Marcella Del Signore was a Professor of Practice in the Tulane School of Architecture. She is the principal of X-Topia, a design-research practice that explores the intersection of architecture and urbanism. Since 2013, she is the founding partner of OSW-Open Source Workshop, a practice networked in Europe and the U.S. exploring open source methods for design. She holds a Master in Architecture degree from the University La Sapienza in Rome and a Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University in New York.
Professor Del Signore’s work concentrates on the relationship between urban space, social practices and information technologies as a mode to test how we collectively produce future urban scenarios. She is interested in the development of public/urban space through applied technology, responsive systems and digital processes. Her current research operates at multiple scales, looking at the interdisciplinary aspects of architecture and urban space through civic design and digital innovation. She operates through an expanded platform that combines teaching, research and design practice. Professor Del Signore’s strong focus on the spatial production of the public realm led her to develop a wide index of built and theoretical projects aimed at testing strategies for the construction of the contemporary city. Within the notion of open source and tactical urbanism, she developed projects and promotes initiatives that, while working with physical conditions of cities, explore the emerging needs of citizens and communities.
Professor Del Signore held the Kylene and Brad Beers Professor II in Social Entrepreneurship from 2016-2017.