IE School of Architecture and Design and the Traditional Building Cultures Foundation promote research into traditional crafts for sustainable architecture
The aim of this agreement is to promote education, research, and outreach around traditional crafts as the foundation for a sustainable architecture that is connected to its environment.
Madrid, May 28, 2025 – IE School of Architecture and Design and the Fundación Culturas Constructivas Tradicionales (Traditional Building Cultures Foundation) have signed a collaboration agreement in Madrid to jointly promote the study, teaching and dissemination of knowledge about cultural heritage and traditional building crafts as a basis for sustainable architecture rooted in its natural and cultural context.
Both IE School of Architecture and Design, part of IE University, and the Traditional Building Cultures Foundation share a deep commitment to research, education, and the promotion of knowledge related to place-based construction—its landscapes, materials, and natural surroundings—as well as to the crafts that underpin it. They recognize in this knowledge the foundation for a more sustainable, contemporary architectural and urban design, anchored in each country’s material and cultural realities.
Welcoming the initiative, David Goodman, Dean of IE School of Architecture and Design, said: "This collaboration with the Traditional Building Cultures Foundation enables us to integrate knowledge of traditional crafts into the training of architects and designers, helping them meet contemporary challenges with sensitivity, rigor, and a commitment to sustainability."
Alejandro García Hermida, Director of the Traditional Building Cultures Foundation, added:
"This agreement will allow more people to learn from the experience of past generations in creating plazas, streets, buildings, and landscapes that are not only beautiful and enduring, but also conceived to strengthen social cohesion and a sense of community."
From left: Cristina Mateo, Vice Dean; Wesam Al Aasali, professor and researcher at IE School of Architecture and Design; Alejandro García Hermida, Director of the Traditional Building Cultures Foundation; and David Goodman, Dean of IE School of Architecture and Design.Awards ceremony: Building Arts Awards and the Richard H. Driehaus Architecture Competition
As part of this collaboration, IE School of Architecture and Design and the Traditional Building Cultures Foundation will co-organize the awards ceremony for the Building Arts Awards and the Richard H. Driehaus Architecture Competition. The event will take place this June at IE University’s historic campus in Segovia. It will bring together professionals from architecture, construction, urban planning, and heritage conservation, along with researchers, educators, students and institutional representatives.
Exhibition: “Matter. Know-how. Place.”
On June 13, “Matter. Know-how. Place.” will open at the IE Creativity Center, located in the Casa de la Moneda in Segovia. The exhibition explores the active role and potential of building crafts in contemporary architectural education and practice. It features the work of the 2024 and 2025 Building Arts Awards winners, the winning design proposals from the sixth edition of the Richard H. Driehaus Architecture Competition, and a selection of projects by the master craftspeople and apprentices who received Donald Gray Building Arts Scholarships in the most recent edition.
The exhibition also includes a section dedicated to the academic and research work of Wesam Al Asali, architect and professor at IE School of Architecture and Design. His work is a bridge between contemporary architecture and traditional building cultures.
The exhibition will remain open to the public until October.