Ibarra’s research is centered around architecture’s capacity to productively assess and work with situations, usually crises. Through his teaching, design work, and writing, he generates multifocal ways to redefine design amidst social unrest, environmental degradation, and climate crisis. Recently, Ibarra co-edited the book, Werewolf: The Architecture of Lunacy, Shapeshifting, and Material Metamorphosis alongside Caroline O'Donnell. He also published the essay, “Architecture After the End: A Call for Geoempathy,” and reviewed the Biomaterial Building Exposition. Ibarra’s work also comprises curation, most recently having curated the exhibition, Beyond Repair: Architecture After Urban Crisis, and the performance, “Model United Constituencies: A Performance and Critical Debate,” as well as co-curated the New York exhibition, TOO FAST TOO SLOW: 11 Architectural Moves. He is editor and founder of the Architecture Reading Group and has been an editor of Pidgin Magazine, The Cornell Journal of Architecture, and ASSOCIATION. His research and design work has been recognized and published globally, and his teaching was awarded the 2022 ACSA/AIA New Faculty Teaching Award.
Ibarra was the 2019-2020 Urban Edge Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he investigated design tactics for environmental remediation and justice that could work across different temporal scales, including deep time. During 2020–2022, he was Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Virginia School of Architecture. In addition to these roles, he has also taught at Cornell University and Princeton University, and has practiced architecture at Barkow Leibinger, CODA, fxCollaborative, Studio Eber, among other firms. Ibarra received a Bachelor of Architecture and a minor in German Studies from Cornell University. He received his Post-Professional M.Arch from Princeton University’s School of Architecture, where he also earned a Certificate in Media and Modernity. While at Princeton University, he was awarded multiple recognitions, including the 2019 Robert Geddes Post-Professional Award, the 2018 Howard Crosby Butler Fellowship, and the Princeton University Fellowship.