In his lecture, López presented three single-family dwellings as examples of his work. He also reminisced about how he had always dreamed of building a house when he was an architecture student.

The design and construction process of the three houses were reflections of the place, the client and how the houses would be used. He told students, “The architect needs to become the client’s companion and guide in the process.”

The speaker also discussed the concept of turning restrictions into opportunities, a philosophy that he has subscribed to in most of his recent projects and one that exemplifies his understanding of architecture.

The special guests included architects such as Eva Prats and Ricardo Flores (who have directed final degree projects in the ESARQ School of Architecture), Rafael Cáceres, Toni Gironés, Marcos Catalán, Coque Claret and Moisés Puente. Cáceres stressed that building a house is “one of the most complicated architectural projects”. Eva Prats discussed the construction details of façades. Finally, Ricardo Flores referred to the importance of the relationship between the architect and the client. “The closer it is, the better the final result will be”, he said.

Mónica Rivera and Emiliano López hold Master’s degrees from Harvard University and have been professors at several schools of architecture and design. Their work has received several awards, including the seventh Latin America Biennial Award in 2010, the tenth Spanish Architecture Biennial Award for Young Architects in 2009, the 2008 FAD award for Architecture and the 2008 AR Award for Emerging Architecture. Their most recent work, “House in Port de la Selva”, was nominated for the 2013 FAD Award and the 2013 Architecture Awards in the province of Girona.