"Housing is a skin for its inhabitants. And it is necessary for that skin to develop in their favor because they do not live in a museum". These are words of Fritz Breitenthaler, Austrian architect, during his visit to the University of Navarra. The urban planner, specialized in design of interiors, electronic installations and housing developments, was very critical of some current architectural standards and considered it "absolutely necessary" to increase the quality of constructions, especially housing. For this reason, he spoke out in favor of the functionality and comfort of buildings.

Breitenthaler confessed to feeling uneasy at purpose about the alternatives of planners for the metropolis of the third millennium. In his opinion, "all theoretical models should give priority to considering cities, megacities or metropolises as places that house people". However, he acknowledged that there is no general solution: "The beauty of the theoretical form devised by the designer of a metropolis must be adapted to the people, and that is very difficult to apply to reality".

He also described as "dangerous" the construction of cities based more on technology than on human beings. "People are not as perfect as the ideas of technocrats," said the expert, who concluded that "life is not digital, but analog, changing and subjective, so it is not possible to adapt architecture to each person."

Spanish architecture, on the right track

Based in Berlin, where he works in his BauWerke studio, Fritz Breitenthaler defined himself as a connoisseur of Spanish architecture over the last 15 years. In his visit to the University of Navarra, he assured that "the level of average constructions - in reference letter to housing and industrial buildings in Spain - is higher than in Germany", and attributed this gap to the great acceptance that the design has in our country with respect to Germany: "Door handles, lamps and other everyday objects manufactured with good taste enjoy great acceptance among Spaniards. It is easier to develop high-level architectures based on this idea".

Regarding the university teaching , he stated that "the training of architects is no different if they are Spanish, German or English, because, in general, it is the people who program the Education". In addition, he assured that the quality of teaching depends on the "capacity staff to get involved, both on the part of the professors and the students". Finally, he pointed out that the most important thing to raise the level is "the assessment of what students actually learn and assimilate".