"In my quest to obtain a Master's Degree in architecture, the Master's Degree of Architectural Theory and design at the University of Navarra was always among my top choices. This is because its faculty has a wide variety of professors who have been part of the most prestigious schools of architecture in the world, and have been recognized for their B trajectory in the internship and research in the discipline.
Student Amanda Megson next to the projects that MtDA students made in the workshop with Wilfried Wang and that are displayed at the School's entrance hall .
In reviewing the group faculty and the program proposed by the Master's Degree, Wilfried Wang was one of those who most attracted my attention due to his academic background, his extensive experience as professor in prestigious university settings, his authorship of numerous architectural texts and his professional internship for his Berlin office together with Barbara Hoidn.
At the beginning of the first quarter of the program, my classmates and I had the honor of receiving classes with Wilfried together with teaching assistant Alicia F. Barranco. I consider that one of the greatest privileges was to have a direct and trustworthy attention with him during lectures, tutorials and critiques of project dictated by him.
In Wilfred's Integrated Architectural Projects Workshop we were part of an exceptional experience, giving us the opportunity to design an architectural project anywhere in the world. A fundamental condition of his course was to create an architecture without oil. Consequently, this meant that we had the challenge to look for locally sourced building systems and materials.
Also, during his lectures he talked about the relevance of how architecture can have a base construction material and how we could expand the limits of its possibilities. In the end, he emphasized that designing is not only about creating a physical structure, but also about generating atmospheres that encourage the occupants to reflect on their own life and existence, and not only that of the building.
Another advantage of this experience has been the multiculturalism, since the Master's Degree has students from Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. This led us to learn not only from our teachers, but also from the Education and culture of each of our classmates.
The different results that emerged during this stage led us to learn about Latin American construction systems in materials such as bamboo, wood, adobe and stone. The ones that most caught my attention were the "putucos" within the ancestral architecture of Peru, or the "chukum", based on natural finishing materials inherited from the Mayas.
At final, this workshop has been one of the most enriching experiences of the entire program, where my classmates and I have valued the practice of architecture as a social and cultural responsibility acting locally".
