Biography
Melanie Fessel is Principal of Terreform X, Director of Design at Terreform ONE, and Professor at RheinMain University of Applied Sciences, where she focuses on sustainability, aesthetics, and inclusion. She has been with Terreform ONE + X since 2007, working within the nonprofit ecological design group on urban infrastructure, building, planning, and art. Previously, she served as Lecturer, Doctoral Researcher, and Academic Coordinator at ETH Zurich's Department of Architecture and headed design development at Alice Aycock Ltd. Fessel has curated major exhibitions including Designing Urban Imaginaries at the 9th Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture in Shenzhen and co-curated the Vienna Biennale for Change 2021 at the MAK Museum for Applied Arts. Her awards include the LafargeHolcim Acknowledgement Prize, AIA New York Urban Design Merit Award, Zumtobel Award, and Victor Papanek Social Design Award. She holds a Dr.sc. from ETH Zurich, an M.Arch from The Cooper Union, and a Dipl.-Ing. from the Technical University of Berlin and Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.
