Javier Fernández Contreras is an architect, associate professor, and the Dean of the Department of Space Design at HEAD – Genève. His work explores the relationship between architecture, representation, and media, with a specific focus on the role of interiors in the construction of contemporaneity. Contreras is the author of the books Fragmentos de Planta y Espacio (2018), The Miralles Projection: Thinking and Representation in the Architecture of Enric Miralles (2020), Manifesto of Interiors: Thinking in the Expanded Media (2021), and co-editor of Scènes de Nuit: Night & Architecture (2021). His critical essays have been published in numerous books and specialist journals, including Marie-José Van Hee Architecten, Massilia Annuaire des Études Corbuséennes, Drawing Matter, India Mahdavi, RADDAR, and Plan Libre, among others. Contreras’ work has earned him prizes in various international competitions, including the Concentrico Design Festival 2020, f’ar Lausanne 2019, and several editions of Europan. His recent projects and distinctions with HEAD – Genève include Train Zug Treno Tren, the opening exhibition at mudac in 2022; the invitation to the 2021 Seoul Architecture Biennale for the Circa Diem project (in collaboration with EPFL); the Brands and Communication Red Dot Award 2020, and the Innovation Frame Award 2020 for the Space Duality project; as well as a Swiss Design Award 2019 nomination for the #Looslab project.
Contreras is the director of the research platform Scènes de Nuit.