Initiatives
Initiatives in which INTBAU Spain collaborates with the Traditional Building Cultures Foundation
Other initiatives
Rafael Manzano Prize for New Traditional Architecture
The Rafael Manzano Prize for New Traditional Architecture is intended to disseminate the value of traditional architecture as a benchmark for the architecture of our time. Since 2012 it has served to recognise careers that have been outstanding in this field in Spain and Portugal, contributing especially to the continuation of traditional architecture, both in the restoration of architectural and urban heritage and in the building of new work which, based on local tradition, is able to blend harmoniously into such ensembles. The Rafael Manzano Prize is funded with 50,000 euros, awarded with a commemorative medal.
It is organized by the Traditional Building Cultures Foundation with the collaboration of INTBAU, Kalam, the Fundação Serra Henriques, the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando and the Ordem dos Arquitectos and has the High Patronage of His Excellency the President of the Republic of Portugal.
Richard H. Driehaus Architecture Competition
The Richard H. Driehaus Architecture Competition has since 2016 promoted the practice of architecture and urbanism which, on one hand, give continuity to local traditions, and on the other, contribute to generating more beautiful and lasting urban fabrics, better integrated into existing architectural heritage. The Competition is held in two successive phases. In the first, Spanish municipalities are invited to submit possible subjects and sites and an international jury chooses the three that best meet the stated aims and criteria. In the second phase, of international scope, architects of any nationality are invited to submit architectural and urban design proposals for any of the three pre-selected sites.
Finally the jury selects and rewards those proposals that may serve as a model for better practice in architecture, urbanism and conservation of built heritage, especially in dilapidated architectural ensembles and urban areas subject to decay and/or threatened by depopulation.
It is organized by the Traditional Building Cultures Foundation thanks to the collaboration of INTBAU, the Ministry of Culture and Sport and the Council of Architecture Institutes of Spain.
Richard H. Driehaus Awards for the Building Arts
The Richard H. Driehaus Building Arts Awards are a set of distinctions awarded in Spain since 2017 to outstanding masters of the various traditional building trades, for their whole career. These awards thereby contribute to the preservation and continuation of these trades, as well as giving their practitioners recognition. Traditional building work is grouped for these purposes into four categories, in each of which an annual prize funded with 10,000 euros is awarded, together with a commemorative plaque.
They are organized annually by the Traditional Building Cultures Foundation thanks to the collaboration of INTBAU, the Ministry of Culture and Sport and the Council of Architecture Institutes of Spain.
Spanish Network of Traditional Building Crafts Masters
The Spanish Network of Traditional Buiding Crafts Masters is an online directory created to promote and disseminate the traditional building trades. This initiative provides visibility -and job opportunities- to the masters, as well as generating a source of pedagogical information on the different crafts, techniques and materials that shape the identity of each region.
Its rollout has allowed many people to be put in touch and has facilitated the use of these trades and crafts by the various bodies responsible for conserving heritage.
More than 2,000 professionals have been identified and studied, of which, after evaluating their work, more than 500 have been selected and now have their profile in the web directory. This initiative has been developed by the Traditional Building Cultures Foundation, thanks to the collaboration of INTBAU, the Institute of Cultural Heritage of Spain (IPCE) and the Ministry of Culture and Sports.
Richard H. Driehaus Medal for Heritage Preservation
The Richard H. Driehaus Medal for Heritage Preservation is an award organized since 2019 by the Traditional Building Cultures Foundation in collaboration with INTBAU together with the Rafael Manzano Prize for New Traditional Architecture. This distinction takes the patronage of Richard H. Driehaus himself as a model and is intended to honour stewards who, in public or private bodies, have made significant contributions to the preservation of heritage and to giving continuity to the architectural traditions of Spain and Portugal: entrepreneurs, developers, managers of foundations and leaders or promoters of other initiatives and institutions.
Donald Gray Grant for the Building Arts
The Donald Gray Grants for the Building Arts have since 2017 been facilitating the training of an apprentice for one year with one of the masters honoured in our Building Arts Awards. The knowledge transmitted by this means, through working and learning hands on with a master of the trade, can scarcely be given continuity through formal education. These scholarships provide financial support both to the master delivering the training and to the apprentice who is to be trained at the former’s workshop and worksites.
Journal of Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism
This magazine is aimed at all those people and institutions interested in traditional building, architecture and urbanism. Its articles are related to the theory and practice of these disciplines. Its objective is to promote the creation of places and buildings that are in harmony with the local culture and tradition and that are respectful of the environment and its natural resources. It also aims to provide a better knowledge of the traditional constructive cultures of the various regions of the world and, with it, a greater respect towards them that may contribute to their better preservation and to their continuity.
The publication of this journal is organized by the Traditional Building Cultures Foundation with the collaboration of INTBAU.
International seminars and conferences
These conferences bring together annually renowned personalities of traditional building, architecture and urbanism both national and international for two days, along with an audience made up of students, professors and other professionals. Each year, the driving force of the lectures is a topic related to traditional building, architecture or town planning, such as the conservation of tangible and intangible heritage, the preservation of the local identity, the creation of places, traditional crafts linked to construction or the existing relationships between architecture and humanism. As a result of these lectures, very interesting debates always arise and the results of many initiatives related to the discussed topics are shared together there.
They are organized by the Traditional Building Cultures Foundation with the collaboration of INTBAU, the School of Architecture of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Kalam, the Fundação Serra Henriques, the Universidad Alfonso X el Sabio, the Escola Superior Gallaecia and the Centro de Investigación de Arquitectura Tradicional (CIAT), among other entities.
Summer Schools
The participants of these Summer Schools have the opportunity to study and analyse the traditional building, architecture and urbanism of the areas where these Summer Schools take place, gathering data and drawing by hand the streets and buildings and the characteristic details of the local constructive culture.
