“Architects, with our grain of sand, make society work better”

How did your career begin?

Jonathan Arnabat: We started by doing very small projects, related to interior design. Family and friends were asking us to renovate their apartment, second homes... We spent many years doing interior design projects, but we were a little bogged down by the level of internal management of the company. It was complicated because we had more and more interior design orders. There were moments that we had 30 or 35 small projects and it was very hard to manage in an architectural office because each project has one client, one planning permission that you would have to process, there is a builder… We tried changing the scale a little: have fewer projects and that they would be larger and more related to architecture and building.

 

In 2021, you won the FAD Award for Interior Design for the project “Estudio Omar,” and in 2022, you won the FAD Award for Architecture with the “Llacuna” building. What does it mean for you to have won these awards and to win them for two consecutive years?

Jonathan Arnabat: Last year’s FAD Award for Interior Design was exciting because in some way it marked the end of a stage of projects related more so to the world of interior design. It was as if we were valued for all the work we had done in this area. It was very exciting to receive the FAD award again the following year, but this time that is was for Architecture, and that it was for the first multifamily building of new construction that we had done.

 

What differential values do you think have made your project deserve the FAD Award of Architecture?

Jordi Ayala: Although the building is quite small, it is located on a very visible corner at the entrance to Poblenou, and acts as the entrance landmark, providing access to the neighbourhood, and is located between the industrial zone and the residential area. The area is quite deteriorated and the building brings the area together and establishes it, defining the boundaries of these neighbourhoods and does so in a way that is highly integrated with the surroundings and taking the city into account.

Jonathan Arnabat: The FAD Award recognises buildings for good architecture, but the winning project not only has to be good architecture, but it has to convey a message at a social level.

 

You have projects in Barcelona, but also in other countries in Europe and even outside Europe. How did you achieve this international projection?

Jordi Ayala: We have always been interested in the international scene and have made trips to experience and draw on international architecture. Right now, our main clients have projects abroad, even outside Europe. We have done projects in Japan, the United States, Portugal, France and Sweden. At UIC Barcelona, we have been approached by different teachers from outside the EU. In fact, the university is called ‘International.’ I remember when we were teaching English classes specialising in the architecture, construction and construction sector and we would have international visitors and lecturers in attendance.

 

What other aspects of UIC Barcelona School of Architecture do you value positively?

Jonathan Arnabat: I especially appreciate the personalised treatment, because I knew the teachers very well from the very first year. We made friends with many teachers, and the teachers went beyond just teaching their class, they encouraged us to enter competitions. Vicenç Sarrablo has been an important figure for us. From the first day, he warmly welcomed the four of us and was always proposing that we enter student competitions. He offered us many opportunities and opened many doors for us. In some way, he gave us an extra boost of energy that you probably can’t find at another school. This makes you believe you can go wherever you want and helps you become an entrepreneur and increases confidence to meet the challenges.

 

You also worked as teachers. What was it like to teach at the same university where you had studied?

Jordi Ayala: Teaching was very important step. One tends to take a step from the university to the professional world, but forgets to keep studying, and teaching forces you to continue these self-learning and ongoing study processes. Understanding the profession as a process of continuous training is one thing I think should never be lost.

Jonathan Arnabat: I think our role was a very good one, because it was an intermediary figure between a more experienced teacher and the student. We knew the school very well and played the big brother role. We already had one foot in the professional world and our role was not so much to ‘chair’ but to give advice and support the student and teach them strategies or tools that we had used during our career.

What is the most rewarding thing about dedicating yourself to the world of architecture?

Jonathan Arnabat: For me architecture was a very vocational thing. Since I was a little boy, I wanted to make buildings and now in a natural way, here we are, and it is very satisfying to get up in the morning and go and do what you have always wanted to do, and to top it off, to do it surrounded by friends.

Jordi Ayala: It is very rewarding to achieve a vocation for social or public service, and at the same time the satisfaction of seeing one of your own project completed all in the same job. Architecture has the artistic part of producing a work that when completed, is lasting and permanent. With our grain of sand, we make society work better.

 

How do you manage to add this grain of sand to improve society from architecture?

Jordi Ayala: In architecture, we work on many levels, and we have an important responsibility. It ranges from the urban environment to the public environment, where the building projects an idea of how it integrates in the city, and also the issues of energy efficiency, reduction of CO₂ and other environmental issues, or even more domestic and functional issues, such as, whether a good aesthetic design fits with a certain philosophy of the user, for example.

 

What is the most important thing to be an entrepreneur?

Jordi Ayala: In architecture, you have to be persistent; it’s the most important thing. Then you need the ability to work as a team player. We tend to be prepared for some very specific aspects, but if you’re talking about entrepreneurship, you have to be more versatile and try to have some knowledge about many other areas to be able to function.

Jonathan Arnabat: You have to be insistent, with a lot of enthusiasm and tackle everything. It is very hard to be an entrepreneur here. In the world of architecture, there is a lot of bureaucracy at the administration level, and this makes turnaround times very long. You have to be very persistent, have a lot of patience and the ability to adapt. The easy way would be to work for someone else or the Administration, but surely, at the end of the way, the reward is greater if you are an entrepreneur.

 

What advice would you give to students who are studying Architecture now or who have just graduated?

Jordi Ayala: Being a teacher for a few years, you realise that the main issue for students is that they don’t see themselves as an architect who is leading an office, and I think the first thing I would recommend is to believe that you are. I think that over the years young people see fewer opportunities, but you have to look for opportunities. I would like to encourage them to believe, to project themselves and to look for opportunities because there really is a place for anyone if they work for it.