Associate professor

PhD in Restoration of Built Heritage
Faculty of Architecture

I´m Professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of the Basque Country since 2015 and researcher at the UNESCO Chair in Cultural Landscapes and Heritage since its foundation.

I was graduated in Architecture in 1994 and obtained my PhD in Restoration of Built Heritage in 2014.

My lines of research focus on the socioeconomic management of Heritage Landscapes and the valuation of heritage resources, as well as reversible intervention on built heritage.

I am the author and project manager of restoration projects such as the enhancement of the Pre-Foundational Walls of Vitoria-Gasteiz (Europa Nostra Award 2010), and new construction projects such as Digipen University Bilbao (the largest CLT building in Spain).

I introduced the patented MATRYOSHKA© modular wood construction system and the patented GARDENKI © Trombe water modules for transparent facades. I am currently working on the use of different materials (organic, volcanic ash, earth, wool) to optimize these models. I have also registered a socio-economic management model, MOTIVA©, for the enhancement of heritage landscapes. This method is applied in UNESCO Chair projects such as AcCESO, a social innovation proposal for the Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola Vizcaínas (1767) in Mexico City and its “Talleres Habitados” (Inhabited Workshops).

I develop projects in productive cultural landscapes, such as the reinterpretation of the Tannat wine-growing landscapes in Salto (Uruguay) and Concordia (Argentina) or, in the past, leather tanning in Estella-Lizarra. The former recovers the structural elements (winery facilities, vineyards, river ports, neighborhoods) built by Basque pioneers Pascual Harriague, Saturnino Ribes, and Juan Jauregui “Lorda.” The latter sought to redefine the memory of tanning and its derivatives in the Barrio de Curtidores neighborhood of Estella-Lizarra, including restoration work on iconic buildings (Hostería de Curtidores) using the MATRYOSHKA© system.

I am currently also working on the Master Plan for the Fortresses of Tierra Estella, among other landscape planning projects.