KALAM shares its experience with our future professionals

KALAM has participated in Cantabria in a new edition of the Summer Course of Traditional Architecture organized by INTBAU and the Prize Rafael Manzano. Two of our specialists, Fernando Aranda and Manuel Montañés, have shared their knowledge and the experience of Kalam in the implementation of restoration.

The main activity developed by the participants of the course was the drawing by hand and the measurement of buildings. At the same time, a study of local traditional urbanism, architecture, construction details and proposals for improvement was carried out in order to create a conservation catalogue and new models for the area.

The professionals who attended on behalf of the KALAM team have a long trajectory within the company in which they highlighted relevant works inside and outside Spain, such as the interventions in the Seminario Mayor de Comillas, the Cathedral of Santo Domingo, the Spanish embassy in Havana or recently the restoration of the facades of La Giralda, among many others. In their intervention, they noted the importance of the place in the restoration works: how it influences different factors and in a very important way in the trades: the work with earth blocks and wooden structure in Chile, the wood carpentry in the rehabilitation works in Madrid, the plaster and sgraffito in Barcelona; the origin of the materials: extraction of stone in nearby quarries, manufacture of brick, etc.; as well as inherent characteristics such as the climate, the terrain, the urban and social context, and so on.

Some impressions of the students collected in the official blog of the course indicate the quality and richness of knowledge that has meant for their personal experience attending this course on one of the most identitary and differential heritage.

“I am a recently graduated Spanish architect… As this experience was more complete than I thought, I now feel more confident to file it completely. After six years at university, you may have learned a lot, but you can always discover new ways of approaching architecture “. Blanca Medina Sánchez

“Architecture is like rowing, to progress you have to look back“. ranslation of a quote mentioned in the conference by Estefanía Fernández-Cid and Xavier Espinós “El estudio de las invariantes del edificio como base del proceso de diseño”.(The study of the invariants of the building as the basis of the design process).

“…Sometimes it was difficult to communicate across languages and cultures, but it was fun to talk about our differences and realize that we were all united through the language of architecture and drawing“. Rachel Peterson

More information about the Summer School in Cantabria

More information about the organizers (INTBAU)

More information about the organizers (Rafael Manzano Award)