"On January 15-16, 2024, students of the Master's Degree in management and design Environmental Building participated at campus in Madrid in an international workshop led by Francesca Galeazzi, associate director at ARUP Germany, where she directs the department Sustainability. Francesca is an expert in environmental policies, sustainable development and projects, with specialization on climate change and resource conservation for large-scale buildings.
The conference consisted of theoretical sessions interspersed with workshops in which the students, divided into groups, had to offer a bioclimatic response for a housing-workshop building for artists in the neighborhood of Canillejas, Madrid. In this way, they themselves could revise and adjust this solution according to the knowledge they acquired during the sessions. All were related to current issues in sustainable architecture: they addressed environmental and social sustainability, as well as health and comfort, adaptation to climate change or the principles of circular architecture.
Francesca emphasized the importance of "not only building for today, but also for tomorrow", being able to design in anticipation of the transformations that climate change is already generating. In this way, an architecture capable of adapting and responding favorably to these changes will endure over time. An example of this is the vernacular architecture that we still preserve today, "a reflection of the cultural identity and needs of a community", incorporating local techniques and materials in the process of design and construction.
On the other hand, topics such as the importance of designing spaces, especially after confinement, that are comfortable for people and thus generate an adequate physical and social environment were addressed. This has to do again with the adaptability of architecture, always thinking of all the generations that may come to live in these spaces and the situations or conditions that may be demanded with the passage of time.
Galeazzi explained terms such as "circular architecture," which has to do with the search to minimize waste and maximize efficiency. This involves designing buildings with sustainability in mind throughout their life cycle, from the choice of materials to the reuse or recycling of all their components.
In addition, to put on internship and understand all these strategies, Francesca brought some of ARUP's work, not only seeking to show the successful results obtained, but also the lessons learned from building in places as remote or unknown as the Himalayan Mountains.
At the conclusion of this workshop, the students enthusiastically presented the final proposals of their work at group, and also highlighted the B richness of the experiences shared. The diversity of these projects, in addition to serving as evidence of the knowledge acquired during the sessions, also resulted in the generation of new ideas and innovative strategies, which were materialized through hand drawings and models. This exchange further enriched the collective learning, consolidating the quality of the proposals presented and the different possibilities for the same scenario".
Text written by: Pilar Vilarrubí, student of Master's Degree Universitario en Arquitectura + MDGAE
