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Preservation Lecture Series: Alberto Sanchez Sanchez

Wed, Apr 22    1pm

Alberto Sánchez Sánchez is an architect, preservationist, and educator specializing in the intersection of historic preservation and rural development. He holds a professional degree in architecture from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, an MS in Historic Preservation from Columbia University, and a PhD in Architecture from UC Berkeley. A licensed architect in Spain, he has worked with the World Monuments Fund and co-founded the rural heritage nonprofit Asociación Fuset in 2021. A finalist for the 2023 Princesa de Girona Arts and Letters Award, his current research is supported by a Fundación BBVA Leonardo Grant. He lives between Madrid and Used (Zaragoza), where he organizes annual workshops on traditional building techniques. His work has been featured in international media such as El País, Diário de Notícias, Monocle, and Deutsche Welle.

More than Just a Casa: Imagining Rural Futures through Preservation
In this lecture, Dr. Sánchez Sánchez (MSHP ’16) presents his ongoing work to restore a dilapidated seventeenth-century manor in his hometown of Used (Zaragoza, Spain). Building on his master’s thesis and doctoral research, this project of experimental preservation repositions the discipline as a process-driven practice. Rather than focusing solely on the outcomes of material restoration, it foregrounds the social, cultural, and economic dynamics generated through the long-term engagement of preservationists with diverse publics—from local residents to international practitioners, experts, and volunteers. Combining qualitative and quantitative insights, the talk demonstrates how heritage can operate as a catalyst for development, fostering new forms of collective knowledge, identity, and economic opportunity in rural Spain and beyond.