TC 160- Estudio Lamela Architecture

TC Cuadernos 160 is dedicated to Estudio Lamela, one of the key practices in contemporary Spanish architecture. This volume traces nearly two decades of work in which the office consolidates a practice capable of operating across a wide range of fields: corporate architecture, sports facilities, large-scale infrastructures, urban rehabilitation, and international projects.

Founded by Antonio Lamela in 1954 and currently led by Carlos Lamela, the studio has developed more than 2,000 projects and maintains an active presence in cities such as Madrid, Warsaw, Mexico City, and Rotterdam. This continuity should not be understood merely as permanence, but as a sustained capacity for adaptation: from early construction innovation to the development of multidisciplinary teams, international expansion, and the integration of sustainability and efficiency as core components of the architectural process.

The issue clearly highlights some of the defining features of Estudio Lamela’s trajectory. On the one hand, its mastery of large-scale and complex programs, evident in airports, stadiums, and corporate campuses, where architecture must respond simultaneously to technical, functional, and representational demands. On the other, its commitment to a clear, precise, and enduring architecture, designed to be easily understood and naturally used by its occupants. In the interview included in the publication, Carlos Lamela emphasizes this intention to transform complexity into legible spaces, particularly evident in the Terminal T4 at Madrid-Barajas Airport and in subsequent infrastructures that have become part of the studio’s identity.

The monograph brings together a wide yet coherent selection of projects: from the Real Madrid Sports City and the John Deere headquarters to the Warsaw Chopin Airport, the Pacific Building in Poland, Discovery Building, Centro Canalejas Madrid, and the Airbus Defense & Space campus in Getafe. This journey reveals how the studio consistently operates at the intersection of architectural image, functional organization, technical innovation, and international scope.

Special attention is also given to rehabilitation, understood not as a simple update, but as an exercise in balancing memory, transformation, and new urban life. In this regard, Centro Canalejas stands out as one of the most ambitious and representative interventions in the publication, exemplifying a way of working with existing structures through respect, programmatic complexity, and a strong urban impact.

With extensive graphic documentation, drawings, photographs, and texts, this TC 160 offers a broad and nuanced perspective on a practice that has played a decisive role in redefining Spanish architecture at the intersection of business, infrastructure, city, and international projection. A particularly valuable volume for those seeking to understand the recent evolution of Estudio Lamela and, through it, a significant part of the large-scale architecture produced from Spain in recent decades.