During the last days of the Summer School, proposals are also carried out to improve different public spaces of the area. The aim is not only to document, to get to understand and to take in the existing relationship between architecture and urban structure of that particular landscape and culture, but to raise the awareness on the fact that we can, still today, continue to work without breaking this bond.
This work is completed with visits to the workshops of master artisans and many lectures by several professionals and researchers – both local and international – on history, ethnography, architectural and constructive traditions, and many other topics related to the preservation of cultural heritage and local identity.
This International Summer School is annually taking place in different locations between Spain and Portugal, and it is organized by the Traditional Building Cultures Foundation along with INTBAU Spain and INBTAU Portugal thanks to the collaboration of Kalam, the Fundação Serra Henriques, the Fundación Arquia, the Prince’s Trust Australia as well as numerous universities and cultural institutions. Till now, the following institutions have collaborated: the Fundación Botín, the Universidad de Navarra, the Universidad del País Vasco, the Universidad de Cantabria, the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, the Universidad de Sevilla, the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, the Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, the Universidad Alfonso X el Sabio, the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas (Philippines), the schools of architecture of the Judson University, the Benedictine College, the University of Miami and the University of Notre Dame (USA), the Universidade Portucalense, CHAM-Açores, the Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), the Universidade do Algarve and the Universidade de Évora (Portugal), the Centro de Investigación de Arquitectura Tradicional (CIAT), the Real Academia Sevillana de Buenas Letras, the Medinaceli Foundation, the Carl Faust Foundation, Infraestructuras de Portugal, the governments of Navarra, Cantabria and the Azores, the city councils of Marvão, Lajes do Pico, Madrid, Valderredible, Baztán, Lloret de Mar and Cerdanyola del Vallés, and many others.
Exhibitions
Every year, INTBAU Spain, together with the Traditional Building Cultures Foundation and thanks to the collaboration of various institutions, organizes exhibitions on traditional building, architecture and urban planning.
Among these exhibitions are those held in collaboration with CentroCentro (Madrid City Council) in 2021 and 2022, entitled Timeless Architecture, which presented a selection of the materials, techniques and trades of traditional building and architectural and urban planning practices; those held from 2017 to 2019 at La Arquería de Nuevos Ministerios in Madrid in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Sport and the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda of Spain, which presented the works of the winners of the Architecture Competition and the Richard H. Driehaus Building Arts Awards; and the one held in 2023 in collaboration with the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha and the City Council of Toledo at the Santa Cruz Museum (Toledo), which collected the work of some of the most outstanding masters in the various traditional building trades, with a special focus on those of Toledo and, in general, of Castilla-La Mancha.
In addition, INTBAU Spain has collaborated in the organization of several exhibitions on the results of its various initiatives that have been displayed in places such as the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid or the Casa da Arquitectura in Oporto.
Iberian Meetings
The so-called Iberian Meetings, organized by INTBAU Spain and INTBAU Portugal, bring together many professionals of many different nationalities to share their diverse approaches to the selected topic for each edition, always revolving around traditional building, architecture and urbanism, both from the conservational point of view and from the point of view of using them as a model, oriented to develop better contemporary practices. This initiative has had the support of the following universities and institutions, the Basque Government’s Department of Environment, Territorial Planning and Housing, the Provincial Council of Vizcaya, the Bilbao Town Hall, the Institute of Basque-Navarre Architects, the Escola Superior Gallaecia (ESG), the Universidad del País Vasco, the Universidad de Navarra, the Universidad Alfonso X El Sabio (UAX), the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, the Centro de Investigación de Arquitectura Tradicional (CIAT-UPM) and the Town Hall of Vila Nova de Ceveira (Portugal). In parallel to these gatherings, other complementary activities take place, such as the architectural drawing workshop of traditional constructive elements which was carried out during the first edition of these gatherings.
Workshops organized by Terrachidia
INTBAU Spain collaborates with the NGO Terrachidia in the Earthen Construction and Restoration Workshops that this NGO carries out in Morocco. They are presented as a cultural immersion in the Oasis of Mhamid. There, the aim is to carry out the restoration of one relevant architectural element of its heritage, in collaboration with the local community and always by means of using traditional techniques and under the close supervision of local building masters, who introduce the participants into techniques such as adobe, rammed earth, earth renders or the tadelakt. In parallel, the tangible and intangible heritage which has shaped the landscape of this place is studied and documented.
Workshops organized by the Centro de Investigación de Arquitectura Tradicional (CIAT-UPM)
INTBAU Spain collaborates with the Centro de Investigación de Arquitectura Tradicional (CIAT) of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. The CIAT carries out different types of activities by means of researching, training and promoting the values of traditional architecture and construction, the historic city, the cultural landscape and the built heritage.
Workshops organized by Homo Faber
Homo Faber is a project carried out by Francisco Azconegui Morán and Mónica Martín Sisí. They have over thirty years of teaching and professional experience and focus their professional activity on the restoration and diffusion of ideas related to traditional building crafts. Their aim is to transmit the good work carried out in the past to be able to achieve good results in the present, by carrying out correct rehabilitations and by building new healthy homes, which are also both beautiful and sustainable.
Other initiatives with which INTBAU Spain collaborates or has collaborated
INTBAU Spain also supports or contributes to the promotion of many other workshops, seminars and lectures on topics such as heritage restoration, traditional and vernacular architecture, earth construction and other traditional building techniques.
These include the VerSus, SOSTierra and ResTAPIA conferences, the Chiloeches and Guadalajara Vault Workshops and the Gothic Construction Workshops in Madrid, as well as various activities organized together with the Centro de Referencia Nacional de Artesanía – Centro Albayzín.
