The architect's reality

A day of architecture, imagery and cheek at the ETSAB, with swots, escalibada and uncomfortable truths about the profession.

The day before, while rehearsing at the ETSAB (Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura de Barcelona – @ETSABarcelona), Pati Núñez (@patinunez) told me that she wasn't used to public speaking and that she was going to read from a script, like the swotty girls—they're always girls—who get top marks and walk out of exams saying, “I did awful.” The next day she nailed a presentation on the construction of the architect's image (in general) (in particular): an introduction to the morning panel and the starting gun for a full-day event.

Those of you who weren't there missed out and I won't be the one to tell you what was said (you'll be able to see it on UPCTv shortly), but Pati Núñez, Rafael Gómez-Moriana (@rafagomo), Daniel Módol (@DModol_UrbArch), Miguel Ángel Aguiló (@MiguelA_Aguilo) and yours truly (@jl_echeverria) we turned the 12:30–14:30 lunchtime slot into a happy and engaging experience with equal parts expertise, sophistication, provocation, intimacy, and youthful audacity.

Afterwards, the young audience wolfed down the catering in the nick of time and the grown-ups sat at a table in the VIP area of the ETSAB, which is on a stair landing — too big to be a landing and too small to be anything else — accessed from the boardroom or the bar storage room… Architects are something else.

Important details are that the conference was sponsored by HNA (La Mutualidad de los Arquitectos) and the ETSAB, and was organised by Pati Núñez Agency. Minor details: That we ate tuna salad with escalibada and anchovies, and fideuá; that Félix Arranz (@felixarranz) agrees with my lack of rigor and simplifying brutality; that HNA is also the mutual insurance option for chemists, and that everything points to the fact that Elia Zenghelis He is an evil man.