Architect Portfolio - Álvaro Villanueva

AV

Portfolio | 2023

Álvaro Villanueva Prendes

“The future doesn’t exist. The only thing that exists is now and our memory of what happened in the past. But because we invented the idea of the future, we’re the only animal that realised we can affect the future by what we do today.”

- David Suzuki

L Letter of recommendation for Alvaro Villanueva

To whom it may concern,

Alvaro has been employed at BIG Barcelona from 19.4.2021-18.10.2021 as a Design Assistant. Alvaro has primarily been working on the project FFC_Farfetch Campus a large scale Headquarter and Campus with focus on design development and investigations, spatial studied and visualizations Alvaro participated throughout the Schematic Design phase.

I have been working closely together with Alvaro during his internship at Bjarke Ingels Group and Alvaro has been an integral part of the SD phase of the FFC project. Additionally, he has supported in the submission of competitions. During his internship Alvaro has shown proof of tasteful judgement and professional execution.

Alvaro has been showing not only responsibility and reliability in all tasks but also a great sense of design. his work has been always accurate, fast and beautifully done. Most importantly he has an exceptional sense of design and a talent for architectural solutions.

Personally and professionally, I have been enjoying working with Alvaro He has been showing versatility and talent for all aspects of the work as a design assistant and has been an invaluable part of BIG. Alvaro is a great team member and works independently as aspiring architect

I can give Alvaro my best recommendations!

Best regards,

Hanna Johansson Associate

As an architect, one of the most important lessons I´ve learned is that teamwork is key to success, one of my friends always says “your worth is the average of the five people you hang out with the most”, luckily I have always encountered myself with great teammates.

Álvaro Villanueva

Prendes

Master in Architecture

Architect and designer, Henning Larsen Architects

Hi, my name is Álvaro, about me:

I am an architect and designer with two years of professional experience, having worked on projects in various international contexts, including Denmark, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Germany, and Spain. My background encompasses all phases of architecture and urban design, from concept design to constructive detailing, as well as interdisciplinary projects focused on sustainable development.

I became an Architect in November 2020, after which I pursued a Spanish Habilitation Master Degree while working at internationally recognized firms such as Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and Henning Larsen Architects.

Currently, I work as a full-time Architect and Designer at Henning Larsen Architects in the Copenhagen office, focusing on masterplan projects that emphasize design, infrastructure, and sustainability. Although I’ve become very interested in the frameworks and principles of urban planning, I feel much more engaged on the building scale.

Before my current position, I worked in the Headquarters and Office department, where I developed my architectural design skills in the later stages of the project. Looking ahead, I aspire to develop my career in building architecture and design leadership, engaging in all project stages from concept to detail design.

I have experience working collaboratively with client representatives and consultants. With my technical knowledge, design focus, and experience working across different project stages and scales, I am confident in taking on new challenges.

Finally, my recent experiences have given me clarity on my capabilities and aspirations. Although I am aware of my youth and the need to learn more, I am eager to contribute my skills to any project.

Contact | Personal info.

Álvaro Villanueva Prendes

Born on a Friday, 18th of July 1997, someplace in Spain

alvarovp@hotmail.es

+45 40200797

Linus Paulins Vej 10, 3th 2450, Copenhagen, Dk

In my free time, I enjoy traveling, outdoor sports, and spending time with family and friends. Since moving to Copenhagen, from time to time, I try to survive winter swimming :)

Experience

Henning Larsen Architects

Full Time | Nov. 2021 - Ongoing

Copenhagen, Denmark

Architect and Designer

Jul. 2022 - Ongoing

Architectural Intern

Nov. 2021 - Jun. 2022 | 8 months

Architectural Design Assistant

BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group

Apr. 2021 - Oct. 2021 | 6 months

Barcelona, Spain

Education

Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV)

Sep. 2015 - Jul. 2022 | 7 years

Valencia, Spain

Master of Architecture

Oct. 2020 - Jul. 2022 | 60 ECTS

Degree in Architecture

Sep. 2015 - Nov. 2020 | 300 ECTS (MArch Level)

