Two architects who studied architecture in Spain

By being, permanently, on the ground in contact with those (students, teachers, administrative staff, service providers [language courses, financing, health insurance, credencial, housing...], parents...), Spanish, French... who live an experience related to the studies in Spain. That's why we are more than just file holders for you, knowing perfectly what we are talking about. We can provide you with the daily advice that so many of you appreciate.

This month we met Irene A. and Alex G. They are architects and studied in one of the best(ranking El Mundo 2016 and 2017: see previous news on our page) Spanish universities ofarchitecture: the Universidad Europea de Madrid.

Here is an excerpt from our interview. You will find the whole interview on our YouTube channel, in its original version!

You can watch the entire interview on our Youtube playlist by clicking on this link.

FEE: Hi, Irene and Alex, who are you?

Irene: My name is Irene and I work with Alex at Kunaru, a company we founded together with a^third partner, Hernan D.

Alex: My name is Alex and I am an architect and designer. I work with Irene in Kunaru and with Hernan in a web design agency called Dro Sophila. All 3 of us studied at the Universidad Europea.

FEE: What isarchitecture to you?

Irene : Architecture is first and foremost a passion. It's a passion for design, for learning new things in a continuous way. But it's also learning to change an environment for people who need it...

Alex : Yeah, one of the important things about architecture is that it touches on different areas. You touch the artistic part, the technical part, the construction part of all kinds... We deal with architecture and design of objects, websites, in short, creative themes. It's a very wide range.

FEE: Would you tell a student who loves art, engineering, design...to study to become an architect in Spain?

Alex : Yes, of course. These are difficult studies and you can't let your passions go to waste.

Irene : These are "day by day" studies. You learn a lot through practical exercises and you learn new things every day. You don't just learn for hours in a theoretical way, you have to do manual work continuously, which allows you to learn.

Alex : Yes, we are not architects from 9am to 6pm. It's a real lifestyle.

FEE: Tell us a little about your EMU experience and why you chose this university.

Irene : The choice was made because first of all, I lived in Madrid. And of the options available to me, this was the one that was recommended to me. I could not enter the Politécnica de Madrid because my nota de corte did not allow it. But theUEM had a very good reputation.

Alex : There was also a strong connection with the Fine Arts faculty. So there was a direct communication between the professors who were artists and the architecture students.

FEE: And are you more of an "Artist" or "Engineer"?

Irene and Alex : a bit of both!

Alex : The studies educate you perfectly in the fields. So you can't choose, it's really complementary!

FEE: What about the teachers and the resources provided?

Irene : We were very happy. The professors were very good and very prestigious, especially for the project part. In general, the professors were of very good quality and many of them were teaching in public universities as well.

Alex : Yes, and they were very close to the students. There were only a few students in the class, about 15 to 20.

FEE: And did you start your business in part because of the entrepreneurial mentality of the EMU?

Alex : Europea gives you a very important professional vision. But as you work through your studies, you don't want to stop there. You want more. You either decide to work for yourself or to work for someone else.

Irene : and we realized with Alex that we worked well as a team. And we continued on the same dynamic.

FEE: So to sum up, EMU is a good choice to studyarchitecture for our French students?

Alex : Yes, and it's very international. There are a lot of students from all over Europe, from America, from everywhere!

Irene : Yes, that's true. You have classmates from all over the place so there's a lot of interesting exchanges.

FEE: Irene, I'm going to focus a bit more on your ERASMUS experience at the Marne la Vallée School of Architecture. Tell us about it!

Irene : It was very interesting. It was a school that was quite similar to EMU in terms of class size. But then it was very different because it was specialized in urban planning. At theUEM, we saw a little bit of everything. In France the studies were more theoretical and philosophical as well as some technical subjects. At Europea, we were much more focused on the technical part. For example, we had much more advanced structural and construction subjects at the UEM. And in addition, we had the artistic and creative part of the project. So it was different. The way of teaching was different, but in the end not so far from that of the UEM.

FEE: And the level of French students?

Irene : At the technical level (structure, construction...), the level of the French students was lower. But it's true that at the level of the city, of urban planning, their level was better because their school was specialized in this field. And finally concerning the projects, it was very similar.

FEE: And how would you rate the experience of studying abroad?

Irene : Very positive! Very difficult at the beginning. But you create very strong friendships. You get to know different people with different points of view on the same subject. And living in another city is also enriching! In short, I recommend it to everyone!

FEE: Tell us about your joint project.

Alex : we started slowly, little by little, with small works and small architectural things. Then the projects started to come in and now we do works, new buildings... We have a part of architecture and interior architecture but also our part of design. It's a lot of fun because we work with a lot of different materials, with paper, with plastic and it's very manual. And you might think that it's not architecture, but it is because it's design.

Irene : In architecture, you make the design, you decide how you want to do things and how you build it... and you build it! And the size is not important. It can be a skyscraper or a small lamp...

Alex : The creative part is fundamental, no matter what the project is.

FEE: You entered the job market in the middle of the construction crisis in Spain. Tell us about it...

Alex and Irene : It was hard, yes....

Alex : We almost escaped from Spain... But staying was the best decision.

Irene : Absolutely. Staying in Spain forced us to have new ideas, to see new ways out, how to adapt to new needs...

Alex : and the so difficult studies allow you to adapt better and more easily, if we can say that way... hahahaha

Irene : And we've worked before in other firms and it helps to see how it works elsewhere...

FEE: Listening to you, we can see that you have fun while working...

Irene : and besides we work on the weekend because we decide it ourselves. Nobody forces us to do it but we like what we do.

FEE: Architect, a profession with a future?

Alex : Yes, it's very broad. And that's what's so interesting.

Irene : By the way Alex and Hernan also make websites...

Alex : It's alsoarchitecture, digital but it's architecture. And above all creativity.

FEE : thank you !

You will find an interview once a month and every week your news, do not hesitate to read those of the previous weeks, some are current all year long.

See you soon!