Carla Molinari

Carla Molinari is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering and the Built Environment at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), where she serves as Course Leader for the BA/BSc (Hons) Architecture program. Joining ARU in 2022, she teaches architectural history, theory, and Design Studio while supervising postgraduate research in architectural humanities and related fields.

Her academic qualifications include a PhD in Architecture from Sapienza Università di Roma (2016), a PGCAP in Higher Education (2019) from Leeds Beckett University, and a Single-Cycle Degree in Architecture from Università degli Studi di Pavia (2011). Additional training includes a Visiting PhD at the University of Zürich (2014).

Molinari’s research explores intersections between architecture and media through cinematic design methods, sequence theory, and urban narrative strategies. Her work examines picturesque theories, spatial experience, and architecture-visual arts relationships, with emphasis on contemporary pedagogy and historical case studies like Gordon Cullen’s Serial Visions. Recent projects analyze urban representations in film and participatory community interventions.

Her 15 most recent publications (2018-2023) reveal consistent focus on architectural sequences, montage techniques, and cinema-architecture dialogues. Key themes include historical analyses of Eisenstein/Greenaway influences, picturesque landscape devices, and urban narratives in cities like Rome and Cambridge, alongside contemporary museum architecture and community-focused design.

Scientific recognition includes:

• British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2016) from Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei
• Higher Education Academy Senior Fellowship

As a principal investigator, she secured the ARU Safe and Inclusive Communities Grant (2023) for “This is our Space: Basildon” and Paul Mellon Centre funding (2020) for Gordon Cullen research. Additional grants include University of Gloucestershire support for “Urban Futures 3” (2018) and Sapienza University research on quarry regeneration (2014).

Molinari collaborates with Studio Forty on community projects and the University of Suffolk on cinematic urban theory. She serves on editorial boards for Architecture (MDPI) and Città in controluce (ANVUR), and maintains active membership in SAHGB, RIBA, and AHRA.