TU Delft - UPV Exchange

Apr. 2019 | 1 month

Delft, Netherlands

Grasshopper Masterclass ARCHI-TECH NETWORK

2022 - 2023 | Ongoing

Online

Skills

Overall ease to learn new softwares. The following I use at a professional level:

Rhino 3D

Adobe Creative Suite

Enscape

Vray (Rhino)

Revit (Autodesk Cetification)

Lumion

Microsoft Office Suite

AutoCAD

+ Grasshopper (not work proficient, learning with ATN)

Selected Projects

Patio House in Valencia | Educational Project

Social Housing Malvarrosa | Educational Project

Tanger Bull-ring Reconversion | Competition

InHaus Modular Home | Competition

Rice Restaurant in Albufera | Educational Project

CEMEX Lightning with Concrete | Competition

School and Community Center | Educational Project

CTAV Stand Architecture | Competition

CTAV Dolls House Architecture | Competition

Social Housing and Occupational Center | Educational Project

Practices of Conservation and Sustainability | Ba´sThesis

Farfetch HQ Complex | Schematic Design

Ministry of Finance (Hacienda) | Competition

Kaira Looro Women´s House in Africa | Competition

Al Mohammadiya Shopping Mall | Detail Design

Heilbronn Campus Masterplan | Competition

Marmormolen Offices | Schematic Design

Jeddah Opera Masterplan | Design Commision

Wolfsburg Connect Masterplan | Schematic Design

Max Beker Cologne Masterplan | Competition

Civic Center and Urban Orchard | Master Thesis

King Salman Park Loop | Design Commision

King Salman Park Loop | Schematic Design

Work Experience | Selected Projects

Farfetch HQ, Portugal | BIG

An office complex in Matosinhos forms an urban ensemble with 12 interconnected buildings. Core Team, my experience was focused on developing the design of the amenities package. As the project was phased on Schematic Design, the process went from early concepts in Rhino to translating the design into Revit

Confidential

An architectural competition for a public building in Madrid. I joined the team once the competition had already started. My main task on this project was 3D Modelling and making the final renders for the competition. The softwares I used for this project were Rhino + Enscape + Photoshop

Confidential

An architectural competition for a office building in Denmark. I joined the team once the competition had already started. My main task on this project was graphic production, elevations, sections and renders. Main softwares were Rhino + Enscape + Ps + Ai

Marmormolen Offices, Denmark | Henning Larsen

Detail design phase for an office building in Copenhaguen, one of the largest timber structures in Denmark. I joined only for January 2022. My main task on the project was making facade studies, focused on the construction detail and materiality. Used Rhino

Self - made

Self - made

Self - made Not

Wolfsburg Connect, Germany | Henning Larsen

A masterplan in a waterfront lot in Volkswagen’s hometown of Wolfsburg. My main task on this project was 3D Massing and Urban planning, fitting FAR requirements and urban regulations, coordinating with consultants, and preparing presentations for the meetings with the client. Main softwares were Rhino + InDesign

Confidential

Design concept masterplan commision. The concept of the urban planning was to offer a modern interpretation of the traditional Hijazi architecture. I briefly worked on this project at the beiginning of the development. My main tasks were to draw concept masterplan options and diagrams. Main softwares were Rhino + Ai

Confidential

Masterplan competition in Germany, core team. As it was a small team, I was part of the whole process, from first concept sketches, drawing and modelling fitting m2 requirements, coordinating with mobility and landscape consultants and final graphic production

Confidential

Design commision for “the Loop”. The Loop is a sequence of public spaces in different settings. As the only Architect in the team, I was focused on 3D tasks, coordinating sustainability analysis, renders, and 2D graphical drawings. Softwares used: Rhino + Ai + InDesign

Farfetch HQ

Bjarke Ingels Group | April 2021 - October 2021

Schematic Design | Portugal

The HQ feels like a village with plazas, parks, and urban terraces connecting the buildings. The spaces are designed for a human-scale experience with courtyards and squares programmed for indoor-outdoor living. The roofs mimic the hillside and provide ample views of the river valley, with natural paths connecting everything. The organic growth of the complex makes it feel complete, like a natural village.

