MARAVILLAS GYMNASIUM 1962-2012: 50 YEARS OF LIFE

Alejandro de la Sota (Pontevedra, 1913; Madrid 1996) is one of the greatest masters of the Spanish Architecture of the 20th Century. He was a professor at the School of Architecture of Madrid (ETSAM),  serving its trail as a reference for several generations of Spanish architects.

During the thirties, he moved from his home town Pontevedra to Madrid where he started his studies in the Faculty of Mathematics, which was a necessary condition to enter the School of Architecture. Once he got his degree in Architecture in 1941, he spent the first years of his professional life working for the National Institute of Colonization; a stage that ended up with the construction of the village of Esquivel (Sevilla, 1952-1963) and Arvesú House(Madrid, 1953-1955, demolished). Since then, he participated in different competitions, following the same idea as he did in his previous work, the Civil Government of Tarragona (1957-1964). This building has been considered by many people his first masterpiece. During this prolific period, he did several projects of modern industrial architecture, such as the Clesa Dairy Plant (Madrid, 1958-1961) and CENIM premises in the Campus of the University(Madrid, 1963-1965) and he also built his most recognized and admired work, the Gymnasium of Maravillas School (Madrid, 1960-1962); which is considered by the British critic William Curtis, the most significant work of Contemporary Spanish Architecture.

In 1960 he obtained a job as a Government officer at the Post Office, and throughout this decade, he researched the possibilities that new materials provide and developed several projects based on a constructive approach consisting of the use of prefabricated concrete panels for walls and floors. This idea is shown in Varela’s House in Villalba (Madrid, 1964-1968).

In 1971 he left the university education as a professor, coming back to his public service position at the Post Office. During these years he built César Carlos Residence Hall on the Campus of the University (Madrid, 1968-1971), the building for class and lecture rooms of the University of Sevilla (1972-1973) and Guzmán’s House in Santo Domingo‘s urbanization (Madrid, 1972-1974), in which he tried out issues to be applied afterwards in Domínguez’s House in A Caeira (Pontevedra, 1973-1978).  The Computer Center for the PO Box in La Vaguada (Madrid, 1972-1977) and years later, the Post and Telecommunications Building in León (1981-1984) belong to a stage where he was completely involved in light prefabricated techniques.

Israel Alba Ramis is an architecture studio based in Madrid, founded by architect Israel Alba Ramis (Barcelona, May 26, 1973). He obtained his degree in Architecture in 2000 from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (ETSAM) and later, in 2015, earned a PhD in Architecture from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) with the highest distinction, Sobresaliente Cum Laude. During his studies, he was awarded a scholarship by the School of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago, USA. Additionally, he has been a member of the Spanish Association of Landscape Architects (AEP) since 2016 and a certified Passive House designer since 2018. In 2021, he was accredited by ANECA as a Profesor Contratado Doctor (tenured professor).

In the professional field, he founded his eponymous studio in 2000, based in Madrid. The firm is characterized by a collaborative and multidisciplinary approach to architecture, design, and landscape projects, with a particular interest in contemporary cities and their transformations. Through the operational platform WASTE LAB CAN, he has gained recognition for projects related to waste management.

In the academic field, since 2023 he has served as an Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC) in Madrid. Previously, between 2018 and 2022, he was an Associate Professor at the same institution and was a Visiting Professor at the School of Architecture at the State University of New York (SUNY) in the United States, between 2016 and 2019. Additionally, from 2007 to 2017, he taught as an Associate Professor at the Higher School of Engineering and Architecture at Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca (UPSAM).

His work has been recognized with various national and international awards and distinctions. These include the COAM +10 Award in 2022, the Architizer A+ Awards in 2022 and 2017, the First COAM Award in 2020, and the NAN Award in 2019. His work has been exhibited and published in numerous specialized media, and his doctoral thesis was part of the Spanish Pavilion at the 2018 Venice Biennale.

Among his most notable projects are the El Plantío Football Stadium in Burgos, the Red Cross Headquarters in Galapagar (Madrid), the Ferrocarril 4bis Building in Madrid, the Tree Pavilions in Madrid, La Cuchara Restaurant in Madrid, and the Environmental Technology Center in the Valdemingómez Forest Park in Madrid.

Diego Hurtado de Mendoza is a film maker with broad-ranging experience in projects related to music, art, the cinema and architecture. He won an internship at FABRICA, the Benetton Communications Research Centre in Italy, from 2006 to 2009, where he worked as a designer on the COLORS magazine and directed his first films.

He has produced and directed special episodes of programmes such as "MTV Tuning" for MTV Spain, as well as making video-clips for groups such as Russian Red (Sony Music Spain) and advertisements for MTV, UNHCR and Telecinco. He is currently the chief creative officer in charge of image for the Spanish National Dance Company.