SUMA Arquitectura

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SUMA Arquitectura
EUmies Awardee Distinguished Lecture
Wed, Jan 21
Campbell 153

SUMA Arquitectura / EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture
Exhibition
Thu, Jan 15 – Sun, Feb 1
Campbell Van Lengen Lobby

Madrid-based architects Elena Orte and Guillermo of SUMA Arquitectura are the Emerging Architecture Winners of the 2024 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture / Mies van der Rohe Award (EUmies Award) for their design of the Gabriel García Márquez Library in Barcelona, Spain. They will kick off UVA School of Architecture's Spring 2026 public programs as the EUmies Awardee Distinguished Lecturers—part of an exciting partnership with Fundació Mies van der Rohe, aimed at advancing architectural excellence through collaborative programs between our institutions.

For their talk, SUMA Arquitectura will introduce their most recent projects where timber plays a central structural, material, and conceptual role. From public buildings to collective housing and research infrastructures, the work reflects an integrated approach to architecture, construction, and use. 

Their presentation will feature the award-winning Gabriel García Márquez Library, a public timber building conceived as a social and urban ecosystem, where structure, program, and atmosphere work together to intensify collective life. They will also present Our Shelves Houses and Studio SUMA & Home, housing projects in timber that explore flexible, cooperative, and highly customized domestic models. Finally, CIMBRA will be introduced as an innovation center dedicated to research, education, and the development of timber as a key material for sustainable and circular construction.

^{Gustav Düsing and Max Hacke also received the 2024 EUmies Award for their study pavilion on the campus of Braunschweig Technical University in Germany (2023).}

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About SUMA Arquitectura

SUMA Arquitectura is a Madrid-based studio founded in 2005, specializing in unique residential and public architecture, whose work is characterized by research and a pioneering and entrepreneurial drive. They have developed an ecosystemic design system that fosters social bonds in our built environment, promotes the use of biomaterials such as wood, and embraces a strong ecological responsibility. 

Their works have been awarded numerous prizes: the 2024 Emerging Architects EUmies Award, First Prize COAM 2024, the 2023 IFLA Award for Best Public Library in the World, 2023 FAD Award Arquinfad, the 2022 Ciutat de Barcelona Award for Architecture, Education, and Popular and Community Cultures and others.

SUMA is directed by Elena Orte and Guillermo Sevillano, architects trained at the School of Architecture of Madrid (ETSAM). Both hold a Master’s in Advanced Architectural Design: Elena from ETSAM, Guillermo from Columbia University in New York, and a PhD from ETSAM. They currently combine their professional practice with teaching at IAAC in Barcelona and ETSAM (UPM). Elena is also a professor at IE University and participates in the International Workshop of the Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura de Barcelona ETSAB/ Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech UPC.
 

Supported by the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, Creative Europe (EC), and the Office of the Dean.