When I first arrived at BIG Barcelona, Farfetch HQ was my first project, joining as part of the Amenities package. I had the pleasure of working alongside a lead architect, with whom I had an amazing experience. I learned Rhino from scratch and started designing the different buildings that composed the amenities package, from 2D sketches and layout drawings to 3D attempts and materiality studies, as well as designing small details between special junctions.

After a long design process, we started producing diagrams, axos, plans, sections, and renders for the design brief and translating our work into Revit, the BIM software we used for the project. As the project came to a close, I joined forces with others to produce the final renders for the final presentation of the project and the press release.

Overall, it was an amazing experience where I got to be a part of a large multidisciplinary team full of bright people that I learned so much from.

Self - made

Self - made

Self - made

Self - made

Self - made

Self - made

Self - made

Self - made

Morvedre 2030

MArch’s Thesis (TFM) | July 2022 - Valencia, Spain

Civic center and Urban Orchard

To the north of the historic center of Valencia are a series of neighborhoods born from the old Via Augusta, now known as Sagunto Street. These neighborhoods make up the Saidïa district, including the Morvedre neighborhood. It is an area of action in which the traces of the original elements of the setting are protagonists. These original elements are contrasted with the reticles and right angles of the new urban approach, creating a high contrast between tradition, heritage, and the reticular growth of the blocks.

As in any urban expansion project, conflicts are generated between the planning and its result; disconnections and urban voids tend to be caused due to the difficulties that arise between the existing properties and the proposed urban plan.

This is a particularly notable reality in the surroundings of the old Via Augusta, and it is nothing more than the result of the degradation suffered by the Morvedre neighborhood. Degradation is caused by a lack of equipment, demographic aging, and little economic activity.

The proposal turns to an ordering of the area that aims to sew the apples and provide the neighborhood with a new social, cultural, and economic life, an opportunity to regenerate and re-activate Morvedre. The project falls within this order and is conceived as a civic and social center, the new heart of the neighborhood.

The intervention proposal covers a wide area, having street Sagunto and the four blocks that are the object of the planning as protagonists. The streets are redesigned following the fabric of the city in the area, mixed and highly densified, lacking spaces for citizen use. Therefore, mixed-use streets are proposed, where pedestrians, bicycles, and occasional road traffic coexist. With the street’s redesign, a patchwork of pavements is carried out to differentiate green areas and areas of use for the public and service areas.

The circulation remains centered, thus locating the patches on the sides to reactivate the basement of the primarily uninhabited buildings. The urban intervention then wants to be an opportunity to solve problems in the neighborhood, such as lack of public space, pedestrian safety, accessibility, etc., flexibly to keep up with the rapidly changing social, environmental, and economic reality.

Restauración integral torre de viviendas Jardín de Manzana

CO-WORKING

Biblioteca

Cubiertas Ajardinadas/ Huertos urbanos

Cantina/Comedor

Oficinas y Administración

Cubiertas Ajardinadas/ Huertos urbanos

Salas Polivalentes

Aulas

Aula Magna

Jardín de Manzana

Nuevo espacio público/ Paisaje Huerta Urbana

Sala de Exposisión y Zona de Talleres

Cubiertas Ajardinadas/ Huertos urbanos

Reixa District 9

Arch’s Degree Final Project | June 2020 - Valencia, Spain

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

Social Housing and Ocuppational Center

The exercise consisted of designing housing for a group in which people with cognitive and functional diversity will be integrated. A way of life that promotes collaborative, inclusive and affordable coexistence for everyone is thus proposed.

The reflection in this case will use the collective housing as a tool, which will be complemented with an occupational center annexed in some old existing warehouses on the plot, meeting the diverse needs of its users in the most appropriate way. It is therefore proposed to design an architecture in which serving the inhabitant is the main objective of the proposal.

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT

How can a seemingly rigid and static structure become a versatile and changing artifact? Nowadays, houses should be able to change easily and reversibly according to the life cycle of the inhabitants.

