Ángela García de Paredes: architecture as transformation and interpretation

The project as a tool for transformation: the design philosophy of Ángela García de Paredes takes center stage at Cersaie 2025 within the framework of Costruire, abitare, pensare ("Building, Dwelling, Thinking") the cultural program that Cersaie dedicates to contemporary architecture and design.

The meeting takes place on Thursday, September 25, at the Service Center “The Square” of the Bologna Exhibition Center. The Madrid-based architect, co-founder with Ignacio García Pedrosa of the studio Paredes Pedrosa Arquitectos, shares her vision of contemporary architecture through the presentation of some of her most significant projects.

Ángela García de Paredes: to design is to transform

The speaker explores the idea of architecture as the transformation of an existing material and as the interpretation of time and space — concepts that find concrete expression in the projects of the studio presented during the meeting.

The design of the Universidad Popular Infantil, an educational and cultural center for children in Gandía, is entirely shaped by the presence of six large mulberry trees, around which the building’s plan is carefully modeled.

The restoration of the Two Houses in Oropesa is almost invisible from the outside. In this case, the key word, as the speaker emphasizes, is “restoration”, understood as the act of bringing order back to chaos. The project is a gesture of respect toward the medieval city, its historical richness, and its architectural heritage.

The place also becomes the starting point for the Public Library of Ceuta, designed to echo the complexity of the Spanish city on the northern coast of Africa. From the archaeological site integrated into the building’s interior, to the cladding made up of two distinct layers, every choice reflects the intent to create unity and allow diverse elements to coexist, in harmony with the topographical and cultural stratification of Ceuta.

The construction of the Library of Córdoba follows the same principles. An extremely complex project — spanning fifteen years — conceived to mediate the topographical difference between a large urban park and an avenue created after the undergrounding of a railway line.

Finally, the Spanish Embassy in Rome, the studio’s most recent work, where the idea of transformation is expressed through the restoration of the historic palace — an intervention aimed at integrating the institutional building into the precious urban fabric of Piazza Navona.

Inspiration, reference, mediation

Delving deeper into the theme of transformation as a founding principle of design, the speaker stresses that the role of the architect is not to build something entirely new, but rather to give value to what already exists, in a process guided by responsibility and awareness.

On this point, the architect cautions the audience about the concept of “inspiration”, a word that can become limiting if it reduces the work to the result of an epiphany, of a sudden flash of insight. She proposes replacing it with “reference”: to design is a slow, technical process, the outcome of a continuous mediation with the past — a precious model for the architects of today and tomorrow.

The conference concludes with an exchange with the audience. Asked by a student which was the most difficult project of her career, the architect replies with ironic wisdom: the most complex project is surely the first, when one has no experience to rely on — but above all, it is the next one, the project that has yet to take shape.

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