China

2008-2016       
Landscape design for National Library in Doha, Qatar

2007-2014       
Landscape Design for Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Shenzhen, China

2008                
Landscape Masterplan for the City in the Desert, Ras al Khaimah, UAE

2007-2016       
Landscape design for the Headquarters of Qatar Foundation in Doha, Qatar

2007                
Landscape Masterplan Riga Port City, Latvia

More info:
https://insideoutside.nl/