Architecture competition "Irish Cult Music Venue" Honorable mention - Vallès School of Architecture

We’d like to take the opportunity to introduce you to the winners of one of our Honorable mentions for the “Irish Cult Music Venue” competition - Guillem Roca Canals from Spain!

Guillem Roca Canals from Spain

I am an architecture student from the UPC in Barcelona (ETSAV) and I enrolled in graduate studies at the University of Illinois (UIUC). I stayed in the states for the summer where I had the opportunity to work for the great architecture company Gensler. Now I’m back home in Barcelona, trying to finish the degree and working as an architect in a small firm.

Brief information about the projects that you/your company have been involved with. For instance what scale have you focused on/preferred, any significant projects where company/individuals have been involved?

For me the human scale is the most important factor, and that’s why I give so much importance to all the small details and make sure not to lose this sense. Always thinking from the urban planning and analysis of each place and getting down to the human scale.

What does architecture mean to you and what is the role of an architect in your society?

Architecture, the academic kind, is about long nights in the studio, about learning how to think, and about preparing yourself to sell your soul. Architecture in the business sense is about profits and competition.

On-the-other-hand, architecture is audacious, even flamboyant…defiant. It defies gravity, climate, and the hostile forces of the environment. It resists social pressure while bowing to culture and ridicule while ignoring recognition. And yet, it… embraces. It embraces the human heart and human imagination and contains our fantasies.

In some cases, it even eludes time - eroding and weathering our sense of permanence on the Earth. It is humbling. In one sense, it is timeless and infinite, and in another, it is so bound to matter and place.

Why do you participate in architecture vision competitions?

I enrolled in this competition as I had to work on my final thesis and I found this competition interesting to use.

What advice would you give to individuals who struggle to decide whether it would be beneficial for them to participate in architecture vision competitions?

Do what you think is right and try to get as much fun out of it as possible