Franco Díaz, Arturo

Arturo Franco. Architect, critic and editor. As a critic and editor, his work has been focused on the exploration of contemporary Latin-American reality as well as intervention in heritage.

Curator/director of the XI Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism.

International Doctor (PhD) with the qualification Cum Laude. Extraordinary Doctoral Thesis Award by ETSAMadrid.

He boarded at the Real Academia de España (Royal Academy of Spain) in Rome 2013-2014. (AECID), Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Intern in ART_EX 2014-2015 program (AECID), Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Author, among others, of the book “Hablan los arquitectos. ¿Una escuela de Madrid?” Edited by the argentinean publisher Diseño with the collaboration of ETSAM and UPM.

He is currently a Doctor Professor in the ETSAM’s Department of Architectural Design. He has been a professor of Analysis, theory and critique of architecture at the Polytechnic School of Architecture in Madrid (ETSAM) as part of the subjects of Introduction to Architecture, Analysis of Architecture and MArch since 2010, having been professor of Architectural Design at ETSAM and UPSalamanca previously. Responsible for the area of the Official Master of the UPM: MACA (Master of Architectural Communication) and professor in 2017-2018 of the MPPAA (Master of Advanced Architectural Design). He has acted as visiting professor at many international universities around the world. Elected member of the ETSAM School board since 2017 and Delegate of the director for the coordination of the office “ETSAM publica”.

He also writes architecture reviews as a critic for ABC newspaper since 1999. Director of the magazine Arquitectura COAM, magazine of the Official College of Architects of Madrid (2008-2012) with which he obtained the first prize in the Latin-American Biennal of Rosario. Director and editor of rita_, magazine linked to architecture schools of Spain and Latin-America, and of the digital platform redfundamentos currently within SCOPUS, AVERY, WEB of SCIENCE, LATINDEX…

He has lectured on his work in many Spanish cities such as Madrid, Toledo, La Coruña, Logroño, Alicante, Barcelona, Valencia, Aranjuez, Pamplona, Zaragoza, Las Palmas, Sevilla, Alcalá de Henares, Granada and Córdoba, and in foreign ones too, like Paris, Lisbon, Brussels, Montpellier, Milan, Bologna, Rome, Quito, Lima, Talca, Santiago de Chile, Valparaiso, Santiago de los Caballeros, Santo Domingo, Funchal, Montevideo, Guimaraes, Asunción, Buenos Aires and Mexico City.

His work has been acknowledged by the Swiss Architecture Awards (2010); the great FAD award of Spain and Portugal (2012); a first prize by the Madrid City Council (2007); the Madrid Architects’ Association (2014, 2011 and 2007); the Galicia Architects’ Association (2002); the Latin-American Biennales of Cadiz (2012) and Rosario (2014); the Spanish Ministry of Public Works (2003); the Natural Stone Awards (2004); the Hispalyt Awards (2007); Arquia Proxima (2008); the FAD Awards (2014, 2012 and 2010); the ENOR Awards (2011, 2007 for two Works and 2017); the Saloni Awards (2010 and 2008); the Construmat Prize (2011) and the BAM Award (2012); as selected in the Venice Biennial (2016) included in the winning pavilion of the Golden Lion. Nominated for the National Architecture Award in 2015.

His most relevant works, amongst which are the different interventions in the old Madrid slaughterhouse (MATADERO), are behind his selection as one of the young Spanish architects with greater career prospects by El Pais newspaper, the Fundacion Caja de Arquitectos, the Ministry of Public Works (JAE), A+U, Architectural Digest or 2G. He is also one of twenty-five international architects, under the age of fifty, chosen by the Swiss University of Mendrisio. His work has been exhibited in more than 30 cities around the world and his texts and works have been widely published in internationally recognised magazines such as Domus, A+U, Architecture d’aujourd’hui, Arquitectura Ibérica, Diseño Interior, Detail, 2G, Arquitectura Viva, AV, Architectural Digest, A+T, Tectónica, Summa+, ON diseño, China Architecture and Design, Bauwelt or Architectum, among others, with many of them on the cover.

But without a doubt the most moving recognition is the fact that he was chosen by the students in the I Compás de Oro as the best teacher of the ETSAMadrid in 2016 and in the II Compás de Oro as the best teacher of the DCA in 2017.