For this purpose, a series of ambiguous rooms are defined without a previously specified program. All rooms have good lighting and natural ventilation, due to the wide perimeter of each module, so that all can accommodate any desired program.

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

The building has two different faces. Outside, an intermittent façade, seeks integration with Arquitecto Monleón´s street. Inside the block, the building recedes looking for natural light and ventilation, extending vegetable beds to the heart of the plot.

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

DWELLING CELL CONFIGURATIONS + SECOND FLOOR PLAN

STANDARD CELL CONFIGURATION

WHEELCHAIR ADAPTED CONFIGURATION

DETAILED DWELLING PLAN + DWELLING SECTION

MODULAR CELL SYSTEM

The units are structured with a linear composition of storage in the middle of the plan, this stripe distributes to the different spaces at both sides of it. The delimitation of these generated spaces is free, so the user can choose the use for it. The possibility of flexible compartmentation opens a series of different configurations. This system allows us to generate many possibilities depending on the needs of the different users.

In the plan on the left, you can see one example of the different configurations it could contain, in this case on a unit that is enabled for wheelchair users. This unit counts with a primary living room, another room, and small living space.

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

PRODUCED

Fractal

Arch’s Degree 4th year Project | June 2019

School and Community Center in Arizona

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

The aim of the project was to design an educational center for a site we could choose. In this case, the project is located in Page, Arizona. This village is known for its proximity to the Glen Canyon and to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River. One of the objectives was to design a mixed-use educational building, with classroom spaces but also spaces that could be publicly used as a municipal library and computer room.

PLACEMENT ON A PEDESTAL

A fractal is a never-ending pattern. Fractals are infinitely complex patterns that are self-similar across different scales. They are created by repeating a simple process over and over in an ongoing feedback loop. Driven by recursion, fractals are images of dynamic systems – the pictures of Chaos. Geometrically, they exist in between our familiar dimensions. Fractal patterns are extremely familiar since nature is full of fractals. For instance: trees, rivers, coastlines, mountains, clouds, seashells, hurricanes, etc.

From this idea of the geometrical ratio of a pattern, a series of volumes are placed in a complex grid. This idea matches perfectly with the program, separating the classroom spaces from the more public and crowded ones.

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

Women´s House

Architecture Competition | June 2021

Kaira Loroo | Baguere Village

This project is conceived from the evident inequality that women live in the sub-Saharan region. This is to try to create a monumental piece, representative of a change. With the direct objective of offering a safe meeting and learning space where hundreds of women can feel safe and meet other women in similar situations. The pavilion was born with the idea of a longitudinal tablet that contains the entire program, an orderly and perfect scheme, from there a series of grooves and corridors emerge that section and distribute the space.

In this way, three clear volumes are formed, all of them separated, and a large meditation patio is in the center of the pavilion. All this is protected by a skin of wooden lamellae that offers a warm shade and a pleasant space for circulation. These three volumes are conformed to accommodate the following needs. An office as a space for the organization and management of the pavilion and all the activities that are carried out, the main room, a multipurpose space where most of the activities will be carried out and that will host the uses that are relevant.

Finally, a meeting space, made up of a series of pieces of furniture to guarantee a comfortable place to carry out small talks. These volumes are defined by the earthen walls that enclose them on two of their sides, while the edges perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the pavilion is treated with a permeable enclosure of wooden slats, to protect from solar radiation, but allow free air circulation and therefore a healthy space with cross ventilation. Last but not least, a thin metal sheet sits like a feather on the wooden slats, providing shade to the entire set of spaces and raising the corners giving an appearance of lightness.

LAYOUT FOR #DIALOG #ACTIVITIES

MULTIFUNCTIONAL

CURVED ROOF FOR #WATER COLLECTION

COLLECTION #CROSS VENTILATION

CONSTRUCTION #LOCAL SAND AND GRAVELS #LOCAL WOOD

SUPPORT WOODEN STRUCTURE

ROOF METAL SHEET

OPAQUE ELEMENT EARTH WALL

EXTERIOR ENCLOSURE PATTERN OF WOODEN LAMELLAS

INTERNAL ENCLOSURE WOODEN PANELS

tak!