Iñaki Alday
Dean, Richard Koch Chair in Architecture | Tulane University
New Orleans, LA, UNITED STATES
Iñaki Alday utilizes a multidisciplinary global vision and social and environmental ethics to examine the role of architecture in society
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Biography
Iñaki Alday received a Master of Architecture degree from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in 1992. Together with Margarita Jover, he founded aldayjover architecture and landscape in 1996 in Barcelona. The multidisciplinary, research-based practice focuses on innovation and is particularly renowned for its leadership in a new approach to the relation between cities and rivers, in which the natural dynamics of flooding become part of the public space, eliminating the idea of “catastrophe.”
He has taught at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, the University of Navarra and the University of Virginia. At the University of Virginia, he was the Elwood R. Quesada Professor of Architecture from 2011 to 2018, and Chair of the Department of Architecture from 2011 to 2016. Since 2016, he has been the co-director and founder (with Pankja Vir Gupta) of the Yamuna River Project, a long-term, interdisciplinary research program whose objective is to revitalize the ecology of the Yamuna River in the Delhi area. The project involves an interdisciplinary team with expertise in architecture, land planning, civil engineering, environmental science, public-private partnerships, anthropology, political science, history and cultural studies. The team’s objective is to engage the efforts of government agencies, experts and activists in an ongoing program to address the multidimensional challenges of Delhi and the relation with its river.
Both in academic research and in practice, Alday promotes a new attitude towards the transformation of our environment and how architecture can contribute to the inhabitation of the most challenged areas of the planet. He utilizes a multidisciplinary global vision and social and environmental ethics to examine the role of architecture and architects.
Areas of Expertise (5)
Architecture
River City Urban Planning
Sustainable Architecture
Eco-ethics
Architecture and the Built Enivronment
Accomplishments (5)
International DAM Architectural Book Award (2018) (professional)
The Frankfurt Book Fair and Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) bestowed the International DAM Architectural Book Award to "The Yamuna River Project, New Delhi Urban Ecologies," co-authored by Iñaki Alday, naming it one of the world’s 10 best architectural books of 2018.
FAD Prize for Landscape and City (2009) (professional)
The Metropolitan Water Park in Zaragoza, Spain, was awarded the Luis Buñuel FAD Award in the category of Landscape and City, "to be assessed by the jury as" paradigm" of the new attitude of man with nature, while providing a "new relationship the city with the landscape and the environment."
Fernando García Mercadal Prize (2005) (professional)
El Molino Cultural Center
European Prize for Urban Public Space (2002) (professional)
Regeneration of the River Gállego and Environs: New park and riverside walks, environmental reforms and town planning in Zuera, Spin.
Fernando Garcia Mercadal Prize (2001)
L-J House in Zuera, Spain.
Education (1)
Polytechnic University of Catalonia: M.Arch.
Links (2)
Languages (2)
- Spanish
- English
Media Appearances (7)
New deans, new directions
Tulanian Magazine print
2019-01-07
“The big question mark is how we are going to inhabit the planet 20, 30 years from now,” said Iñaki Alday, dean of the School of Architecture. With issues of climate change and sea-level rise looming, “the School of Architecture has a responsibility to propose new models of how we are designing our cities, our public spaces, our infrastructure — our streets, our parks — and how this can improve equity in the city, so environmental injustice becomes environmental justice.”
Tulane School of Architecture’s community design center nationally recognized for collaborative approach
Tulane News online
2019-02-11
“This award is a recognition of the Tulane School of Architecture’s leadership, through the Small Center, in architecture and social engagement. We are committed to supporting our community through high quality design and beauty, which are essential to develop pride and care for neighborhoods,” said Iñaki Alday, dean of the Tulane School of Architecture and Koch Chair in Architecture. “Each project is also an innovative exploration, advancing the field of design and of community engagement processes through multidisciplinary modes, all in the real life.”
aldayjover architecture and landscape winner international design competition High Park Buenos Aires
Metalocus online
2018-10-25
aldayjover architecture and landscape, with the collaboration of KLM Kelly Lestard Maldonado arquitectos, has been announced as the winner of the International Design Competition High Park- Parque en Altura Barrio 31-Retiro, in the city of Buenos Aires, with the proposal named ‘Vertebrando’, exaqueo with the proposal ‘Alto Parque’.
Devolver la vida a un rio muerto
Expansion print
2018-07-12
"El agua contaminada de Delhi es un indicador de problemas urbanos más profundos y complejos, siendo lo más apremiante la desigualdad urbana en la ciudad, por eso no se puede abordar sin resolver otros problemas”, explica Alday, que cree que este proyecto puede ser una prueba piloto que sirva de ejemplo para otras ciudades del mundo. “Puede ser un primer paso para resolver algunas de las crisis humanitarias y ecológicas más apremiantes, sobre todo en regiones de África, Asia y América Latina”, insiste Alday que recientemente ha sido elegido decano de la Tulane School of Architecture (Nueva Orleans, Estados Unidos).
Econòmix: Interview about the Yamuna River Project
Spanish National Radio radio
2018-06-07
Iñaki Alday, architect of Barcelona, and promoter of the recovery project of the Yamuna River, has explained the recovery of this Indian land.
Will the new Yamuna River Project clean up the river?
Down to Earth online
2018-05-18
A study by the University of Virginia on cooperation between India and Spain aims at rejuvenating the Yamuna as it flows through India’s capital.
Can Yamuna be saved? At University of Virginia, the answer is yes
Hindustan Times print
2017-05-28
The Yamuna River Project, an exhibition being unveiled tomorrow, March 29, at Delhi’s India Habitat Centre, will showcase three years of work done by UVA with the ministry of water resources and the Delhi Jal Board through its project, Re-Centering Delhi. Iñaki Alday, Quesada professor of architecture at UVA and director of the project, shared more details with us.
Event Appearances (1)
Cities & Rivers - Integrating Nature through Hybrid Infrastructure
Global Forum for the Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience (SURR) Global Practice World Bank, Washington, D.C.
2019-03-11
Research Focus (1)
The Yamuna River Project
Iñaki Alday is Co-Director of The Yamuna River Project, an inter-disciplinary research program whose objective is to revitalize the ecology of the Yamuna River in New Delhi, thus reconnecting India’s capital city back to the water.
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