The Rafael Manzano Prize for New Traditional Architecture aims to spread the value of traditional architecture as a reference of proven validity for the architecture of our time in the territorial scope of Spain and Portugal. It is awarded annually since 2012, thanks to the generosity of American businessman Richard H. Driehaus. It is endowed with 50,000 euros and a commemorative medal.
It is organized by INTBAU (International Network of Traditional Building Architecture and Urbanism), thanks to the generous support of the Richard H. Driehaus Charitable Trust, through a donation to the Chicago Community Foundation for the Richard H. Driehaus Charitable Fund and the EKABA Foundation (Space of KAlam for the Fine Arts), with the collaboration of the Fundação Serra Henriques, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, the Superior Council of Associations of Architects of Spain and the Hispania Nostra Association and has the High Sponsorship of His Excellency the President of the Republic of Portugal.
Juan de Dios de la Hoz was born in Madrid in 1963, is an Architect from the School of Architecture of Madrid since 1988, and Master in Restoration and Rehabilitation of Heritage, by the Universities of Valladolid and Alcalá de Henares in 1996. He has been Professor of Restoration and Rehabilitation at the School of Architecture of the Camilo José Cela University of Madrid from 2003 to 2013, and speaker at various conferences, seminars and conferences on Heritage and restoration in different Spanish and foreign universities, as well as in courses related to materials and traditional techniques in their use for the restoration of monuments.
He founded his studio, Lavila Arquitectos, in 1998, dedicated to the restoration of architectural heritage, with a growing international projection. He has focused his work on the recovery of monumental and historical sites, highlighting the Cathedral and the Episcopal Palace of Alcalá de Henares, the Castle of Belmonte, the Brihuega Castle, the Cathedral of Cartagena, the Episcopal Palace of Murcia, the church and the crypt of the Ducal Pantheon of the Monastery of San Francisco in Guadalajara, the Monastery of Yuste or the monumental complex of the Ex-Convent of La Coria in Trujillo. He is the architect delegated by the Diocese of Cartagena for the projects and direction of works of recovery of the architectural and cultural heritage of Lorca, after the earthquakes that devastated the town in May 2011. As such, it has restored six of the churches of Lorca that They were affected by this catastrophe: the Churches of San Patricio, San José, San Mateo, Santiago, Nuestra Señora del Carmen and the Convent of San Francisco, for which they received the Europa Nostra 2016 Prize. He currently directs the works of the Church and College Episcopal of Santiago and Monserrat in Rome, the restoration of the Cloth Factory of Brihuega and the Monastery of Santa María de Bonaval, and advises the construction management of the Cathedral of Panama.
The Reconstruction of the Architectural Heritage
Among the works aimed at the reconstruction of ruined buildings, we can highlight his performance on the Brihuega Castle, where, among other restoration works, his main palatial stays have been recovered. The noble northwestern hall of the Castle, of which only part of its walls remained, has come back to life and can once again be used thanks to this work, which has involved raising its walls again, restoring its primitive portal from the pieces and documentation preserved, retrace their diaphragm arches according to the existing traces, and completely reconstruct the limbic structure of the roof that rests on them again.
The works carried out in Lorca are also of great relevance, reconstructing the main buildings of the city that were ruined or damaged by the earthquake that affected the town in 2011. In many of these cases, previous interventions were carried out on them, usually in reinforced concrete. that caused much of the devastation. Although these monumental structures were intended to reinforce these monuments, they have proven once again to be incompatible, due to their high rigidity and monolithic functioning, with historical construction, which requires knowledge of their original techniques such as that of Juan de Dios for its correct maintenance. The most extreme cases in this sense were those of the churches of Santiago and San José.
In the Church of Santiago, the reinforcements of reinforced concrete introduced in the structure that covered the cruise caused the complete collapse of this one, as well as the destruction of all the chapels arranged around it. The intervention of Juan de Dios was based on recovering the compatibility between the old elements and contemporary elements. For this, four large beams were built to raise the four main arches that support the dome, arches of ten meters of light, executed in brick, with exactly the same dimension that they had at the origin and with the same characteristics as those that were built. Once erected, the four scallops were rebuilt, also executed with brick, and, above all, the drum of the dome was raised again. That drum holds two structures, both made of wood: the one that forms the dome that can be seen from the temple and the one that supports the roof that protects it and that is shown to the outside. Making them in wood was key, as well as that both were independent and rested on different sleepers, being able to move both independently. They should be lightweight and should be compatible with the factories that are below, unlike what happened with the previous intervention. Thanks to this decision, the problems that caused the collapse of the previous dome will be avoided.
In the Church of San José the structure that covers the temple is conformed by encamped vaults, very common in the Hispanic tradition. These are structures adapted to the need to save large lights with wooden elements of small dimensions, which support cane ladders that, once coated with plaster, produce the spatial effect of any vaulted structure. The fact of being made up of wooden structures composed of a large number of small elements, makes them an optimal solution to resist an earthquake. However, once again, the effect of this was added to the inadequate previous interventions, causing significant damage to the building. In the new restoration, Juan de Dios has kept as many elements as were in good condition, replacing only those who needed it with others of identical functioning and constitution.
In any case, the most relevant of these works in Lorca was the recovery of the symbolic value that this heritage has for the city. It was thus able to restore to the community the structure of its historic center, which had suffered with the loss of some of its main architectural references.
