This panel brings together architects and professionals from diverse disciplines and backgrounds to examine how regional traditions, materiality, and community shape architectural practices across all project scales—from a small local school in Nepal to an expansive urban development in Mexico City. The discussion will explore the profound role of thoughtful design in enhancing the daily lives of those who inhabit these spaces.
Regional contexts, encompassing climate, culture, and community needs, significantly influence design choices, encouraging innovation in materials, construction techniques, design processes, and structural efficiency. Architecture, as a reflection of and a response to its environment, evolves through local characteristics and global trends.
The conversation will delve into how these dynamics impact city planning, social development, and urban environments, ultimately shaping the communities they serve. By celebrating the richness and diversity of architectural approaches worldwide, this panel aims to deepen our understanding of the evolving relationship between global innovation and regional identity in sustainable design.
Several questions are to be answered:
1. How can architects balance preserving local traditions with the demands of modern construction and sustainability?
2. In what ways do materials serve as a bridge between past and present architectural practices?
3. How does understanding a community’s cultural and social fabric influence the design process?
4. What are the challenges and opportunities of working with traditional techniques in globalized architectural contexts?
5. How can projects of vastly different scales, like the Sagrada Familia and a small school, embody the same principles of local engagement?
Meet our speakers
Ricky Burdett is Professor of Urban Studies at LSE and Director of LSE Cities, a global centre of research and teaching at LSE which received the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education 2016-18. At LSE he teaches in the Executive MSc in Cities and other courses and co-directs the Urban Age programme. Burdett is a member of the Mayor of London’s Cultural Leadership Board, former Council Member of the Royal College of Art and a Trustee of the Norman Foster Foundation. He was Director of the Venice International Architecture Biennale and Curator of the Global Cities Exhibition Tate Modern in London. He was a member of the UK Government Airport Commission (2012-2015) and a member of UK Government’s Urban Task Force. In 2014, Burdett was a Visiting Professor in Urban Planning and Design at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University and Global Distinguished Professor at New York University (2010-2014).
Magdalena Filipek is Project Architect at ARUP specialising in transport architecture, as well as commercial and retail developments, while also contributing to the workplace, science, and industrial sectors within Arup’s Architecture. Her work seamlessly integrates sustainability, innovation, and urban planning, reflecting her commitment to creating environmentally responsible and future-ready designs. In recent years, Magdalena has served as a Project Architect for HS2 asset and has been an advocate for implementing Zero Carbon Building Standards, BREEAM, LEED, and other sustainable certifications in the projects she has worked on. Magdalena has played a pivotal role in integrating sustainable practices into transformative projects such as HS2, various TfL stations across London, the Druk Padma Karpo School in Ladakh, Defra, and AstraZeneca, to name a few. She has a deep-rooted interest in the fabrication and application of biomaterials, biomimicry, and the circular economy, stemming from her academic research at UCL on the use of bio-materials in the construction industry. Magdalena is also a member of UCL’s Institute of Making and mentors the next generation of architects and engineers at London’s Narrative Practices. She graduated from The Bartlett School of Architecture at UCL and as part of Arup’s multidisciplinary mentoring initiative for UCL engineering students, she guides them on design and sustainability principles.
Gloria Pérez Álvarez-Quiñones is Head of Physical-Chemical Tests Unit at the Instituto Torroja (CSIC - Spanish National Research Council).
Fernando Sordo Madaleno is Principal, Director of Architecture at Sordo Madaleno. Fernando Sordo Madaleno was born in Mexico City in 1991. He earned a degree in architecture from the Universidad Iberoamericana and graduated in 2014 with honors in recognition of his valuable contributions and outstanding performance. His dual roles as Vice President of SOMA and Partner at Sordo Madaleno leverage his creativity, design sensibility, and passion for exploring the potential of each real estate development through the lenses of design, urbanism, and architecture.
Meet our chair
Andrés Rodríguez-Pose is the Princesa de Asturias Chair and a Professor of Economic Geography at the London School of Economics. He is the Director of the Cañada Blanch Centre LSE. He is a former Head of the Department of Geography and Environment between 2006 and 2009. He is a past-President of the Regional Science Association International (RSAI) (2015-2017) and served as Vice-President of the RSAI in 2014. He was also Vice-President (2012-2013) and Secretary (2001-2005) of the European Regional Science Association.
More about this event
The Cañada-Blanch Centre at LSE is the vehicle to achieve the objective of the Fundación Cañada Blanch: developing and reinforcing the links between the United Kingdom and Spain. This is done by means of fostering cutting-edge knowledge generation and joint research projects between researchers in the United Kingdom, and at LSE in particular, on the one hand, and Spain, on the other.
Instituto Cervantes London is a public institution created by the Spanish government in 1991 to promote the teaching, study and use of Spanish globally and the understanding of Hispanic cultures abroad. Instituto Cervantes is affiliated with the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, and it collaborates with prestigious national and international public and private institutions, with the aim of providing high-quality services and products related to the Spanish language and supporting encounters and exchanges between Spanish-speaking cultures and other cultures around the world.
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