A lessandra Barilaro, a native of Southern Italy, studied Architecture and Design in Florence, where she also attended the IDEM Master in Product Design at the Higher School of Industrial Technologies.

She was one of the founders of M+N Architecture in 2010, and later became the company’s Head of Interior Design. The firm, which has offices in Florence, Milan, and Abu Dhabi, has won several prestigious interior design awards as a result of her design vision, including “Best Office Interior” at the Luxury Lifestyle Awards 2021 for the design of the Cyber Security Dept. of NYUAD (Abu Dhabi), “Best SPA Design” at the Middle East Pool and SPA Awards 2016 for the LivNordic SPA & Wellness in Cayan Tower (Dubai), and “Best SPA Design” at the Middle East Pool and (Abu Dhabi).

Barilaro specialises in corporate, retail, and hospitality projects and has a broad understanding of all types of interiors; her background includes product design, with collections shown at the GwanGju Design Biennale, the Salone Satellite in Milan and Rome, and the Florence Design Week, and an honourable mention at the 23rd Compasso d’Oro, as well as academic activity as she has been teaching Interior Design at the IAAD in Bologna since 2019.

Barilaro sees the client’s empathic relationship as the most important factor in approaching the project, which she creates through constant dialogue and end-user perceptual analysis of space and objects. She pushes her research beyond traditional schemes, experimenting with architecture and design in a way that is sustainable and responsive to the needs of today’s society, in order to grasp the right perspective. As a creator of ideas, Barilaro backs them up with in-depth industry knowledge, extensive lighting design experience, and great enthusiasm for Biophilia and indoor greenery. She is currently working on the renovation of the management offices of one of the leading banks in the UAE, a new corporate HQ in Dubai, and overseeing the final touches of three spas close to completion on Palm Jumeirah, Dubai.