On May 6, María José Orihuela, who earned her architecture degree in 2012, defended her thesis “Architecture for Learning in the Pedagogical Traditions of the 20th Century.” Supervised by Carlos Naya Villaverde and Sonia Rivas Borrell, the thesis presented before an international committee chaired by Miguel Ángel Alonso del Val.
Paris, Shanghai, and London are some of the cities where María José Orihuela took her first professional steps before settling in Bilbao. At the same time, she devoted herself to researching the relationship between education and architecture, first at the Architectural Association in London, then at the University of Navarra, and during a stint at the Politecnico di Milano.
In this interview, he discusses his passion for research and the process of writing his thesis :
1. What is a thesis
The thesis on a seemingly simple idea: designing buildings based on pedagogical concepts. Beyond this statement, however, there is significant disagreement regarding the meaning and practical implications of the desire to design buildings tailored to teaching processes.
In this context, 20th-century pedagogical traditions offer a rich repertoire of theory and experience, albeit a highly heterogeneous one. In order to decipher the processes of translation between pedagogy and architecture, this study examines school buildings associated with the Montessori method (1907), Education (1919), and the approach Emilia approach (1945), along with their educational principles. These trajectories highlight architectural strategies related to form, function, character, and scale which, due to their coherence with the essential dimensions and objectives of learning, constitute a useful and valuable frame of reference for envisioning other schools, as well as serving as an example of interdisciplinary dialogue.
2. How did this topic come about?
The ETSAUN building—which I was fortunate enough to experience as a child, then as a student, and now as a professor—plays a significant role. The topic, in addition to bridging disciplines, serves as a way to open up research to environments and people beyond the university, and this is enriching for both sides.
3. How did your stay in Milan contribute to the research?
In Milan, I had the opportunity to meet people who were directly involved in the design research to schools, such as Giulio Ceppi in the case of Reggio Emilia. It also made it possible enquiry archives and research centers research other Italian cities, such as the Montessori House in Chiaravalle.
I also found it enriching to be part of the academic team at the POLIMI DESIS Lab. The Politecnico has a strong track record of collaborating with public institutions and carrying out projects, whether in urban settings alongside local residents, in a prison, or at a neighborhood market.
4. Where did your passion for research and professor come from?
You think you have the answer to these questions, but time often reveals them to be incomplete. If I had to pinpoint a single origin right now, I’d say that a teaching has always been there—ever since my childhood, thanks to my parents’ example—and that it later awakened and grew during degree program years. My calling for research surely began with a love of reading.
5. What message would you share with your instructors? And with architecture students?
To my thesis advisors thesis once again, my deepest and most sincere thanks for your wise guide committee guide the entire process, both before and during the thesis
I encourage students to dare, as soon as possible, to look beyond the University of Navarra and the School of Architecture as institutions School of Architecture discover a group passionate people striving toward a common goal. It may sound idealistic—and it certainly is—but it is an ideal that contains a great deal of truth, and to the extent that they join this collective effort, we will all—but above all they—reach higher and go further.
