Developer
Born in Zaragoza 1956. Artist Painter and Pyrotechnics Designer.
He is a Diplomate from the Aurovile Earth Institute (UNESCO) in “Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks and Design of Arches, Vaults and Domes”.
He is also director since 2008 of the non-profit Bricks for Life program, whose objective is to create opportunities for young people and their families in Tanzania, developing their work skills through architecture, using it as a means to learn trades such as brick-making, masonry, carpentry… Which in turn serve to improve the infrastructures and endowments of the towns of Tanzania.
Through the NGO, brick vault courses have been proposed in Karatu, and it has trained numerous workers for the production of stabilized compressed earth blocks, which they use in projects such as the G-Lambo secondary school in Karatu, the improvement of their kitchens, teachers residences, latrines, etc or their proposals for the construction of a dormitory building for young girls. He also highlights the construction of the Ganako Library, through a training process for the youth of the local community.
A cooperative of workers has been formed that produces BTC-E, which, in addition to being used in construction, is sold to ensure the sustainability of operations.
Architects
Architect by ETSAM, Master in Advanced Project of Architecture and UAH City internationally recognized and awarded for his work related to brick vaults and his restoration work. He obtained an honorable mention in the 2013 Rafael Manzano Martos Award for the recovery work of the slate churches in the Black Architecture Region of Guadalajara.
Professional experience in training workers in traditional construction techniques (Dipuemplea Programs of the Guadalajara Provincial Council) and with unemployed workers in professional requalification programs (Guadalajara City Hall) .
Organizer and initial promoter of the group “Taller de Bóvedas”, a group that for years has been carrying out research, training, workshops and professional work related to the construction of masonry in general and in vaults as a special part of its activity.
International collaboration with S.O.M. Based on these investigations, carrying out the exhibition + Allá de la Estructura at the Official College of Architects of Madrid, showing research work on the behavior of vaults in the event of an earthquake, on the use of light and very light materials in resistant masonry works, through a pavilion in the exhibition Beyond Structure at COAM, which shows the limit capacities of the vaults and their lightening.
These works receive de SPARK AWARD for Timbrel Vault, and their conclusions are used in proposals for which he received an honorable mention together with Julio Palomino and Margarita de Luxán in the Cool Abu Dhabi Challenge international competition in 2020.
Works related to brick vaults have been published on numerous occasions, such as the vaults built in Marchamalo as revitalizers of a public space. He is currently collaborating in the construction of experimental houses with the Junta de Extremadura, using this traditional technique.
Invited speaker at the Lisbon Technical Institute, UAH, ETSAM, the Madrid Polytechnic School and the Valencia School of Architecture on the research carried out, and his work, as it has been published in different architecture media.
Julio Palomino Abreu:
Architect from the UAH, with a scholarship from the Ministry of Education for collaboration with the Department of Architecture of the UAH. Awarded with a scholarship for academic excellence from 2017 to 2020, first prize in the r.ú.a Acción Urbana contest for the design of temporary furniture for the reactivation of urban planning in Alcalá de Henares. He has been mainly interested in urbanism and the integration of heritage in a current urban context.
Collaborating with the University of Alcalá de Henares and SEPI, he has participated as a designer, layout artist and graphic artist using GIS methodology in the exhibition LA IMAGEN DEL INI 1941-1975. PROPAGANDA, TERRITORY AND ARCHITECTURE at the Official College of Architects of Madrid.
Together with Margarita de Luxán and Julio Jesús Palomino, he has received a scholarship from COACM to carry out the study La Ciudad Inhóspita, in which public spaces in cities are analyzed from the point of view of habitability and thermal comfort.
Contact: info@sierradelosblancos.com