John Fernandez
Director, MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative

John E. Fernández ‘85 is a professor of building technology in the Department of Architecture and a practicing architect. Fernández founded and directs the MIT Urban Metabolism Group, a highly multidisciplinary research group focused on the resource intensity of cities and design and technology pathways for future urbanization. He is author of two books, numerous articles in scientific and design journals including Science, the Journal of Industrial Ecology, Building and Environment, Energy Policy and others, and author of nine book chapters. He is Chair of Sustainable Urban Systems for the International Society of Industrial Ecology and Associate Editor of the journal Sustainable Cities and Society. Fernández served as Director of the Building Technology Program in the Department of Architecture from 2010 to 2015 and as the Director of the International Design Center at MIT from 2012 to 2015. He previously served as the Director of Research for Sustainable Energy Systems of the MIT Portugal Program.

Fernández is a member of the Board for New Ecology, Inc., and a member of the Board of Advisors for the Center for Sustainable Energy of the Fraunhofer Institute. At MIT, Fernández serves on the Committee on the Innovation Initiative, the Faculty Policy Committee, and the Institute Planning Committee, as well as the Campus Sustainability Task Force, the MIT Materials and Waste Management Working Group, and the Metropolitan Warehouse Advisory Group. Fernández is Housemaster for MIT’s Baker House.

Fernández has served on several National Science Foundation Review Panels, as a member of the Department of Energy Roadmap 2020 Advisory Committee, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Building Envelope Technology and Environmental Council of the National Institute of Building Science. He also served as a member of the Research Committee of the United States Green Building Council. Fernández has participated in the launch of two startup companies in the past 5 years. With his partner and wife, Malvina Lampietti, Fernández has been designer of more than 2.5 million square feet of new construction. As senior designer in two major New York City architecture firms Fernández led the design and construction of major commercial, institutional, and residential buildings in Washington D.C., New York City, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Honolulu, Jakarta, Tokyo, Shanghai, and other locations.