An innovative design leader with 20+ years of experience in architecture, interior design, construction, and project management. Alex holds a diverse design portfolio that includes hospitality, residential, institutional, retail, customer experience, and branded environment design for various luxury brands.
“remarkable ability to forecast and translate trends across different mediums, trades, and projects”
Alex developed an award-winning team within two years of operation and oversaw architecture, interior design, workplace environments, brand campaigns, and product launches. Through his work, Alex’s expertise extended into for design narratives, blending product design, innovation, and technology into Pininfarina’s environments and design.
Prior to joining DRA Studio, Alex served as the Director of Design for Store Design and Visual Merchandising at Estée Lauder Companies, leading new retail concepts across Latin America for Tom Ford, La Mer, Bobbi Brown, and Origins. He then guided Tiffany & Co.’s post-LVMH acquisition design transformation, establishing the new Global Design Standards and Concept Book while opening the brand’s first reimagined stores in the Americas, before returning to DRA Studio.
A keen eye for design coupled with a great sensibility for management, Gilberto is a licensed/registered Brazilian Architect and Urbanist with a Masters of Design Research in City Design, Planning and Policy at SCI-Arc Southern California Institute of Architecture, Los Angeles – California) and has Bachelor’s Degree from Pontifical Catholic University in 2012 (Curitiba, Brazil).
“Art is a Creative expression through a medium with an intent and architecture is our medim”
Since his graduation in Brazil (2012), he has had the opportunity to work on large and important projects for Brazil that were directly involved in the FIFA World Cup 2014 and 2016 Summer Olympics. Being a member of these design teams gave him much experience and skills to work on projects requiring the same commitment and challenges that those buildings demanded.
In 2014, he decided to start a Masters at SCI-Arc, located in downtown Los Angeles; SCI-Arc is a world-renowned center for innovation and one of the nation’s few independent architecture schools.
As a result, he had the opportunity to learn from award-winning architects like Thom Mayne (Pritzker Prize), Eric Owen Moss, and Craig Hodgetts.
In 2015, after graduating from SCI-Arc, he moved to Miami – Florida, to join the Pininfarina Architecture team. While there, his skillsets expanded from project design coordination and development to serving as the primary client liaison to bring the schedule, budgets, and scope of work to completion and the client’s satisfaction.
Gilberto managed multiple medium/large scale projects, primarily focused in Brazil, where he built an extensive knowledge about the market, methods, and clients’ experience. Projects ranged from single/multi-family residential to hospitality and commercial buildings.
Focus on exploring design languages centered on people inseparable from their context. Simplicity, and rooted in functionality. Strong cultural connotations, and powerfully evocative emotions. This is how I would best characterize my approach.
“I enjoy connecting traditional methods with innovative manufacturing techniques and technology.”
I am currently concentrated on fostering convergence between a more holistic design philosophy and the engagement of strategy, product design, and visualization within cross-functional teams. My background has given me space to develop an appreciated diversity of exposure to achieve this, from independent studios, to design firms, and an R&D innovation center, to working as a professor, and as an entrepreneur.
In my work I often try to envision scenarios “by being a person made of people”: with a sensibility for a future of virtual worlds, lived through our physical human conditions. I love guiding project teams through explorations of these meaningful symbols of experience.
Yi Yan is an Architectural Designer and Urban Planner with a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He earned a Real Estate Design and Development Certificate focused on Architecture from Wharton. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Urban Planning in 2015 from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China.
“Design is the expression of emotion, passion, and energy.”
Before his move to the United States, he had worked on large urban design and urban planning projects in southern China.
In 2015, Yi started his journey in the architectural world. With three years of professional training at the University of Pennsylvania, he gained extensive knowledge in expressing creative ideas, critical thinking, and project development and management.
In 2018, he worked for Zaha Hadid Architects in New York City. He joined the renowned design house Pininfarina in Miami, where he gained hands-on experience in projects such as high-rise residential towers, office towers, and hotel design.