University students develop a project for planning an inter-university campus on La Palma
The work is part of the agreement signed between the Cabildo and the academic center to provide ideas for the recovery of the area affected by the volcanic eruption of 2021. As a novelty, this year the work will be carried out in COIL format with 8 Latin American universities.
FotoBeatrizDíaz/The University's School of Architecture has been collaborating with the City of El Paso and the Island Council since the volcanic eruption of 2021.
24 | 01 | 2025
Architecture students from the University of Navarra will develop proposals for a university campus in the municipality of El Paso (La Palma), intended to house academic extension courses in the area affected by the 2021 volcanic eruption of Cumbre Vieja. The students will travel to the island from January 23 to 26 to visit the area and begin to create their projects.
The inter-university campus they have to plan will consist of some 58,000 m2, on land of high environmental value, and will be able to accommodate 500 students and 50 professors/researchers. In addition, it will have to have classrooms-workshops of different formats, an auditorium with seating for three hundred people, dining room, a residency program to accommodate teachers and a hundred students ... The campus would be open to universities from around the world, offering a space for study and experience, and promoting international partnership in the recovery of the island of La Palma.
The project will be presented on Friday the 24thFriday, at 18:30 (island time) at the auditorium of the Caldera de Taburiente Visitor Center.. For this purpose, a roundtable will be held with the participation of Sergio Rodríguez, president of the Cabildo of La Palma; Asier Santas, director of department of Theory, Projects and Urbanism of the University of Navarra; and the local architect Félix Rodríguez de la Cruz. It will be moderated by Fredy Massad, ABC's architecture critic.
After the eruption of September 19, 2021, the City Council of El Paso signed in 2022 a partnership agreement with the School of Architecture of the University of Navarra for the realization of projects of interest related to the reconstruction of La Palma, called 'IslaLab La Palma'. In 2024, the island's council joined this agreement extending the partnership to the whole island.
Thus, in the 2022-2023 academic year, and at proposal of the City Council, the students designed the National Volcanological Center, an infrastructure linked to the developed academic community . A year later, and from agreement with the consistory, they designed a multifunctional center with residential, touristic and assistance spaces linked to the elderly community.
As a novelty, the academic year of this course will be held jointly with 8 other universities in Latin America through the America Forum, an initiative of the University of Navarra and the Pan-American Federation of Architects Associations(FPAA) to promote research, training of professionals and relations between Latin American universities. The project will be developed in COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) format and universities from Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Argentina and Guatemala will participate.
exhibition of works on the multifunctional center for the elderly
On the other hand, on the same Friday, January 24, at 17:30 (island time), a exhibition of the works developed by students of the 5th year of Architecture of the University of Navarra for the multifunctional center for the elderly in El Paso will be inaugurated on Manuel Taño Street in El Paso.
Between January and April 2024, the students worked on architectural proposals focused on the elderly, through new typologies that integrate hybrid programs and architectural complexes, mixing care, therapeutic, tourist and residential spaces, both short, average and long stay. In addition to geriatrics, work was also done in the field of tourism and accommodation, areas core topic for the development of La Palma and El Paso.
After visiting the island and talking with local experts and managers, the students designed architectural solutions to improve the quality of life of the elderly, as well as to promote a sustainable and environmentally friendly tourism development . Through panels, models, and visualizations of the projects, visitors to the exhibition will be able to discover how architecture can play a role core topic in the transformation and development of the municipality of El Paso.
