Alejandro Valdivieso Royo

Alejandro Valdivieso is a Spanish architect whose work is based on a consistent theoretical insight of practice through the production of design, on the one hand, and scholarship, on the other. He develops his activity through different formats and mediums: as an active practicing architect (principal and founder of the award-wining Madrid-based office VALDIVIESOARQUITECTOS); as writer and editor for several platforms; and as an educator, currently an Assistant Professor of Architectural History and Theory at ETSAM (Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid).

Exploring the connections between History, Culture and building technology, recent built projects focus, for example, on low-carbon construction technology, domesticity, or critical conservation (adaptive reuse). Valdivieso’s work, thought, written and built, has been presented, shared and published in Spain and internationally.

Valdivieso, trained in Madrid (Ábalos&Herreos, AS+ Ábalos+Sentkiewicz, Estudio Herreros) and Italy (Cultore della Materia, Università degli Studi di Sassari, Facoltà di Architettura di Algher) studied architecture at Universidad de Alcalá in Madrid (B.Arch, M.Arch, 2008), Harvard

University (Master in Design Studies ‘History and Theory’, Fulbright Scholar, 2016) and ETSAM (Ph.D. in the History and Theory of Architecture, 2021).

He is a member of the Spanish Asociación de Historiadores de la Arquitectura y el Urbanismo (AhAU); member of the Editorial Board of its journal Varia for its three first issues (2019-2022) and member of its Scientific Committee since 2023. In February 2023 he was awarded, together with Javier García-Germán, the First Prize so as to become the editor of its centenary magazine Arquitectura.

Corporate Experience

• Founder and Principal, VALDIVIESOARQUITECTOS, Madrid, Spain, 2012 - Present

• Trained at Ábalos&Herreros, AS+ Ábalos+Sentkiewicz and Estudio Herreros, Madrid, Spain, 2005 - 2010

Academic Experience

• Assistant Professor of Architectural History and Theory, ETSAM, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Spain, 2018 - Present

• Member of the Research Program ‘Teoría y Crítica del Proyecto y de la Arquitectura Moderna y Contemporánea’, ETSAM, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Spain, 2022 - Present

• Assistant Professor, Subject specialist e Cultore della Materia, Facoltà di Architettura di Alghero, Università degli Studi di Sassari, 2010 - 2011

• Other academic positions: UDIT, Universidad de Diseño y Tecnología; Universidad Nebrija, Universidad Europea de Madrid

Academic Background

• Ph.D. in Architecture, ETSAM, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Spain, 2021

• Master in Design Studies (Fulbright Scholar), GSD, Harvard University, United States of America, 2016

• Professional Degree in Architecture (Arquitecto), Escuela de Arquitectura, Universidad de Alcalá, Spain, 2008