Theory And Practice Of Regional Architecture

Trans-contextual experiences of an architect
Theory and practice of regional architecture, Tsinghua University 2012

By Jorge Valcárcel Cavallé

"The longer you stay working in China the more possible is that you will not be able to work in your countries of origin"
George Kunihiro, theory course, Tsinghua School of Architecture, November 2012.
Phrase said in the context of a lecture onthe evolution of Japanese architecture and the influences of foreign architects. After citing the case of the British architect Josiah Conder, which after working in Japan was unable to fulfill himself professionally back in his country.

This phrase George said during one of our conversations in Tsinghua caused a torrent of thoughts in my mind. A huge query appeared in front of my. During thelast 10 years of my life I have been traveling from school to school of architecture, working in different countries, always striving to improve and learn, but what were the reasons that led me initially to choose this route? And even more importantly, made it sense what I was doing? What I wanted to achieve? And above all, that sincere phrase that George said, caused in me some discomfort, evenfear, as I had never thought about the risks, only the benefits only in this nomadic life I chose long ago ... A life that George knows enough as he took that same path long before I even considered the idea of ​​studying architecture.
When in 2003 I decided to start my studies in architecture I had to relocate myself to a region adjacent to mine in northern Spain. In my home region there is noschool of architecture, it is a region historically isolated from the outside with little contact with the modern architecture or renowned architects. As result of my childhood without many trips, my image of the architecture was very traditional, strongly linked to the landscape and environment of a rural region.
In Galicia I spent four years learning the basics of architecture. In that schoolwith a strong influence of Portuguese architecture such as Siza and Soto de Moura. There they paid an almost imperative importance to genius loci, the context and the landscape in which was located every work of architecture. Northern Spain, where I was born and raised is a place where the landscape and climate have a quasi-religious dominance. Historical and cultural these areas have strongnationalist and regionalist sentiment given its traditional isolation from the rest of the Iberian Peninsula as well as their strong cultural differences with other areas of Spain. And that's how I forged myself as an architect, it seemed that I was very skilled for architecture. In each work I knew how to extract the soul of the place and shape it. My records at the time were very good, but the mostimportant thing I remember from that time was the passion I used to have for each project, from the start to the end. While studying I was working in one of the most important architectural firms in the area.
They were several factors that led me to leave that school and the town, first such recognition made ​​me think there were no more challenges for me in that place, I thought I could learn moreelsewhere and I was attracted by the challenge of testing if in another school, in another context, I would be able to get the same results. During all my life I felt a special attraction for Barcelona, the land of my mother and her family, something totally exotic to me. But the Mediterranean atmosphere was something I knew pretty well for my frequent trips to visit my Catalan family. Afterseveral unsuccessful attempts I finally got an academic transfer to the Polytechnic of Catalonia in 2007.
The adaptation was anything but simple, and the changes were drastic. From live and work in a strongly traditional context to one of the most cosmopolitan areas of Europe, from the small town to the big city. From rain and cold to sun and heat. I changed the silence and the sounds of nature to...